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Category: biotech/medical – Page 86

Ceperognastat in Early Symptomatic Alzheimer Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial

This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial of ceperognastat in participants with early symptomatic AD was conducted at 72 centers in Australia, Canada, Japan, Poland, and the US from September 2021 to July 2025. The study adhered to the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki20 and other international guidelines. All participants provided written, informed consent before any study-related procedures. The study followed the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) reporting guideline.21 The protocol was approved by an ethics committee at each participating center, and unblinded safety data were reviewed approximately every 3 months by an independent unblinded external data and safety monitoring committee. Participants were compensated for study participation. The study protocol and statistical analysis plan are provided in Supplements 1 and 2, respectively.

Eligible participants were aged 60 to 85 years and had a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 22 to 30, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) Global Score of 0.5 or 1 with a memory box score greater than or equal to 0.5, elevated plasma level of tau phosphorylated at residue 217 (p-tau217), and evidence of elevated brain tau levels by flortaucipir F18 positron emission tomography (PET) scan at the time of screening. Demographic information, including race and ethnicity, was collected to allow for characterization of potential differences in treatment effects by demographic characteristic. Race and ethnicity were self-reported by participants based on fixed categories. All study participants and study staff were blinded to treatment assignment during the treatment phase.

Blood Test Helps PCPs Diagnose AD With Specialist-Level Accuracy

LONDON — Blood-based biomarker (BBM) testing may enable primary care physicians (PCPs) to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as accurately as dementia specialists, potentially expanding access to accurate diagnosis beyond memory clinics, new research suggests.

In a prospective study of more than 1,300 patients, PCPs achieved 93% diagnostic accuracy after reviewing BBM results, which was comparable to the 94% accuracy of dementia specialists. The test also changed clinicians’ diagnoses and management plans in a substantial proportion of cases.

“By equipping primary care practitioners with blood test results, we see that they’re as accurate as dementia experts in definitely ruling out [AD],” study investigator Sebastian Palmqvist, MD, PhD, senior consultant neurologist and associate professor, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, told Medscape Medical News.

Sugar-Coated Nanoparticles Shrink Deadly Brain Tumors in Mice

Cancers don’t come much worse than the brain cancer glioblastoma, and it is notoriously difficult to treat. Even with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, fewer than 30 percent of patients are alive two years after diagnosis.

Scientists are busy hunting for treatment approaches that can improve those survival rates, and a team from Oregon State University has now found a potential new angle for attacking these tumors: sugar-coated nanoparticles.

As detailed in a mouse study published in the Journal of Controlled Release, the sugar ‘disguise’ used by the nanoparticles helps them cross the blood-brain barrier to the site of cancer, while also directly targeting glioblastoma and avoiding measurable toxicity in major organs.

Epidurals not linked to increased harm for newborns or children

Having an epidural during labor is not associated with clinically significant increased risks of harm to newborn babies, including brain injury, severe breathing problems, sepsis and death, or cerebral palsy later in childhood, according to a study published in The BMJ.

The researchers say these findings “support widening availability and equitable access to epidural analgesia as a safe component of intrapartum care.”

Epidural analgesia in labor provides effective pain relief and may help reduce complications in mothers after giving birth, but evidence of its effect on newborn and child health is limited.

Effector ORFeome platform identifies novel pathways

To prevent viruses from sickening or killing us — whether it’s an individual case of hepatitis B or a COVID pandemic — it’s crucial to understand how the proteins they make initiate changes in our bodies that allow them to flourish.

A new tool has just vastly broadened the scale at which researchers can study these proteins, promising to speed basic discoveries in virology, inform the development of new vaccines and treatments, and help humanity protect against emerging pathogens.

The tool, called a viral ORFeome and described in Cell, is the largest yet of its kind and enables analysis of many thousands of viral proteins in a single experiment. Its design also expands access to biologists who didn’t train in virology.

Semaglutide May Slow the Pace of Epigenetic Aging

While GLP-1 drugs can curb cardiometabolic dysfunction, reducing the risk of life-limiting and life-threatening diseases that would otherwise shorten health and lifespan, mechanistic evidence that they directly influence the biology of aging remains limited.

Can GLP-1 drugs rewind the epigenetic clock?

UCSD researchers conducted a post hoc analysis of a Phase 2b clinical trial evaluating the use of semaglutide in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated lipohypertrophy (HALS).

Host Cell Virus Interactions: Molecular Mechanisms, Immune Modulation, Viral Pathogenesis, and Emerging Therapeutic Targets

Host–virus relationships regulate every phase of viral infection and critically influence course of illness and the effectiveness of treatment. Viruses utilize host receptors, intracellular trafficking routes, metabolic programs, and immunological signaling networks to introduce infection, while host cells use innate and adaptive immune responses that both limit viral replication and, in certain situations, cause tissue damage. Given the fast viral evolution and drug resistance linked to virus-directed therapy, there is growing proof that these host-dependent mechanisms are appealing and underutilized targets for antiviral treatment.

Proton pump rhodopsins for optogenetic manipulation of biological activities and beyond

(H2O), the principal component of living organisms including humans, dissociates into H+ and OH-in aqueous environments, and the resulting H+ concentration determines both cellular pH and the proton motive force (PMF) across cellular membranes. These physicochemical parameters are fundamental regulators of a wide range of biological processes. Optogenetics enables the manipulation of biological and cellular functions using light, typically through the ectopic expression of microbial rhodopsins as photoreceptive proteins in target cells or organs.

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