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Category: biotech/medical – Page 70

Ultrasound-activated ‘nanoagents’ kill superbugs hiding in biofilms

Scientists have designed nanoagents that act like smart drug-delivery capsules—carrying an antibiotic deep into bacterial infection sites and releasing it only when activated by gentle ultrasound. Delivering antibiotics locally, directly to the site of an infection, is important, because treating the whole body with high doses increases the chances of bacteria developing resistance. Nanoagents can carry drugs straight to the infected area providing localized therapy with minimal amount of drug, reducing the risks of antibiotic resistance.

Publishing their findings in JACS Au, researchers from the University of Birmingham and Nottingham Trent University reveal the results of designing the particles so they can hide an antibiotic, rifampicin, in their interior and testing their antibacterial activity when ultrasound is applied. An antimicrobial drug, rifampicin, is used to treat tuberculosis and Staphylococcus aureus infections, including those associated with medical implants.

Many bacterial infections form biofilms—sticky, protective layers that make them very hard to treat. Biofilms cause a lot of infections and resist many antibiotics because the drugs cannot easily penetrate their thick structure. Water repelling antibiotics like rifampicin are especially ineffective because they struggle to get deep inside these moist, gel-like biofilms.

Heterogeneity of Treatment Effects of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists

Among adults treated with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) for weight loss, efficacy was greater in women than men, but similar across age, race, ethnicity, baseline body mass index, and hemoglobin A1c.

These findings indicate that GLP1RA therapy for weight loss is broadly effective across key patient characteristics, supporting inclusive clinical decision-making. GLP-1 RAs include semaglutide, liraglutide, exenatide, lixisenatide, and dulaglutide.

Question How heterogeneous are the treatment effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) on weight loss, by age, sex, race and ethnicity, baseline body mass index, and baseline hemoglobin A1c?

Findings In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 41 articles representing 64 randomized clinical trials, the efficacy of GLP-1 RAs was greater among women than men but did not otherwise differ by age, race and ethnicity, baseline body mass index, or baseline hemoglobin A1c.

Meaning Except for the difference by sex, the efficacy of GLP-1 RAs for weight loss appears to be consistent across many important subpopulations of patients who may be eligible for treatment.

Enhancing Neurodevelopmental Outcomes of High-Risk Infants

Editorial: A parent-led developmental intervention improved executive function at school age in preterm children, especially in disadvantaged settings, supporting early, home-based approaches for neurodevelopment.

In a report of a trial in JAMA Pediatr ics, Tarouco et al1 describe studying the effect of a parent-led enhanced developmental intervention (EDI) on executive function at school age among children born preterm in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The intervention took place from ages 7 months to 12 months, and children who received parent-led EDI performed significantly better than those in the usual care group across all 4 domains assessed, with the strongest effects noted for motor persistence and inhibition.2

Executive function refers to the set of higher-order cognitive processes involved in emotional self-regulation and independent goal-directed behavior.3 Specifically, executive function comprises 3 major facets, working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility, which form the basis of critical processes such as reasoning, problem-solving, and planning.4 As Tarouco et al1 note, executive function has been found to be more important for school readiness than a child’s IQ or entry-level reading or math skills.5 Children born preterm are more likely to have deficits in executive function as a consequence of numerous factors, including brain injury and reduced brain volume in regions associated with executive functioning (cerebral white matter; frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices; basal ganglia; and cerebellum) compared with term-born controls; medical comorbidities associated with prematurity (eg, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis) causing further oxidative damage; and neurosensory impairments.6 These deficits lead to academic challenges with lower scores in mathematics, reading, spelling, and writing; increased risk of learning disabilities; and multiple challenges navigating the demands of daily life.7 Given these widespread consequences, interventions addressing executive function are crucial in mitigating developmental delays in preterm infants and improving school success and participation. The neonatal and early infancy periods represent a window of opportunity to leverage the developing brain’s neuroplasticity to enhance long-term social and academic development.8

The majority of studies on measuring and improving executive function have been conducted in high-income, typically Western, industrialized countries, which represent a small fraction of the global population.9 Environmental and cultural factors, including home familial structure, diet and nutrition, parenting styles, home enrichment, and early life experiences, can vary vastly between high-income settings and low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs). There are a dearth of data surrounding interventions tailored to improving executive function in LMICs and a limited understanding of the factors that are protective for early development. The study by Tarouco et al1 adds valuable data relevant to this need. Importantly, the study intervention demonstrated benefit among a study cohort with social disadvantage because the majority of participants were receiving governmental assistance and attending public schools and participant mothers were largely from low socioeconomic strata.

Endogenous retroviruses synthesize heterologous chimeric RNAs to reinforce human early embryo development

New findings in Science offer insight into why some embryos fail to develop past zygotic genome activation, pointing to an unexpected root of human infertility.

