Can Blood Test Predict Breast Cancer Risk?

A blood test that spots changes in a specific gene could reveal a woman's risk for breast cancer years before the disease has a chance to develop, researchers report.
British scientists analyzed blood samples from 640 breast cancer patients and 741 women without breast cancer. The samples from the breast cancer patients were collected an average of three years before they were diagnosed with the disease.
The objective was to find out if the alteration of single genes by a process called methylation could predict a woman's breast cancer risk.
The researchers found that women with the highest level of methylation on one area of a gene called ATM were two times more likely to develop cancer than those with the lowest level of methylation. Methylation is a critical process where chemicals known as "methyl groups" are added to DNA, to make sure everything is in good working order. High levels of methylation signal high levels of DNA trouble.
This result was particularly pronounced in blood samples taken from women under the age of 60, Dr. James Flanagan, a Breast Cancer Campaign scientific fellow in the department of surgery and cancer at Imperial College London, said in a news release from the Breast Cancer Campaign.
The study was published May 1 in the journal Cancer Research.
Unlike previous studies that took blood from breast cancer patients after diagnosis, these blood samples identified alterations in the ATM gene that did not occur because of having active cancer or cancer treatments.
The findings provide strong evidence that looking for this type of alteration in individual genes could be used as a blood test to help predict a woman's chances of developing breast cancer, the researchers said.
Used in combination with other breast cancer risk assessment tools such as genetic testing and risk factor profiling, this blood test could help identify women at higher risk. This early warning could be used to monitor these patients and one day perhaps even prevent them from developing breast cancer.
"We know that genetic variation contributes to a person's risk of disease. With this new study, we can now also say that epigenetic variation, or differences in how genes are modified, also has a role," Flanagan said.
"We hope that this research is just the beginning of our understanding about the epigenetic component of breast cancer risk, and in the coming years we hope to find many more examples of genes that contribute to a person's risk. The challenge will be how to incorporate all of this new information into the computer models that are currently used for individual risk prediction," he noted.
"So far, we have found alterations in one small region of a gene that appear to associate with risk of disease, and so the next step with this epigenetic research is a genome-wide approach to try and find all the associated genes," Flanagan explained.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about breast cancer risk factors.

Liquid Metal May Make iPhone 5 Screens Stronger

Everyone has witnessed a fatal drop of an iPhone enough to know that precautions like screen protectors and cases are a must. However, Apple is reportedly looking to make the iPhone tougher on its own by making the screen of liquid metal, which will make it more durable.

Korean publication ET News first broke the story, revealing Apple is working on a "metal alloy of titanium, zirconium, copper and nickel to create an “outer surface smooth like liquid.”

According to the reporter, users can be happy to know that the new phones will be less prone to damage.

“The next flagship phones of [Apple and Samsung] are expected to adopt unprecedented materials for their main bodies, that is, ceramic for the Galaxy S3 and liquid metal for iPhone 5, both being thin, light and highly resistant to external impacts. The new phase of the rivalry is because neither one of them can get a decisive edge over the other solely with its OS and AP specifications, features or design.”

New York Auto Show: Flying Car, Cadillac CUE

US Navy shows off its new LASR autonomous robot testing facility

All the fun of the desert and the rainforest from the (relative) comfort of home? Sign us up. That's the promise offered by the admittedly awesomely named Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research(that's LASR, for you abbreviators out there), first announced last month. The robotics lab, housed in a $17.7 million building at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, offers up around 50,000 square feet, a portion of which is aimed at reproducing some of the Earth's more extreme ecosystems to test out naval robotics. The facility is home to firefighting robots, swimming 'bots and hydrogen fuel cell-powered unmanned aircrafts, to name but a few.

The Naval Research Laboratory opened the doors of the massive facility up to members of the media today, and Engadget was on-hand along with a moderate sized gathering of fellow reporters. Included in the tour were two simulated environments. The Tropical High Bay is designed to mimic rainforest terrain, with flowing water, fog and climate controlled temperature and humidity. The Desert High Bay is a bit let complex in its environmental simulation, limited to a sand pit, rock way, and adjustable light, smoke and wind.

Meanwhile, an on-site indoor pool is used to challenge aquatic vehicles. Testers demonstrated the Pectoral Fin Swimmer – an autonomous bot inspired by the biological movements of fish, in order to access areas not reached by more traditional propel driven robots. Also on hand was Lucas, a Mobile, Dexterous, Social (MDS) humanoid robot [pictured above] with a Segway base. The laboratory demonstrated how the robot was capable of reasoning in a simulated firefighting scenario – and, equipped with an extinguisher, was capable of putting out a very real fire on the floor of the facility.