Research subjects at the University of Minnesota fitted with a specialized noninvasive EEG brain cap were able to move a robotic arm in three dimensions just by imagining moving their own arms (credit: University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering)
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have achieved a “major breakthrough” that allows people to control a robotic arm in three dimensions, using only their minds. The research has the potential to help millions of people who are paralyzed or have neurodegenerative diseases.
The open-access study is published online today in Scientific Reports, a Nature research journal.
IBM Watson is known for its work in identifying cancer treatments and beating contestants on Jeopardy! But now the computing system has expertise in a new area of research: neuroscience.
Watson discovered five genes linked to ALS, sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease, IBM announced on Wednesday. The tech company worked with researchers at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. The discovery is Watson’s first in any type of neuroscience, and suggests that Watson could make discoveries in research of other neurological diseases.
Sometimes a drug intended for one purpose turns out to have other uses. Metformin, a treatment for type 2 diabetes, may prove effective in treating cancer.
Researchers are a step closer to figuring out how metformin may help prevent cancer.
Metformin is generally used to treat type 2 diabetes. The drug helps the body use insulin more effectively.
Senescent cell removal holds great potential but are all research approaches equal?
Some scientific commentary on senescent cell clearing (Senolytics) and the different approaches the research community is engaged in.
“Researchers are taking two broad approaches to cellular senescence at the present time. The first is to build therapies that can selectively destroy senescent cells, following the SENS rejuvenation model of periodic removal of damage. If the number of senescent cells is managed so as to keep that count low, then they will not cause further harm. This has the advantage of being straightforward and requiring little further research to put into practice. A range of demonstrated treatments and potential treatments already exist — gene therapies, immunotherapies, senolytic drugs, and so forth — and companies such as Oisin Biotechnologies and UNITY Biotechnology are bringing some of these technologies to the clinic.”
Our society has never aged more rapidly – one of the most visible symptoms of the changing demographics is the exponential increase in the incidence of age-related diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and osteoarthritis. Not only does aging have a negative effect on the quality of life among the elderly but it also causes a significant financial strain on both private and public sectors. As the proportion of older people is increasing so is health care spending. According to a WHO analysis, the annual number of new cancer cases is projected to rise to 17 million by 2020, and reach 27 million by 2030. Similar trends are clearly visible in other age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease. Few effective treatments addressing these challenges are currently available and most of them focus on a single disease rather than adopting a more holistic approach to aging.
Recently a new approach which has the potential of significantly alleviating these problems has been validated by a number of in vivo and in vitro studies. It has been demonstrated that senescent cells (cells which have ceased to replicate due to stress or replicative capacity exhaustion) are linked to many age-related diseases. Furthermore, removing senescent cells from mice has been recently shown to drastically increase mouse healthspan (a period of life free of serious diseases).
Here at CellAge we are working hard to help translate these findings into humans!
Our society has never aged more rapidly – one of the most visible symptoms of the changing demographics is the exponential increase in the incidence of age-related diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and osteoarthritis. Not only does aging have a negative effect on the quality of life among the elderly but it also causes a significant financial strain on both private and public sectors. As the proportion of older people is increasing so is health care spending. According to a WHO analysis, the annual number of new cancer cases is projected to rise to 17 million by 2020, and reach 27 million by 2030. Similar trends are clearly visible in other age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease. Few effective treatments addressing these challenges are currently available and most of them focus on a single disease rather than adopting a more holistic approach to aging.
Recently a new approach which has the potential of significantly alleviating these problems has been validated by a number of in vivo and in vitro studies. It has been demonstrated that senescent cells (cells which have ceased to replicate due to stress or replicative capacity exhaustion) are linked to many age-related diseases. Furthermore, removing senescent cells from mice has been recently shown to drastically increase mouse healthspan (a period of life free of serious diseases).
Here at CellAge we are working hard to help translate these findings into humans!
Cellular senescence is a complicated process but here it is explained in a simple infographic. The removal of senescent cells (senolytics) is a very hot topic right now and it represents the arrival of the first of the SENS therapies.
CellAge is one of the companies engaged in senolytic research and they are running a campaign on Lifespan.io if you would like to learn more about them.
By removing senescent cells from culture prior to transplant.
Designing synthetic promoters for safe and precise targeting of dysfunctional “senescent” cells, with the aim of developing senolytic gene therapies to remove them.
Lilly announced today that CYRAMZA® (ramucirumab) has been approved by the Singapore Health Sciences Authority to treat people with advanced gastric cancer, whose cancer has progressed after prior chemotherapy. First country in ASEAN to approve the new biologic therapy that extends survival in patients with advanced stomach cancer after prior chemotherapy
CYRAMZA® (ramucirumab) is now available to Singaporeans living with advanced gastric cancer. The drug gained approval by Singapore’s Health Science’s Authority (HSA) earlier this year, marking the first regulatory approval in ASEAN. CYRAMZA is already available to patients in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Now that’s an idea; education for systems. I can see the online university advertisements now showing an autonomous car beeping and flashing its lights over the enjoyment of graduating.
What if I told you to tie your shoes, but you had no laces? Or to cook dinner, but you had no pots or pans.
There are certain tools we need to succeed, which we often don’t have access to or are held back by a gatekeeper.
