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Category: biotech/medical – Page 48

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects approximately 1% of people over the age of 60 and 5% of those over the age of 85. Current drugs for Parkinson’s disease mainly affect the symptoms and cannot stop its progression. Nanotechnology provides a solution to address some challenges in therapy, such as overcoming the blood-brain barrier (BBB), adverse pharmacokinetics, and the limited bioavailability of therapeutics. The reformulation of drugs into nanoparticles (NPs) can improve their biodistribution, protect them from degradation, reduce the required dose, and ensure target accumulation. Furthermore, appropriately designed nanoparticles enable the combination of diagnosis and therapy with a single nanoagent.

In recent years, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been studied with increasing interest due to their intrinsic nanozyme activity. They can mimic the action of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidase. The use of 13-nm gold nanoparticles (CNM-Au8®) in bicarbonate solution is being studied as a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease and other neurological illnesses. CNM-Au8® improves remyelination and motor functions in experimental animals.

Among the many techniques for nanoparticle synthesis, green synthesis is increasingly used due to its simplicity and therapeutic potential. Green synthesis relies on natural and environmentally friendly materials, such as plant extracts, to reduce metal ions and form nanoparticles. Moreover, the presence of bioactive plant compounds on their surface increases the therapeutic potential of these nanoparticles. The present article reviews the possibilities of nanoparticles obtained by green synthesis to combine the therapeutic effects of plant components with gold.

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Biomarker for Parkinson’s disease using single extracellular vesicle detection assay.

Detecting minute amounts of neuronally derived biomarkers in the massive protein excess of easily accessible biofluids such as blood is challenging.

The researchers develop a droplet-based microfluidic immunoassay for multiplexed quantification of membrane associated proteins at single extracellular-vesicle (EV) resolution.

They identify membrane-associated a-synuclein on the surface of neuronal EVs and demonstrate that it is increased under pathological conditions and in individuals at risk of or with Parkinson’s disease. https://sciencemission.com/Single-extracellular-vesicle-detection-assay

Yan et al. develop a droplet-based microfluidic immunoassay for multiplexed quantification of membrane-associated proteins at single-extracellular-vesicle (EV) resolution. They identify membrane-associated α-synuclein on the surface of neuronal EVs and demonstrate that it is increased under pathological conditions and in individuals at risk of or with Parkinson’s disease.

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Cases of the fungal infection Candida auris are rising rapidly and coming from more sources too, a new US study reveals.

C. auris was first reported in the US in 2016 and is considered an “urgent antimicrobial resistance threat” in hospitals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Focusing on a large health system in Miami, Florida, the new research found that reported clinical cases had risen from 5 in 2019 to 115 in 2023 – a considerable jump of 2,200 percent in four years.

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This meta-analysis using individual patient data assesses which components of collaborative care are most effective in reducing symptoms of depression in primary care.

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As our bodies grow, cells proliferate to form tissues, and cells frequently have to be repaired or replaced throughout life. But the genome can also become less stable over time, or may pick up mutations that can lead to disease; these and other processes can cause cells to enter a state in which they stop dividing, known as senescence. Senescent cells become more common as we age. There also tends to be more inflammation as we age, but the link between increasing instability in the genome and inflammation is not well understood. Now scientists have reported a direct connection between DNA instability and inflammation in senescent cells. The findings have been reported in Nature Communications.

“In addition to no longer growing and proliferating, the other hallmark of senescent cells is that they have this inflammatory program causing them to secrete inflammatory molecules,” noted senior study author Peter Adams, Ph.D., director and professor of the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys.

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MILLIONS of people may be “cancer-resistant”, according to experts.

Scientists are being offered up to £20million to work out why some are tumour-proof.

About one in two Brits get cancer but tumours do not develop in everyone who would be expected to get one, such as heavy smokers.

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University of Queensland researchers are designing nanotechnology they believe could improve how we treat the most aggressive form of breast cancer.

Professor Chengzhong (Michael) Yu and his team are developing novel nanoparticles that could dramatically increase the effectiveness of immunotherapies when treating triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

TNBC is aggressive, fast-growing and accounts for 30 per cent of all breast cancer deaths in Australia each year, despite making up only 10 to 15 per cent of new cases.

Professor Yu, from UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), said a new solution was needed because TNBC cancer cells lacked the proteins targeted by some of the treatments used against other cancers.

UQ researchers are designing nanotechnology they believe could improve how we treat the most aggressive form of breast cancer.

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