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Category: biotech/medical – Page 998

Uncovering a cure: NIH-supported research lays the groundwork for understanding and treating pain

Pain affects millions of Americans. It’s hard to measure, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all treatment approach. NIH conducts and supports basic, translational, and clinical research on pain, as well as strategies for treating it. Here are just a few recent examples.

Basic pain research

Basic research is conducted in labs by scientists who study the most fundamental building blocks of life, including genes, proteins, and cells. This kind of research helps us better understand living systems and processes.

Humans may soon grow new teeth, with promising drug trial set

Some sharks get a new set of teeth every few weeks, while crocodiles can go through thousands of chompers in their long lifetimes. Yet the ability to endlessly replace our pearly whites is something that’s eluded us and nearly all other mammals. By the time our 32 ‘adult’ teeth grow in, that’s as good as it gets.

Now, a Japanese team of scientists is set to trial an experimental drug that would allow humans to grow completely new teeth.

A clinical trial scheduled for July 2024 will initially be for participants with tooth agenesis, a genetic condition that results in the absence of teeth, but the scientists have a view to making the treatment available for general use by as soon as 2030.

China’s AI-powered robot promises minimally invasive brain surgeries

MicroNeuro ensures surgical safety and frees surgeons from labor-intensive tasks.

Today, less than 3 surgeries in the world are robot-assisted. The most common type of clinical robotic surgical system surgeons use includes a camera and mechanical arms with surgical instruments attached to them.

Robot assistance is known to provide more precision in brain surgeries than humans performing surgery, which may lead to damage to healthy tissues.

It’s Time to Consider the Federal Land Dividend

Here’s my new Opinion essay at Newsweek. It’s about the need to use our nation’s massive natural resources to pay for a bipartisan tax free universal basic income, called the Federal Land Dividend. I hope you will read and share it!

In 2018, I began lecturing about the Federal Land Dividend, a bipartisan tax-free Universal Basic Income (UBI) based on monetizing the 640 million acres of mostly unused federally owned land. Due to the lasting effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which include a struggling U.S. economy, there is increasing interest in implementing basic income plans. The Federal Land Dividend is the only method that is both bipartisan and tax free.

An estimated 50 percent of the 11 most western states are mostly empty land that belong to the government. Estimates say this land and its resources are worth approximately $100 to $200 trillion. If we divide the middle— $150 trillion —by America’s population of 333 million, every person would have approximately $450,000 in equity. That’s much higher than the median net worth in America of $122,000.

The Federal Land Dividend aims to lease out land and natural resources to big business that agree, in exchange, to pay a monthly income to all Americans. It’s estimated that if just 60 percent of America’s unused federal land was leased out at fair rates, a $1,000 monthly check could be sent to all Americans—regardless of age—for decades if not centuries. Because land and raw materials often move in tandem with inflation, payouts could increase with inflation. Furthermore, this plan does not touch any national parks whatsoever. Much of this land is in places that few humans ever visit or see.

Some conservatives support the Federal Land Dividend idea because it will boost big business while providing an economic stimulus to all Americans. Some liberals also support the idea because it will dramatically help end poverty. Even some libertarians like the idea because it returns the value of federal land to the people, instead of the government hoarding and controlling it.

Harvard scientists claim to have discovered the “Fountain of Youth” that can be put into a pill

Scientists at Harvard University claim to have come excitingly close to finding the proverbial Fountain of Youth. According to a recent publication in the scientific journal Aging, the team has identified six chemical concoctions that have the ability to reverse the aging process in both human and mice skin cells.

Dr. David Sinclair, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the study, has hailed this as a “breakthrough” and sees it as a step towards “affordable whole-body rejuvenation.”

Dr. Sinclair has even suggested that human trials could commence within the next year. This prediction has caught the attention of prominent figures, such as tech mogul Elon Musk. He responded to the news with curiosity asking, “Ok, so what exactly is it?”

Chemical compounds reverse cell aging, study finds

(NewsNation) — A new study claims to have found chemical compounds that can actually reverse the effects of aging, though so far results have been limited to animal studies.

Harvard Medical School, University of Maine and Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists collaborated on the study, published in the journal Aging. Researchers found it was possible to reverse cellular engineering rather than simply delay it.

They used six chemical compounds to reverse aging in cells, returning them to a youthful state without having them revert too far and become cancerous.

Bioluminescent bacteria coordinate signaling to colonize squid’s light organ

Bioluminescent bacteria and the Hawaiian bobtail squid have formed a longstanding mutually beneficial relationship. How the bacteria coordinate their behavior to colonize the squid—through cellular signaling and cues from the environment—is detailed in a new study led by Penn State researchers.

A paper describing the study is published in the journal eLife. The researchers also show that the mechanism that they describe is likely to be widespread in a broad array of and that understanding this coordination of will be important for understanding how bacteria colonize their hosts more generally.

“The bacteria we study, known as Vibrio fischeri, is associated with many different marine hosts, but its association with the Hawaiian bobtail is the best characterized,” said Tim Miyashiro, associate professor of biochemistry and in the Penn State Eberly College of Science and the leader of the research team.

Bionic Breakthrough: Revolutionary Self-Sensing Electric Artificial Muscles

Queen Mary University researchers have engineered a self-sensing, variable-stiffness artificial muscle that mimics natural muscle characteristics. The breakthrough has significant implications for soft robotics and medical applications, moving a step closer to human-machine integration.

In a study published on July 8 in Advanced Intelligent Systems, researchers from Queen Mary University of London have made significant advancements in the field of bionics with the development of a new type of electric variable-stiffness artificial muscle that possesses self-sensing capabilities. This innovative technology has the potential to revolutionize soft robotics and medical applications.

Technology Inspired by Nature.

Toothpaste containing synthetic tooth minerals can prevent cavities as effectively as fluoride: Clinical trial

Brushing twice a day keeps the dentist away—but can we improve on the toothpaste we use to maintain clean teeth, preventing medical issues that spiral from poor dental health? Most toothpastes use fluoride, a powerful tool for oral hygiene. However, fluoride can pose health problems in some cases, especially for children who consume too much fluoride by swallowing most of their toothpaste: children normally use only a tiny dose of toothpaste to avoid these problems, but that reduces toothbrushing efficacy.

In the search for alternatives, a team of international scientists and Polish clinicians have identified a hydroxyapatite toothpaste that works just as well as fluoride toothpaste to protect against cavities.

“Hydroxyapatite is a safe and effective alternative to fluoride in caries prevention for daily use,” said Professor Elzbieta Paszynska of the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, co-principal investigator and corresponding author of the study published in Frontiers in Public Health.

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