A surgical robot trained on real procedure videos performed a critical phase of gallbladder removal autonomously, adapting to unexpected situations and responding to voice commands.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 41
Catalase Activity in the Brain Is Associated with Recovery from Brain Injury in a Piglet Model of Traumatic Brain Injury
Background/Objectives: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a global leading cause of disability and death, with millions of new cases added each year. Oxidative stress significantly exacerbates primary TBI, leading to increased levels of intracerebral cell death, tissue loss, and long-term functional deficits in surviving patients. Catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) mitigate oxidative stress and play a critical role in dampening injury severity. This study examines the neuroprotective effects of the novel antioxidant alpha lipoic acid-based therapeutic, CMX-2043, on antioxidant enzymes in a preclinical TBI model via various drug administration routes. Methods: Piglets (n = 28) underwent cortical controlled impact to induce moderate–severe TBI and were assigned to placebo (n = 10), subcutaneous CMX-2043 (SQ, 10 mg/kg; n = 9), or intravenous CMX-2043 (IV, 9 mg/kg; n = 9) treatment groups. Treatments began 1 h after TBI induction and continued for 5 days. MRI was performed throughout the study period to evaluate brain recovery. Blood was collected at 1, 7, and 42 days post-TBI, and liver and brain tissues were collected at 42 days post-TBI to measure catalase and SOD activity. Results: CMX-2043 IV-treated piglets showed 46.3% higher hepatic catalase activity than placebo (p = 0.0038), while the SQ group did not show significant changes in hepatic catalase activity compared to placebo. In the brain, SQ-treated piglets had significantly higher catalase activity than both IV (p = 0.0163) and placebo (p = 0.0003) groups (45.8340 ± 3.0855, 36.4822 ± 1.5558, 31.6524 ± 1.3129 nmol/min/mg protein for SQ, IV, and placebo, respectively), while IV-treated piglets did not show significant changes compared to placebo. IV-treated piglets did exhibit 39.3% higher brain SOD activity than placebo (p = 0.0148), while the SQ group did not show a significant change. CMX-2043 treatment did not alter plasma antioxidant enzyme activity during the study period. Importantly, within CMX-2043 treated TBI groups, piglets with significantly decreased lesion volumes, midline shift, and combined swelling and atrophy had better brain recovery, determined by MRI on day 1, 7, and 42 days post-injury TBI, exhibited higher brain catalase activity at 42 days post-injury TBI regardless of administration route, suggesting a link between improved recovery and sustained local catalase activity. Conclusions: This study highlights the impact of administration route on tissue-specific antioxidant responses, with IV administration enhancing liver catalase and brain SOD activity, while SQ administration primarily elevated brain catalase activity. In addition, this study shows an association between increased brain catalase activity and decreased TBI brain lesioning, midline shift, and combined swelling and atrophy, thus emphasizing the role of antioxidant defenses in neuroprotection post-injury.
Looking to study neurological conditions, researchers produce over 400 different types of nerve cells
Nerve cells are not just nerve cells. Depending on how finely we distinguish, there are several hundred to several thousand different types of nerve cells in the human brain, according to the latest calculations. These cell types vary in their function, in the number and length of their cellular appendages, and in their interconnections. They emit different neurotransmitters into our synapses, and depending on the region of the brain—for example, the cerebral cortex or the midbrain—different cell types are active.
When scientists produced nerve cells from stem cells in Petri dishes for their experiments in the past, it was not possible to take their vast diversity into account. Until now, researchers had only developed procedures for growing a few dozen different types of nerve cell in vitro. They achieved this using genetic engineering or by adding signaling molecules to activate particular cellular signaling pathways. However, they never got close to achieving the diversity of hundreds or thousands of different nerve cell types that actually exist.
“Neurons derived from stem cells are frequently used to study diseases. But up to now, researchers have often ignored which precise types of neuron they are working with,” says Barbara Treutlein, Professor at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel.
