Latest advances in medical research thread

[ScienceRocks]

Eye drops for dissolving cataracts works in dogs and in the lab on human tissue

A chemical that could potentially be used in eye drops to reverse cataracts, the leading cause of blindness, has been identified by a team of scientists from UC San Francisco (UCSF), the University of Michigan (U-M), and Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). Identified as a “priority eye disease” by the World Health Organization, cataracts..

 

[ScienceRocks]

Ultrasound prises open blood-brain barrier to deliver chemotherapy in a world first

• Nick Lavars
• November 9, 2015
• 7 PICTURES

The blood-brain barrier is an almost impenetrable membrane that surrounds vessels in the brain and stops harmful particles from entering. The trouble is that it doesn't discriminate, at the same time making it very difficult for beneficial molecules like medication to pass through. But researchers have now non-invasively breached the barrier for the first time in a human subject, delivering chemotherapy drugs to a brain cancer patient with a high level of precision and paving the way for improved treatments and fewer side effects for sufferers of neurological disorders.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Experimental drug targeting Alzheimer's disease shows anti-aging effects

We still have to see how it behaves in humans. My fear is that it may work by overloading the metabolism of the mouse, so that part of the systems of the mouse work in "youth mode" even though that may even be detrimental to the life expectancy of the mouse in the longer term. Like burning the wood of the ship to keep the engines going.

However, the simple fact of considering age as the root cause of a medical condition that has to be treated is a huge step.

Salk Institute researchers have found that an experimental drug candidate aimed at combating Alzheimer’s disease has a host of unexpected anti-aging effects in animals. The Salk team expanded upon their previous development of a drug candidate, called J147, which takes a different tack by targeting Alzheimer’s major risk factor–old age.
In the new work, the team showed that the drug candidate worked well in a mouse model of aging not typically used in Alzheimer’s research. When these mice were treated with J147, they had better memory and cognition, healthier blood vessels in the brain and other improved physiological features.

“Initially, the impetus was to test this drug in a novel animal model that was more similar to 99 percent of Alzheimer's cases,” says Antonio Currais, the lead author and a member of Professor David Schubert’s Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at Salk. “We did not predict we’d see this sort of anti-aging effect, but J147 made old mice look like they were young, based upon a number of physiological parameters.”
....

 

[ScienceRocks]

Primordial goo coating to aid in medical procedures

• Colin Jeffrey
• November 16, 2015
• 4 PICTURES

Prebiotic compounds that promote the growth of microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, can be traced back billions of years to their origins in the primordial goo – a rich soup of compounds from which all organic life on Earth is theorized to have begun. Now, scientists at Australia's CSIRO have discovered just how good a rich broth of these early molecules may be at improving the acceptance of implanted medical devices in the human body.

 

[ScienceRocks]

One-step urine test to simplify diagnosis of hepatitis C

• Nick Lavars
• November 16, 2015

According to the World Health Organization, somewhere between 130 and 150 million people around the globe suffer from chronic hepatitis C infection. As the virus is usually asymptomatic it can go undetected in its early stages, giving rise to complications such as liver damage and cirrhosis. Screening for the virus is possible, but is neither straightforward nor widely accessible, as it involves taking a blood sample and two separate lab tests. But researchers have now developed a one-step test that can detect hepatitis C using only a urine sample, promising to boost the availability of diagnosis and efforts to curb the virus around the world.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Modulating brain's stress circuity might prevent Alzheimer's disease
In a novel animal study design that mimicked human clinical trials, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that long-term treatment using a small molecule drug that reduces activity of ...

Team identifies emergency response system for blood formation
Scientists at the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have determined how the body responds during times of emergency when it needs more blood cells. In a study published in Nature, researchers .

New fat cell metabolism research could lead to new ways to treat diabetes and obesity
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego report new insights into what nutrients fat cells metabolize to make fatty acids. The findings pave the way for understanding potential irregularities in fat cell metabolism ..

 

[longknife]

Chemical Compound to Melt Away Cataracts from This Chemical Compound Could Melt Away Cataracts | Innovation | Smithsonian



Awesome if it works. I had mine surgically removed .

 

[ScienceRocks]

RNA blood test detects, classifies and pinpoints location of cancer

• Chris Wood
• November 17, 2015

In an effort to find an accurate and easy method of detecting and locating cancers, negating the need for invasive cell tissue sampling, researchers from Umeå University in Sweden have developed a new blood test that looks at blood platelets in just a single drop of blood to identify cancer. Results of the method are very promising, with a 96 percent identification accuracy.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Firefighter gets most comprehensive face transplant yet

• Colin Jeffrey
• November 17, 2015
• 3 PICTURES

In what is being touted as the most complex and complete face transplant ever performed, a crew of medicos at New York University's (NYU) Langone Medical Center has replaced the entire face of 41-year-old Patrick Hardison, a volunteer firefighter who suffered catastrophic burns while on duty in 2001. The team replaced Patrick's scalp, ears and ear canals, parts of bone in the chin and cheeks, and his entire nose. He also received new eyelids and the muscles that control them.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Blocking immune cell treats new type of age-related diabetes
Diabetes is often the result of obesity and poor diet choices, but for some older adults the disease might simply be a consequence of aging. New research has discovered that diabetes—or insulin resistance—in aged, lean ...

