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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,423

Hesperos’ multi-organ ‘human-on-a-chip’ found effective for long-term toxicology testing

The replacement of animals as test subjects is one step closer to reality with the successful testing of multi-organ “human-on-a-chip” models to recapitulate the 28-day experiments typically used in animals to evaluate the systemic toxicity of drug and cosmetic compounds. As published and featured as a frontispiece in the prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials, the microfluidic device with interlinking modules containing human-derived heart, liver, skeletal muscle and nervous system cells was able to maintain cellular viability and record cellular function in real-time for 28 days.

The University of Central Florida (UCF) in collaboration with the Florida biotech firm Hesperos, Inc., has shown that one of its innovative four-organ in vitro (out of body) model systems is able to realistically replicate in vivo (in body) responses to sustained drug dosing of human cells.

“The technology could allow us, in the very near future, to move chronic drug experiments from animal models to these novel human in vitro models,” said Hesperos Chief Scientist James J. Hickman, who is a Professor at UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center.

Compound Created to Help Reconstruct Myelin in Multiple Sclerosis

Another magical flavonoid!

Researchers have created a compound, that when tested in mice, was able to promote the reconstruction of the myelin sheath surrounding neuronal axons. These findings could pave the way to a new treatment for combating demyelinating conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The findings were published in Glia. “I think we’ll know in about a year if this is the exact right drug to try in human clinical trials,” explained senior study author Larry Sherman, Ph.D., in a recent press release.

“If it’s not, we know from the mouse studies that this approach can work. The question is, can this drug be adapted to bigger human brains?”

What is myelin?

Fasting for 72 Hours Can Reboot the Entire Immune System, Research Shows

Anybody can cook, even if it’s only a fried egg – but not just anyone has the discipline to fast. This ancient practice of abstaining from eating for a day, or sometimes even a week or more has a history of curing a whole host of health problems, but even a brief fast can completely re-boot your immune system.

This practice isn’t without criticism by modern nutritionists and unbelievers, but research implies that when the body is hungry in short spurts, it can kick-start stem cells into producing new white blood cells.

White blood cells, also known as leukocytes, are the cells which the immune system uses to fight against foreign invaders like viruses and bad bacteria.

Meet the 8 Tech Titans Investing in Synthetic Biology

“DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.” Bill Gates wrote this in 1995, long before synthetic biology – a scientific discipline focused on reading, writing, and editing DNA – was being harnessed to program living cells. Today, the cost to order a custom DNA sequence has fallen faster than Moore’s law; perhaps that’s why the Microsoft founder is turning a significant part of his attention, and wallet, towards this exciting field.

Bill Gates is not the only tech founder billionaire that sees a parallel between bits and biology, either. Many other tech founders – the same people that made their money programming 1s and 0s – are now investing in biotech founders poised to make their own fortunes by programming A’s, T’s, G’s and C’s.

The industry has raised more than $12.3B in the last 10 years and last year, 98 synthetic biology companies collectively raised $3.8 billion, compared to just under $400 million total invested less than a decade ago. Synthetic biology companies are disrupting nearly every industry, from agriculture to medicine to cell-based meats. Engineered microorganisms are even being used to produce more sustainable fabrics and manufacture biofuels from recycled carbon emissions.

Scientists Develop Gel That Can Regrow Tooth Enamel

Lifeb.

Once tooth enamel breaks or wears away it’s over – it doesn’t grow back. That’s why dentists have to plug in the gaps with artificial fillings. But now, a team of scientists from China’s Zhejiang University and Jiujiang Research Institute says it has finally figured out how to regrow tooth enamel, a development that could totally upend dental care. The team developed a gel that has been found to help mouse teeth regrow enamel within 48 hours. The research has been published in the journal Science Advances.

parts of the tooth
What exactly is enamel and why can’t it regrow? It is a mineralized substance with a highly complicated structure that covers the surface of teeth. The structure is made up of enamel rods interwoven with inter-rods in a fish scale pattern which makes it the hardest tissue in the human body. It is initially formed biologically but once mature it becomes acellular, meaning it becomes devoid of the ability to self-repair. This is why cavities (tooth decay) are one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in humans.

Enamel is so complex that its structure has yet to be duplicated correctly artificially. Resins, ceramics and amalgam fillings can mend the problem but they are not a forever fix. The fact that they are made of foreign materials means they can’t achieve a permanent repair. The new gel made by the Chinese scientists is different because it is made of the same material as enamel. It is made by mixing calcium and phosphate ions – both minerals which are found in enamel – with the chemical called triethylamine in an alcohol solution.

The first observation of a stable torus of fluid’s resonance frequencies

A team of researchers at Laroche Laboratory, Université Paris Diderot and Université de Lyon has recently collected the first measurements of the resonance frequencies of a stable torus of fluid. The method they used to collect these observations, outlined in a paper published in Physical Review Letters, could enable the modeling of a variety of large-scale structures that transiently arise in vortex rings.

Vortex rings are torus-shaped vortexes that can appear in both liquids and gases in a variety of settings. In nature, there are several examples of these vortex rings, including underwater bubble rings produced by divers or dolphins, smoke rings, and blood rings in the human heart.

“Although it has been shown that the dynamics of a vortex ring are dominated by large-scale structures at its periphery, the mechanisms governing their appearance are not well understood, reflecting to a large extent the experimental difficulties in generating a stable liquid torus under well-controlled conditions,” Eric Falcon, one of the researchers who carried out the recent study, told Phys.org. “It is in this context that we wanted to make a fluid ring stable.”

World’s First Surviving Septuplets

Many of us would love to have a baby, some of us even two or three. But what about having seven of them? It might sound manageable, but now think about having all seven of them at the same time. In the age of medical innovation, fertility treatment has aided many women in getting pregnant. This is the story of a couple who couldn’t have a baby, and then had seven. The years have passed, and now those little septuplets are young adults, making them the oldest surviving septuplets. What a journey it has been for the McCaughey family.

It seems natural to have a baby, and recently it has become natural to take advantage of medical innovation to help you get there. In the case of women who can’t fall pregnant, there are some different methods of getting there. Fertility treatment isn’t uncommon and it is practiced in many countries across the globe. Even though it is an accepted method in many places, there are those that aren’t in favor of it. Some religious groups believe that it is against God’s will to interfere with the natural course of creating life. Their claim is that if God wants to give life he will, and if it is not meant to be then it will not materialize.

Artificial Intelligence Detects Heart Failure From One Heartbeat With 100% Accuracy

Amazing 100% I hope it is real and next we can detect more diseases easier and more accurate.

Doctors can detect heart failure from a single heartbeat with 100% accuracy using a new artificial intelligence-driven neural network.

That’s according to a recent study published in Biomedical Signal Processing and Control Journal, which explores how emerging technology can improve existing methods of detecting congestive heart failure.

Led by researchers at the Universities of Surrey, Warwick and Florence, it shows that AI can quickly and accurately identify CHF by analyzing one electrocardiogram (ECG) heartbeat.

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