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Category: biotech/medical – Page 348

Researchers in the US have developed a synthetic molecular structure called the Ribo-T, and it can be placed inside a living cell to produce specialised proteins and enzymes at almost the same efficiency as an actual ribosome.

Found inside all living cells, ribosomes are dense, complex structures that catalyse a constant stream of protein chains by linking amino acids together in the order specified by messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules. These cellular workhorses are basically in charge of decoding your DNA, and now scientists have manufactured a molecular device that can not only produce protein chains in a test-tube almost as well as a real ribosome, but can also churn out enough protein in bacterial cells without any natural ribosomes to keep them alive.

The team, with researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University, says not only will the Ribo-T help them to better understand how our own ribosomes function, but it could lead to more effective drugs and next-gen biomaterials, with these little protein factors churning out whatever we need.

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Diamond is a promising material for the biomedical field, mainly due to its set of characteristics such as biocompatibility, strength, and electrical conductivity. Diamond can be synthesised in the laboratory by different methods, is available in the form of plates or films deposited on foreign substrates, and its morphology varies from microcrystalline diamond to ultrananocrystalline diamond. In this review, we summarise some of the most relevant studies regarding the adhesion of cells onto diamond surfaces, the consequent cell growth, and, in some very interesting cases, the differentiation of cells into neurons and oligodendrocytes. We discuss how different morphologies can affect cell adhesion and how surface termination can influence the surface hydrophilicity and consequent attachment of adherent proteins.

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Everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, but mutations in these genes—which can be inherited—increase the risk of breast and .

The study found that the in breast tissue of healthy women carrying BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations show signs of malfunction known as exhaustion. This suggests that the immune cells can’t clear out damaged breast cells, which can eventually develop into breast cancer.

This is the first time that exhausted immune cells have been reported in non-cancerous breast tissues at such scale—normally these cells are only found in late-stage tumors. The results raise the possibility of using existing immunotherapy drugs as early intervention to prevent breast cancer developing, in carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

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In a new study, AI processed text from health histories and neurologic examinations to locate lesions in the brain. The study, which looked specifically at the large language model called generative pre-trained transformer 4 (GPT-4), is published in the online issue of Neurology Clinical Practice.

A can cause long-term disability or even death. Knowing where a stroke has occurred in the brain helps predict long-term effects such as problems with speech and language or a person’s ability to move part of their body. It can also help determine the and a person’s overall prognosis.

Damage to the from a stroke is called a lesion. A neurologic exam can help locate , when paired with a review of a person’s health history. The exam involves symptom evaluation and thinking and memory tests. People with stroke often have brain scans to locate lesions.

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On 28 March it’s the 60th anniversary of the discovery of Epstein-Barr virus, the most common viral infection in humans. The virus was first discovered in association with a rare type of cancer located in Africa, but is now understood to be implicated in 1% of cancers, as well as the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis. Ian Sample meets Lawrence Young, professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical School, to hear the story of this virus, and how it might help us prevent and treat cancer and other illnesses.

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On social media, a bizarre trend seems to be emerging: surprise pregnancies when taking the diabetes drug Ozempic and its sister weight loss shot Wegovy.

As People reports, there are a few reasons why people might be getting pregnant unexpectedly when taking these semaglutide-based injectable drugs.

For one thing, Dr. Iman Saleh — an obstetrician, gynecologist, and obesity medicine doctor at New York’s Northwell Health system — tells People that through a roundabout mechanism, the weight people lose on these drugs may be making them more fertile.

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