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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,326

  • In an age where innovative technologies like gene and cell therapy are transforming how we think about medical treatments, some CEOs are wondering what’s being left on the table.
  • Business Insider spoke to three companies developing new uses for old drugs, and they told us now might be a good time to rethink what we consider innovation.
  • Simply changing how drugs are dosed or delivered could open up the doors to more uses for existing medications in tough-to-treat conditions like female sexual arousal dysfunction or antibiotic-resistant infections.

The key to tackling hard-to-treat diseases could have less to do with flashy new technologies than with finding new uses for old drugs.

A range of smaller drugmakers are exploring the back catalogs of big pharma companies to discover old drugs that could be used in new ways, they told Business Insider. They’re seeking treatments for conditions including a rare lung disease, antibiotic-resistant infections, and female sexual arousal disorder. Along the way, they’re seeking to redefine what we think of as medical innovation.

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NK-cell function appears to be impaired during spaceflights over long durations according to a new study published this week. This means that immune systems could be broken down somewhat during the long trips NASA hopes to take with astronauts in the distant future. The research here was done by a team of researchers at the University of Arizona, the University of Houston, Louisiana State University, and NASA-Johnson Space Center.

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Artificial intelligence, or AI is something we hear a lot about today. In this interview with Life.

Extension’s Michael A. Smith, MD, Kristen Willeumier, PhD, provides some insight into AI technology and its relationship with psychiatry which, along with neurology, studies and treats diseases of the brain. Dr. Smith predicts that AI will soon be an important part of how we understand and treat disease. According to Dr. Willeumier, some of that technology is now “ready for prime time.” Download this Live Foreverish podcast episode for FREE on iTunes!

Artificial intelligence is, simply, the intelligence of machines as opposed to human or animal intelligence. According to the New World Encyclopedia™, “Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science and engineering that deals with intelligent behavior, learning, and adaptation in machines. John McCarthy coined the term to mean ‘the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.’”.

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Ophthalmology company Kejako (Geneva, Switzerland) has developed what it calls a noninvasive “Phakorestoration” process, whereby a laser patterns the lens of the eye of a presbyopia patient to restore clear vision just at the level needed for the patient to avoid wearing eyeglasses. This Phakorestoration process is repeated at intervals spanning several years over a patient’s lifetime, prolonging glasses-free vision for as long as 20 years.

By modeling the complete optical parameters of the human eye using COMSOL Multiphysics software, a prescription for a series of noninvasive laser procedures for presbyopia patients can provide glasses-free vision for more than 20 years.

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Many people are at the very least iffy about the idea of extending human healthy lifespan through medical biotechnologies that prevent age-related diseases essentially by rejuvenating the body. Even people who accept the possibility that such therapies can be developed are not convinced that developing them is a good idea, and there are only a few arguments that most people use. These arguments can actually be easily adapted to make a case against the medicine that already exists, which the vast majority of people on the planet currently benefit from—and the consensus is virtually universal that people who do not yet benefit from it should be given this opportunity as soon as possible.

The question is: would people who accept these arguments as valid objections to rejuvenation accept them also as valid objections against “normal” medicine? For example, how many present-day people would agree with what these two people from the 1600s are talking about?

A – Did you hear about John’s son?

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Both genes and the environment shape a person’s risk of disease, but while genes are frequently cataloged, perturbed, activated, turned off and systematically tested in the lab, environmental exposures are often studied as one-offs. Now Harvard Medical School investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed an approach to systematically and simultaneously evaluate the effects of hundreds of environmental factors on the development of neurological diseases.

Through a series of investigations, the team has identified environmental factors that boost neurological inflammation, including an herbicide used in the United States but currently banned in Europe. Details of the team’s approach and findings are published Jan. 17 in Cell.

Get more HM news here.

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