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Scientists grow functional vocal cord tissue in the lab
University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists have succeeded in growing functional vocal cord tissue in the laboratory, a major step toward restoring a voice to people who have lost their vocal cords to cancer surgery or other ...


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Novel technology vastly improves CRISPR/Cas9 accuracy
A new CRISPR/Cas9 technology developed by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School is precise enough to surgically edit DNA at nearly any genomic location, while avoiding potentially harmful off-target ...

 

[ScienceRocks]

Injectable, intelligent gel targets cancer at the source

• Nick Lavars
• November 19, 2015

Enlisting the body's naturally produced T cells to fight off cancer is an immunotherapy technique that has shown early promise in clinical trials. But one limitation is that these cells generally lack the firepower to do the job on their own, meaning they need to be modified and reintroduced to the bloodstream to have a real impact. Researchers may now have discovered a more efficient way forward, with the development of a T cell-loaded biogel that can be injected directly into the tumor for a more targeted, less laborious approach to immunotherapy.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Functional vocal cord tissue grown in the lab for first time

• Chris Wood
• November 23, 2015

For the first time, scientists have successfully grown vocal cords in the lab, with tests showing the engineered tissue to be functional, with the ability to transmit sound. While the research is just the first step on a long path towards clinical use, the results are very promising, providing a solid basis for future study.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Functional human liver cells grown in the lab
In new research appearing in the prestigious journal Nature Biotechnology, an international research team led by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem describes a new technique for growing human hepatocytes in the laboratory. ...

New way to use ultrasound allows for imaging live blood vessels with more clarity
(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in France has developed a new way to create live images of blood vessels. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes their ...

Protein networks help identify new chemo drug candidates
An experimental chemotherapy kills leukemia cells that are abundant in proteins critical to cancer growth, according to new research from Weill Cornell Medicine.

Immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes deemed safe in first US trial
In the first U.S. safety trial of a new form of immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes (T1D), led by UC San Francisco scientists and physicians, patients experienced no serious adverse reactions after receiving infusions of as ...

 

[ScienceRocks]

Scientists' identification of essential genes could lead to new cancer treatments

• Chris Wood
• November 26, 2015

A team of University of Toronto researchers has worked through the human genome, switching off genes in an effort to map out those essential in keeping our cells alive. The scientists were able to identify sets of genes associated with specific cancers, paving the way for highly targeted treatments.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Study discovers how Alzheimer's disease destroys brain cell connections early on

• Chris Wood
• November 27, 2015

A research team led by scientists from the University of New South Wales in Australia has studied the mechanism by which connections in the brain are destroyed in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The findings represent another angle of attack in the ongoing battle to find a cure for the widespread degenerative condition.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Testosterone replacement makes Type 2 diabetic men more sensitive to insulin
Men with Type 2 diabetes who have low testosterone levels can benefit significantly from testosterone treatment.

A breakdown product of aspirin blocks cell death associated with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases
A new study finds that a component of aspirin binds to an enzyme called GAPDH, which is believed to play a major role in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Pill to help us live to 120: 10p-a-day MIRACLE drug could slow the ageing process

Clinical trials on older people of cheap drug metformin have been given the green light by The Food and Drug Administration in America.

The pill's developers hope that it could one day wipe out diseases like Alzheimer's.

It is hoped that the clinical trials will show that you can slow down the ageing process in humans, making those in their 70s as healthy a 50-year-old.

 

[irosie91]

Lactic acidosis

 

[ScienceRocks]

Discovery of an embryonic switch for cancer stem cell generation

An international team of scientists, headed by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, report that decreases in a specific group of proteins trigger changes in the cancer microenvironment that accelerate growth and development of therapy-resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs).

Oscillating electric field used to remove nanoparticles from blood

• David Szondy
• November 30, 2015
• 3 PICTURES

Nanoparticles as a vehicle for delivering drugs precisely where they are needed promise to be a major revolution in medical science. Unfortunately, retrieving those particles from the body for detailed study is a long and involved process. But that may soon change with a team of engineers at the University of California, San Diego developing a technique that uses an oscillating electric field to separate nanoparticles from blood plasma in a way that may one day make it a routine procedure.

 

[irosie91]

Discovery of an embryonic switch for cancer stem cell generation

An international team of scientists, headed by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, report that decreases in a specific group of proteins trigger changes in the cancer microenvironment that accelerate growth and development of therapy-resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs).

Oscillating electric field used to remove nanoparticles from blood

• David Szondy
• November 30, 2015
• 3 PICTURES

Nanoparticles as a vehicle for delivering drugs precisely where they are needed promise to be a major revolution in medical science. Unfortunately, retrieving those particles from the body for detailed study is a long and involved process. But that may soon change with a team of engineers at the University of California, San Diego developing a technique that uses an oscillating electric field to separate nanoparticles from blood plasma in a way that may one day make it a routine procedure.

an utterly fascinating model. -------ever try to treat a case of LACTIC ACIDOSIS---
in a diabetic on metformin------matt?