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Category: biotech/medical – Page 272

Can Covert Infarcts Be Prevented in Patients with Stroke and Atrial Cardiopathy?

Aiming to reduce recurrent stroke in patients with embolic stroke of unknown source (ESUS), recent trials have compared direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) to aspirin, but results have been neutral. For example, the ARCADIA trial compared apixaban versus aspirin in patients with ESUS and evidence of atrial cardiopathy, finding no difference. Now, researchers report results of an MRI substudy of ARCADIA, in which patients underwent a baseline and end-of-study MRI. This analysis compares the rate of MRI-detected covert (silent), nonlacunar stroke in the two treatment groups.

Of the 1,015 patients in the parent trial, 310 patients enrolled in the MRI substudy, of whom 174 patients had image quality sufficient for analysis. In these 174 patients (mean age, 66 years; 48% women), the aspirin group had higher rates of diabetes (30% vs. 20%) and previous stroke or transient ischemic attack (26% vs. 15%). During a median follow-up of 811 days, the rate of covert nonlacunar infarcts was significantly lower in the apixaban group than the aspirin group (5% vs. 18%). However, rates of symptomatic nonlacunar stroke did not differ significantly between the two groups (4% apixaban, 8% aspirin; P =0.30).

This study is useful for hypothesis generation, but it is not conclusive. The patients in the MRI substudy were imbalanced in key baseline characteristics, and the small overall number of outcome events makes the results tenuous. Right now, DOACs are not first-line treatment for patients with ESUS-type strokes.

Using Bacteria as Living Test Tubes to Study Human Gene Mutations and Find New Drug Leads

Traditional biochemical methods of studying human gene mutations are often laborious and costly. Now bioengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new simple approach to rapidly check on human gene changes and also screen chemicals as potential drugs by turning everyday bacteria into living test tubes.

The researchers published their new study in the April 30 issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Human cells carry thousands of genes, and tiny changes in these genes can cause serious diseases. Usually, scientists study these changes by testing proteins in a test tube or in human cells. But those methods can be slow, expensive and sometimes hard to do.

Common Drug Reverses Devastating Gum Disease

Scientists have discovered that a medication already approved for treating multiple sclerosis and psoriasis shows remarkable promise in combating periodontitis, one of the leading causes of tooth loss worldwide.

Researchers from Wenzhou Medical University found that dimethyl fumarate (DMF) significantly reduced bone loss and inflammation in experimental models of gum disease by improving cellular “cleanup” mechanisms and shifting immune responses toward healing rather than destruction.

“Dimethyl fumarate’s ability to fine-tune macrophage polarization through mitophagy is a game-changer in periodontal therapy,” said Dr. Shengbin Huang, the study’s corresponding author. “By targeting the mitochondrial protein TUFM, we uncovered a molecular switch that controls the inflammatory response in gum tissue. These insights could redefine how we treat chronic inflammatory conditions beyond the oral cavity.”

Noninvasive Sound Wave Therapy Eases Depression and Anxiety

In the double-blind study, 29 patients with various mood and anxiety disorders received MRI-guided focused ultrasound to the left amygdala.

The results showed both immediate reductions in amygdala activity, and after three weeks of daily sessions, patients experienced clinically significant improvements in negative affect and symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD.

Say goodbye to everything we knew about our brain: scientists discover how it creates, stores and retrieves memories

Everything related to the human brain and neuroscience has always been an area in which specialists have said that there is much to discover, learn and investigate. In fact, the generation of memory in human beings, memories, and the different diseases that are clustered around the CPU of the body have always been constantly evolving.

Now, Dr. Tomas Ryan of Trinity College Dublin, a neuroscientist who has explored the issues of brain learning by tracking the cells involved in this process, has found new findings suggesting that memory formation depends on the connections between groups of engram cells, neurons thought to capture and store distinct experiences.

In this new research, the experts indicate that each experience leaves a pattern of neuronal activation that can be activated later, which would mean the creation of a memory. To reach this conclusion, the neuroscientists tracked two sets of engram cells, each linked to a different memory.

Boy with ‘death sentence’ disease living a normal life after breakthrough gene therapy

A four-year-old boy with a life-threatening immune disease is now living a normal life thanks to a pioneering gene therapy trial.

Eisa Hussain, who suffers from a severe form of leukocyte adhesion deficiency 1 (LAD-1), can now play football and attend school – milestones his family once thought impossible.

LAD-1 cripples the immune system, leaving children vulnerable to infections. Without treatment, the most severe cases are often fatal before the age of two.

New vaccine to treat 15 types of cancer now available on NHS

A new jab which allows cancer patients to be treated with just one injection is set to be rolled out by the NHS for 15 different types of the disease.

Patients will be able to receive the immunotherapy in a vaccine, called nivolumab, in a treatment that will take just 15 minutes rather than spending an hour on an IV drip.

Around 1,200 patients a month will receive it for 15 different types of cancer, including skin, bladder and oesophageal cancer as England becomes the first country in Europe to offer it.

Discovery that microglia can be effectively replaced could transform cell therapy for brain diseases

An international research team led by Professor Kiavash Movahedi from the Brussels Center for Immunology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has published unexpected results in the journal Immunity. Their study sheds new light on the possibility of effectively replacing defective microglia—the brain’s immune cells—marking a potential breakthrough in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Microglia are essential for healthy brain function. Defective are increasingly linked to the development of neurodegenerative disorders.

“Microglia are unique,” says Prof. Movahedi. “They originate early in and maintain themselves throughout life without being replaced by new cells from the blood. That makes them special, but also vulnerable.”

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