Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2022

  • A recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) claims 2.6 million people die every year in middle and low-income countries from incorrect medical care.
  • The report, which was published before the first-ever World Patient Safety Day on September 17, reveals that five people die every minute from incorrect medical care.
  • The health agency says the most common errors occur in diagnosis, prescription and use of medicines and that the deaths are completely preventable.
  • The cost of prescribing the wrong medication alone is $42 billion a year.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Every year, 2.6 million people die in middle and low-income countries because of incorrect medical care, according to a recent report published by the World Health Organization (WHO). The health agency is hoping to shed light on the issue by launching a campaign in solidarity with patients on the first-ever World Patient Safety Day on September 17.

“No one should be harmed while receiving health care. And yet globally, at least 5 patients die every minute because of unsafe care,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

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Some of the most important tools in the toolbox of modern cell biologists are special chunks of DNA that act like spies, reporting on the cell’s function. The markers, known as reporter genes, allow researchers to get a sense for what cells are doing by watching genetic programs embedded in their DNA turn on and off.

Reporter genes work by encoding proteins that can be seen from outside the cell. One particularly popular reporter gene encodes something called the (GFP), which, true to its name, is a protein that glows bright green. So, if a researcher wants to learn more about how cells become neurons, they can insert the GFP gene alongside a neuronal gene into an embryo’s DNA. When the embryo’s cells turn on the neuron gene, they will also express the GFP gene, and the cells will glow green, making it easy for the researcher to see that the genetic program that encodes neuron formation is active.

As useful as this technique has been, it has a big limitation: Because light does not penetrate well through most living tissue, the GFP gene cannot be used for monitoring the activity of cells deep inside an organism. But now, Caltech’s Mikhail Shapiro has a solution. A team consisting of Shapiro, professor of chemical engineering and investigator with the Heritage Medical Research Institute, graduate student Arash Farhadi, and their colleagues, has developed a reporter gene that allows them to see genetic activity using ultrasound, which can penetrate deeply through tissue, instead of light.

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Raphael Mechoulam, an Israeli organic chemist and professor of medicinal chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, remembers the letdown after his groundbreaking discoveries surrounding the structure of the cannabis compounds CBD and THC in 1963 and 1964, followed by clinical tests with CBD published in 1980.

“Not much happened,” Mechoulam said, noting that it would take more than 30 years before his clinical work on using CBD, or cannabidiol, to treat epilepsy became widely accepted. Greenwich Biosciences, which is owned by GW Pharmaceuticals, was able to develop the first cannabis-derived drug that built on Mechoulam’s research. The drug, Epidiolex, treats seizures associated with two rare forms of epilepsy and was approved by the FDA only last year.

But even as his work laid the foundation for the modern cannabis industry and for understanding how cannabis interacts with the human body, a white whale eluded research: cannabis acids, which are compounds that are produced in the plant when it is alive and may be more potent than their better-known derivatives, such as CBD and THC.

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Aging is the biggest risk factor for cancer, but the mechanisms linking these two processes remain unclear. Using GTEx and TCGA data, we compared genes differentially expressed with age and genes differentially expressed in cancer among nine human tissues. In most tissues, aging and cancer gene expression pattern changed in the opposite direction. The exception was thyroid and uterus, where we found transcriptomic changes in the same direction in aging and in their corresponding cancers. The overlapping sets between genes differentially expressed with age and genes differentially expressed in cancer across tissues were enriched for several processes, mainly cell cycle and the immune system. Moreover, cellular senescence signatures, derived from a meta‐analysis, changed in the same direction as aging in human tissues and in the opposite direction of cancer signatures. Therefore, transcriptomic changes in aging and in cellular senescence might relate to a decrease in cell proliferation, while cancer transcriptomic changes shift toward enhanced cell division. Our results highlight the complex relationship between aging and cancer and suggest that, while in general aging processes might be opposite to cancer, the transcriptomic links between human aging and cancer are tissue‐specific.

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When the structure of DNA was elucidated in 1953, an unimaginable world of possibilities was opened. But we couldn’t even begin to dream about how we would go about using such powerful knowledge. Thirty years later, PCR — the process to replicate DNA in the lab — was developed, and innovation exploded. In 2001 — nearly twenty years ago — the first full human genome was sequenced and published.

The information we’ve uncovered through DNA is enabling us to explore and develop solutions for a variety of problems, from how to mimic human disease in animal models to finding new treatments and cures for devastating diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Our ability to engineer biology is making DNA even more powerful. We are building upon the blueprint that was already there, strengthening it, giving it new and improved functions, and leveraging its characteristics to do useful things for us. Perfect examples include engineering the genomes of T cells to turn them into highly specific cancer fighters or modifying bacteria to produce useful products like insulin, food ingredients, or bioplastics. We are even beginning to use DNA to store information, perhaps one day replacing the physical hard drive.

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Great Diet Information: #Longevity

Inflammation is also called the silent killer. It is silent because as your body struggles with inflammation, it also does all it can to maintain balance. This means that symptoms are sometimes hard to decipher and can even be hidden for some time.

Inflammation can be a good thing

A little bit of inflammation is a good thing, a lot can be extremely dangerous. When we are injured or sick, the immune system jump into gear and brings an army of white blood cells to the area of concern by increasing blood flow. For instance, when you get a cut or a scrape it generally becomes puffy, red and hot. This is inflammation – more white blood cells have arrived to handle the situation. Acute inflammation is how the body responds to foreign pathogens – it protects us from harm.

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Researchers at the Buck Institute, including Dr. Judy Campisi, have published a new study that shows, for the first time, that senescent cells are associated with age-related blood clots [1].

As we get older, increasing numbers of our cells enter into a state known as cellular senescence. Senescent cells do not divide or support the tissues of which they are part; instead, they emit a range of potentially harmful chemical signals known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), which encourages nearby healthy cells to enter the same senescent state.

The presence of high levels of SASP reduces tissue repair, increases chronic inflammation, and can even raise the risk of cancer and other age-related diseases.

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Well, it’s sound weird but in the upcoming future, your toilet will be your mini doctor. A company called Micron is developing a smart artificial intelligence-powered toilet that will reportedly be able to diagnose your state of health and risk of disease by analyzing your bodily waste.

The major goal of this technology is to analyze bowel movements and recognize the signs for health issues or ailments early on. This information will also use to understand early symptoms of certain diseases.

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