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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,889

Scientists unveil a giant leap for anti-aging

I was under the impression that human trials were already underway, but this says they will start in 6 months.

UNSW researchers have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing, improves DNA repair and could even help NASA get its astronauts to Mars.

In a paper published in Science today, the team identifies a critical step in the molecular process that allows cells to repair damaged DNA.

Their experiments in mice suggest a treatment is possible for DNA damage from ageing and radiation. It is so promising it has attracted the attention of NASA, which believes the treatment can help its Mars mission.

Researchers find a way to reverse antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

A team of researchers from Sweden, France, Belgium and Switzerland has found a way to reverse resistance to an antibiotic drug used to treat tuberculosis. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they screened compounds that activated different pathways to activate ethionaide, a compound used to treat tuberculosis.

The researchers are currently working with GlaxoSmithKline and Biotech Bioversys to further develop the small prototype molecule into a drug that can be mass produced and sold.

(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers from Sweden, France, Belgium and Switzerland has found a way to reverse resistance to an antibiotic drug used to treat tuberculosis. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they screened compounds that activated different pathways to activate ethionaide, a compound used to treat tuberculosis.

The development of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections has very clearly made the world a healthier place. Unfortunately, over time, bacteria have been evolving to thwart such compounds, putting us all at risk once again. Because of that, scientists have been searching for new treatments, or in some cases, ways to make old treatments work again using new techniques. In this new effort, the researchers have found a way to make ethionaide, a prodrug (a compound that is metabolized in the body to produce a desired drug), become effective again in patients infected with of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Ethionaide was developed back in the late 1950s as a treatment for tuberculosis. It is activated by an enzyme called EthA found in the bacteria—once activated, ethionaide attacks the bacteria. Over time, many strains of M. tuberculosis have become resistant to ethionaide by developing EthA mutations that do not activate the compound, making it useless as a treatment. To get around this problem, the researchers searched for and found a prototype molecule called SMARt-420 that activates ethionaide by taking a different route—interacting with a secondary gene. The team has found that giving patients a dose of the small molecule after administering a dose of ethionaide restored the lattter’s ability to destroy a range of M. tuberculosis—testing showed it reduced the bacterial load found in patient lungs after just three weeks—similar to the effectiveness of ethionaide alone against M. prior to the develop of resistance.

Trump signs NASA funding bill to send astronauts to Mars

President Donald Trump has signed a bill authorizing $19.5 billion in funding for NASA, which includes an increased focus on deep space exploration and a new goal of a manned mission to Mars.

The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017, or S. 442, provides funding for fiscal year 2018, which begins October 1. It specifically appropriates money for NASA’s deep space exploration, including the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft, as well as for the ongoing medical monitoring and treatment of astronauts. It builds on the current public-private partnership for space, with commercial companies transporting American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and NASA focusing on deep space and the mission to Mars.

Why Mary Lou Jepsen Left Facebook: To Transform Health Care and Invent Consumer Telepathy

“Yep, transforming health care and telepathy, those are the items on her to-do list. Jepsen plans to achieve both goals with a cheap wearable device that her engineers are now tinkering with in the lab. And then there’s the side benefit of reinvigorating the tired consumer electronics industry, which Jepsen thinks is due for the next big thing.

Jepsen was at SXSW to give a talk about Openwater, her new startup. While the company is still conducting R&D to decide on its first products, Jepsen feels the need to speak out now about what she’s building and how she thinks her technology could radically change society. She wants to give people fair warning and time to think about what’s coming. “I know it seems outlandish to be talking about telepathy, but it’s completely solid physics and mathematical principles—it’s in reach in the next three years,” she says.

Plus, she’s sick of stealth mode. “I haven’t been able to to talk about what I’ve been doing for five and half years while I was at Google and Facebook, and I don’t think secrecy is useful,” she says. She left Facebook in August, and in September she filed patents for her Openwater technology, which she expects to be issued any day now.

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