Illuminated sugars show how microbes eat the ocean’s carbon
A team of chemists, microbiologists and ecologists has designed a molecular probe (a molecule designed to detect proteins or DNA inside an organism, for example) that lights up when a sugar is consumed.
In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they now describe how the probe helps researchers study the microscopic tug-of-war between algae and microbial degraders in the ocean.
“Sugars are ubiquitous in marine ecosystems, yet it’s still unclear whether or how microbes can degrade them all,” says Jan-Hendrik Hehemann from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology and the MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, both located in Bremen.
New wearable device that mimics CT scans delivers continuous monitoring for heart and lung patients
Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind wearable device capable of continuously scanning the lungs and heart of hospital patients while they rest in bed – offering a revolutionary alternative to CT scans.
The belt-like device, attached around a patient’s chest, uses ultrasound and works like a CT scanner. Rather than taking an isolated snapshot, it can produce a series of dynamic, high-resolution images of the heart, lungs and internal organs over time, giving doctors deeper insight into a patient’s condition. The device can be worn in bed and also reduces the need for repeated trips to radiology or exposure to doses of ionising radiation.
The breakthrough device has been developed at the University of Bath in collaboration with Polish technology company Netrix and is detailed in a recent publication in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.
Groundbreaking sensor technology promises safer, real-time monitoring for hospitalised cardiothoracic patients.
Breakthrough by Shanghai doctors uses stem cells to cure diabetes
Doctors in Shanghai have, for the first time in the world, cured a patient’s diabetes through the transplantation of pancreatic cells derived from stem cells.
The 59-year-old man, who had Type 2 diabetes for 25 years, has been completely weaned off insulin for 33 months, Shanghai Changzheng Hospital announced on May 7.
A paper about the medical breakthrough, achieved after more than a decade of endeavor by a team of doctors at the hospital, was published on the website of the journal Cell Discovery on April 30.
It is the first reported instance in the world of a case of diabetes with severely impaired pancreatic islet function being cured via stem cell-derived autologous, regenerative islet transplantation, the hospital said. The most common pancreatic islet cells produce insulin.
(Circa 2024)
Exercise Improves Anticancer Immunity Through Gut Microbes
Exercise is extremely important, especially if we don’t move around much at work. There are plenty of apps and watches that can tell us when to move and be active. Primary care physicians emphasize exercise as a preventive measure against symptoms of aging. We are told that consistent exercise with a healthy diet is crucial for a high quality of life. As a result, we are all trying new diets and exercise routines to improve our health. Interestingly, there are specific regimens for individuals at different stages of life. Even cancer patients are encouraged to maintain as much of an active lifestyle as possible. However, how much does exercise really affect our health in cancer? Couldn’t we just each healthier?
A research group at the University of Pittsburgh discovered that exercise directly alters gut microbes which improve anticancer immunity. The paper published in Cell, by Dr. Marlies Meisel, Catherine Phelps, and others, demonstrated the mechanism that occurs in the gut after exercising. Meisel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology at the University at Pittsburgh. Catherine Phelps is a talented graduate student in the Meisel Lab and first author on the publication. Meisel’s research focuses on the mechanisms of the microbiota and its effect on systemic immunity. Specifically, she works to understand the role of the microbiome in the context of cancer and autoimmune disorders to improve therapeutic outcomes.
Previous work in the field demonstrated that exercise improves cancer therapy. Additionally, it was known that exercise changes the gut microbiome, which includes various bacteria that is helpful to the body. However, there was a gap missing between these two findings. Meisel and her team set out to understand how these two ideas were linked. Specifically, they wanted to know how exercise changes the gut microbiome to improve cancer immunotherapy. Catherine and other researchers in the Meisel Lab had mice exercise for four weeks in one group and had another group that did not exercise. When they implanted tumors, they found that the mice that exercised had smaller tumors compared to the no-exercise group. However, when researchers conducted the same experiment with mice that were germ-free or treated with antibiotics to eliminate the gut microbiome, they lost the change in tumor growth.
