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Britain’s state-run national health service will be the first in the world to offer an injection that treats cancer to hundreds of patients in England which could cut treatment times by up to three quarters.

Following approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), NHS England said on Tuesday (Aug 29) hundreds of eligible patients treated with the immunotherapy, atezolizumab, were set to have “under the skin” injection, which will free up more time for cancer teams.

“This approval will not only allow us to deliver convenient and faster care for our patients, but will enable our teams to treat more patients throughout the day,” Dr Alexander Martin, a consultant oncologist at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust said.

Scientists have recently reviewed the available literature to examine the critical roles played by mitochondria in maintaining homeostasis. The review summarized the involvement of mitochondria in age-related disease progression and highlighted its potential as a therapeutic target of these diseases. This review has been published in Experimental & Molecular Medicine.

Mitochondria is a cytoplasmic organelle in most eukaryotic cells and is enclosed by two phospholipid membranes: the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) and outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM). These membranes separate functionally compartmentalized structures, i.e., matrix and intermembrane space. Mitochondria contain a unique genetic code, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).

During evolution, most mitochondrial genes were lost or translocated to nuclei. However, genes that remained in mtDNA encode for essential translational apparatus, i.e., ribosomal RNAs and transfer RNAs. In addition, these genes also encode proteins that are key components of oxidative phosphorylation system (OXPHOS) complexes embedded in the IMM.

The findings suggest that adenosine base editing raised the expression of fetal hemoglobin to higher, more stable, and more uniform levels than other genome editing technologies that use CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease in human hematopoietic stem cells.


“Ultimately, we showed that not all genetic approaches are equal,” said Jonathan Yen, PhD, genome engineering group director at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “Base editors may be able to create more potent and precise edits than other technologies. But we must do more safety testing and optimization.”

SCD and beta-thalassemia are blood disorders caused by mutations in the gene encoding hemoglobin affecting millions of people. Restoring gene expression of an alternative hemoglobin subunit active in a developing fetus has previously shown therapeutic benefit in SCD and beta-thalassemia patients. The researchers wanted to find and optimize genomic technology to edit the fetal hemoglobin gene.

Adult hemoglobin, expressed primarily after birth, contains four protein subunits—two beta-globin and two alpha-globin. Mutations in the beta-globin gene cause sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. But humans have another hemoglobin subunit gene (gamma-globin), which is expressed during fetal development instead of beta-globin. Gamma-globin combines with alpha-globin to form fetal hemoglobin. Normally around birth, gamma-globin expression is turned off, and beta-globin is turned on, switching from fetal to adult hemoglobin. Genome editing technologies can introduce mutations that turn the gamma-globin gene back on, thereby increasing fetal hemoglobin production, which can effectively substitute for defective adult hemoglobin production.

Now, you can use Google’s AI to make spreadsheets, whip up slide decks, and summarize all those documents you were never going to actually read.

Google announced today that it is rolling out its Duet AI assistant across all of its Workspace apps, including Gmail, Drive, Slides, Docs, and more. The Duet tech has been in testing for a while, the company said, with more than a million people already kicking the tires on Google’s virtual assistant. Now, it’s coming to anyone paying for Google’s Workspace apps.

Google announced Duet AI at its I/O developer conference earlier this year, pitching the collection of features as a helpful collaborator in all your Google apps. You might ask Duet to turn… More.


AI is coming to help you make spreadsheets, read long docs, and look better in meetings.

A new study exemplifies how the strides made in quantum computing are now being harnessed to unlock the secrets of fundamental science.

Scientists at Duke University have harnessed the power of quantum-based methods to unravel a puzzling phenomenon related to light-absorbing molecules, according to a new study published in Nature Chemistry.

This advancement sheds light on the enigmatic world of quantum interactions, potentially transforming our understanding of essential chemical processes like photosynthesis, vision, and photocatalysis.

Known as Dynabeads, a novel optical signature within them confirms a target pathogen’s presence in under a second.

MIT engineers have discovered a new optical signature in a widely employed class of magnetic beads, enabling rapid detection of contaminants in various diagnostic tests.

For instance, their study, accessible on ArXiv (awaiting peer review), highlighted the beads’ newfound capacity to swiftly expose traces of the foodborne pathogen Salmonella.

In a bid to reduce data center power consumption, Intel has unveiled its new “Sierra Forest” chip with over double the power efficiency of other chips.

Intel has reported that its new chip, “Sierra Forest,” will have over double the efficiency for the same power consumption of other microchips. Designed as a new data center chip, Intel’s new double-efficiency chip is scheduled for release sometime in 2024, Reuters.


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