Zygotic genome activation (ZGA) failure leads to developmental arrest and poses a clinical challenge to women’s fertility. We observed that human embryos arresting at the eight-cell ZGA stage exhibited specific down-regulation of endogenous retrovirus MLT2A1. Depleting MLT2A1 resulted in a failure in embryo development and a reduction in ZGA gene expression. Mechanistically, MLT2A1s synthesized chimeric transcripts with downstream coding and noncoding sequences, predominantly with heterologous retro–transposable elements. These diverse fusion sequences expanded the genome-targeting spectrum of MLT2A1 RNAs. Nevertheless, the shared MLT2A1 sequences partnered with heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U (HNRNPU) to recruit RNA polymerase II, promoting global transcription of ZGA genes and autoamplification of the MLT2A1 subfamily.

Superagers’ ‘Secret Ingredient’ May Be The Growth of New Brain Cells

Not only do our brains appear to generate new neurons into adulthood, but those of superagers contain far more brain cells in development than those of healthy peers, new research has found.

According to a study of 38 adult human brains donated to science, superagers – people who retain exceptional memory as they age – have roughly twice as many immature neurons as their peers who age more typically.

Moreover, people with Alzheimer’s disease show a marked reduction in neurogenesis compared to a normal baseline.

New iron nanomaterial wipes out cancer cells without harming healthy tissue

Scientists at Oregon State University have engineered a powerful new nanomaterial that zeroes in on cancer cells and destroys them from the inside out. Designed to exploit cancer’s unique chemistry—its acidity and high hydrogen peroxide levels—the tiny iron-based structure sparks not one but two intense chemical reactions, flooding tumors with cell-damaging oxygen molecules. This dual attack overwhelms cancer cells with oxidative stress while sparing healthy tissue.

Social Risk Prevalence in AYAs With and Without a History of Cancer

About one-third of adolescents and young adults, with or without Cancer, reported at least one social risk such as financial hardship or food insecurity, highlighting the need for routine screening.

This cross-sectional study used data from KPNW, an integrated health care system serving more than 620 000 members in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington, representing approximately 16% of the region’s population. The KPNW Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review and informed consent under category 4 of the Common Rule, meaning that this research was determined to be low risk as it involves the use of secondary data. The study followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline for cross-sectional studies.

Members of KPNW are demographically similar to the surrounding community, with a broad age distribution (approximately 23% aged 18–35 years and 40% aged 36–64 years), a nearly equal sex distribution (52% female), and a racial and ethnic composition comparable to that of the regional population. Approximately 18% of members live below 200% of the federal poverty level, and approximately 80% receive coverage through employer-sponsored plans, contributing to high annual retention rates (approximately 88%). In early 2020, KPNW implemented a social risk screening tool via the EPIC-based (Epic Systems Corp) HealthConnect system. Full details of the screening process have been previously described.22,23

We included KPNW members aged 15 to 40 years who received care at KPNW; completed the social determinants of health screener between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2024 (the first screening was defined as the index date); and had at least 6 months of follow-up data (eFigure 1 in Supplement 1).

Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Smoking, Obesity, Psoriasis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Systemic Sclerosis

Higher BMI and inflammatory bowel disease were causally linked to increased risk of HidradenitisSuppurativa, while the association with smoking was inconclusive after sensitivity analyses.

Question Is there an effect of body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) and/or smoking on the risk of developing hidradenitis suppurativa (HS)?

Findings This mendelian randomization study including 3 592 596 patients found an effect of BMI on HS risk. Although initially a similar risk of smoking on HS was found, sensitivity analyses revealed inconclusive results potentially due to lack of power.

Meaning The findings of this study support a causal effect of increased BMI on the risk of developing HS; this information may help physicians better inform patients about disease risk contributed by modifiable lifestyle behaviors, knowledge that can be beneficial for planning subsequent lifestyle interventions.

Growing up with solid cooking fuels linked to long-term brain health risks

Exposure to indoor air pollution during childhood tends to be linked to poorer cognitive health in older adulthood. This suggests that access to clean energy early in life might help protect the brain as it ages. These findings come from a recent study published in Social Science & Medicine, which provides evidence that growing up in homes using solid fuels for cooking can set off a chain of disadvantages that affect memory and thinking skills decades later.

Xu Zong conducted the new study to explore a gap in our understanding of how early environmental exposures shape aging. While many scientists have established that breathing polluted air during adulthood increases the risk of cognitive decline, the long-term impact of breathing indoor air pollution during childhood remained mostly unexplored. Around the world, billions of people still rely on solid fuels like coal and wood for daily cooking and heating. This practice fills homes with toxic pollutants.

“I am interested in understanding how early-life living conditions, specifically indoor air pollution, may have long-term consequences for cognitive health. Air pollution has been highlighted by The Lancet as one of the modifiable risk factors for dementia. While much research has focused on adult exposures or urban outdoor pollution, there was a gap in linking childhood indoor environments to cognitive outcomes later in life,” said Zong, a researcher at the Max Planck – University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health.

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