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Category: biotech/medical – Page 157

Australian researchers use a quantum computer to simulate how real molecules behave

When a molecule absorbs light, it undergoes a whirlwind of quantum-mechanical transformations. Electrons jump between energy levels, atoms vibrate, and chemical bonds shift—all within millionths of a billionth of a second.

These processes underpin everything from photosynthesis in plants and DNA damage from sunlight, to the operation of solar cells and light-powered cancer therapies.

Yet despite their importance, chemical processes driven by light are difficult to simulate accurately. Traditional computers struggle, because it takes vast computational power to simulate this quantum behavior.

Scientists ‘3D Print’ Material Deep Inside The Body Using Ultrasound

Scientists in the US have created a way to 3D print materials inside the body using ultrasound. Tests in mice and rabbits suggest the technique could deliver cancer drugs directly to organs and repair injured tissue.

Dubbed deep tissue in vivo sound printing (DISP), the method involves injecting a specialized bioink. Ingredients can vary depending on their intended function in the body, but the non-negotiables are polymer chains and crosslinking agents to assemble them into a hydrogel structure.

To keep the hydrogel from forming instantly, the crosslinking agents are locked inside lipid-based particles called liposomes, with outer shells designed to leak when heated to 41.7 °C (107.1 °F) – a few degrees above body temperature.

Role of JAK inhibitors in modulating pain in Rheumatoid arthritis

Anti-inflammatory drug JAK inhibitors (JAKi) reduces pain in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but the mechanism is not clear.

To figure out if JAKi directly acted on human sensory neurons, the authors found they expressed JAK1 and STAT3.

The show that RA synovial fluid addition to human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived sensory neurons led to phosphorylation of STAT3 (pSTAT3), which was completely blocked by the JAKi tofacitinib.

The researchers also discovered that RA synovial fluid was enriched for the STAT3 signalling cytokines IL-6, IL-11, LIF, IFN-alpha and IFN-beta, and their requisite receptors present in peripheral nerves post-mortem.

They observed upregulation of pain-relevant genes with STAT3-binding sites, an effect which was blocked by tofacitinib in cytokine treated iPSCs. LIF also induced neuronal sensitisation, highlighting this molecule as a putative pain mediator.

Tofacitinib reduced the firing rate of sensory neurons stimulated with RA synovial fluid indicating role for JAKi in controlling analgesic properties. https://sciencemission.com/RA-synovial-fluid-induces-JAK-dep…tivation-o

Continue reading “Role of JAK inhibitors in modulating pain in Rheumatoid arthritis” | >

Oveporexton shows promise in improving wakefulness in narcolepsy type 1

Research led by Gui de Chauliac Hospital in Montpellier, France, and the University of Bologna in Italy reports that oveporexton improves wakefulness and reduces cataplexy episodes in patients with narcolepsy type 1. Findings suggest a potential therapeutic alternative to existing narcolepsy treatments without hepatotoxic effects associated with other treatment types.

Narcolepsy type 1 is a marked by and episodes of muscle weakness known as cataplexy. Orexin, a neuropeptide crucial for regulating wakefulness and preventing rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep transitions, is deficient in patients with narcolepsy type 1. Current treatments primarily address symptoms without targeting the underlying orexin system itself.

Previous efforts have successfully targeted orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) to restore wakefulness and reduce cataplexy in patients with OX2R-targeting drugs. Liver-related side effects have so far limited clinical use, and the need for safe OX2R-targeting agents remains.

Modification makes immunotherapy for blood cancer even more effective

Currently, half of patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia—two types of cancer that affect blood cells—do not respond adequately to treatment with CAR-T cells. The therapy involves harvesting the patient’s own defense cells (T lymphocytes), modifying them in the laboratory to make them capable of destroying tumor cells, and reinjecting them into the body. These refractory cases usually relapse after conventional immunotherapy.

To overcome this problem, Brazilian researchers have developed a more powerful version of CAR-T cells. The details of the research were published in the journal Cancer Research.

CAR-T cell immunotherapy is revolutionary and has saved many people’s lives in recent years. However, there are still a significant proportion of patients who don’t respond to this treatment.

‘Turbocharged’ Mitochondria Power Birds’ Epic Migratory Journeys

Scientists have long been fascinated with the physiological changes that birds undergo before and during migration. Some birds eat so much fat before their journeys that they double in body weight. In some species, their hearts are enlarged to pump more blood, or their digestive tracts grow and then shrink. But researchers have only recently started to explore at a fundamental level how migratory birds get the energy required to keep themselves aloft for days on end without eating.

Last year, two independent groups published research that explored migratory bird physiology in the lab and field to probe what happens at the subcellular level that allows birds to cover vast distances. They both found answers in biology’s most fundamental engine: mitochondria.

Their studies show how small changes in the number, shape, efficiency and interconnectedness of mitochondria can have huge physiological consequences that contribute to birds’ long-duration, continent-spanning flights.

UNM Scientists Discover How Nanoparticles of Toxic Metal Used in MRI Scans Infiltrate Human Tissue

University of New Mexico researchers studying the health risks posed by gadolinium, a toxic rare earth metal used in MRI scans, have found that oxalic acid, a molecule found in many foods, can generate nanoparticles of the metal in human tissues.

ISensor and iMedicine for Human Health

Diabetes has no well-established cure; thus, its management is critical for avoiding severe health complications involving multiple organs. This requires frequent glycaemia monitoring, and the gold standards for this are fingerstick tests. During the last decades, several blood-withdrawal-free platforms have been being studied to replace this test and to improve significantly the quality of life of people with diabetes (PWD). Devices estimating glycaemia level targeting blood or biofluids such as tears, saliva, breath and sweat, are gaining attention; however, most are not reliable, user-friendly and/or cheap. Given the complexity of the topic and the rise of diabetes, a careful analysis is essential to track scientific and industrial progresses in developing diabetes management systems. Here, we summarize the emerging blood glucose level (BGL) measurement methods and report some examples of devices which have been under development in the last decades, discussing the reasons for them not reaching the market or not being really non-invasive and continuous. After discussing more in depth the history of Raman spectroscopy-based researches and devices for BGL measurements, we will examine if this technique could have the potential for the development of a user-friendly, miniaturized, non-invasive and continuous blood glucose-monitoring device, which can operate reliably, without inter-patient variability, over sustained periods.

Diabetes is a lifelong disease that affects more than 400 millions of people worldwide (WHO. Diabetes, 2022). Emerging reports from the International Diabetes Federation state that diabetes is set to rise very fast, estimating 700 millions of cases in the next 25 years (IDF Diabetes Atlas, 2019). Among the various types of diabetes, all characterized by high blood glucose levels, the main two types are type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition where the pancreas produces little or no insulin, and type 2 diabetes, a metabolic disorder that results in hyperglycaemia due to insulin resistance. Diabetes, and related risk factors such as microvascular (retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy) and macrovascular metabolic disorders, is so widespread that it has been defined “the epidemic of the century” (Kharroubi, 2015).

Scientists Messed Around With LSD and Invented a New Brain-Healing Drug

Researchers at UC Davis have fiddled with LSD at the atomic level and may have unlocked a potential game-changing treatment for schizophrenia. The new compound, known as JRT, might be able to repair the brain without making you trip balls.

The scientists, who posted their findings in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were toying with LSD atoms when they decided to, in their own words, do a “tire rotation.” This meant swapping the position of two atoms in LSD’s molecular structure.

That tiny change turned it from a powerful hallucinogen into something that can regrow brain cells in mice and mend neural pathways without launching your consciousness into the cosmos.

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