Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

weatheriscool
Posts: 12967
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Liver fibrosis: The fatal signaling pathway
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... thway.html
by Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
At least 5 million people in Germany suffer from liver disease. Fibrosis, the pathological proliferation of connective tissue, plays an important role in many complications of chronic liver problems. Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are massively involved in this tissue remodeling. An international research team led by Professor Dr. Ingmar Mederacke, Managing Senior Physician at the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) has now found an approach to lower the activation of HSCs and reduce the associated development of liver fibrosis. The work has been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Hepatic stellate cells produce connective tissue

Liver fibrosis and the end-stage of liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, are a significant medical problem for which there are as yet no suitable drugs. The best-known causes include chronic alcohol consumption, infection with hepatitis viruses, but also medication or a fatty liver. The pathogenic stimuli damage the liver cells, the so-called hepatocytes. They die and thus trigger an inflammatory reaction. Until now, it was not known how this inflammatory process activates the hepatic stellate cells. The HSCs are located in the blood vessel walls in the immediate vicinity of the hepatocytes, where they mainly store vitamin A when at rest. However, when they are activated, they transform into myofibroblasts and produce abnormally large amounts of connective tissue.
weatheriscool
Posts: 12967
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

A major update on global tuberculosis fight
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... losis.html
by Hackensack Meridian Health
The global effort against tuberculosis, a disease which takes 1.5 million lives annually, presents some cause for optimism, according to an expert from the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) and a colleague from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The paper "Anti-tuberculosis treatment strategies and drug development: challenges and priorities" is authored by Véronique Dartois, a member of the CDI, and her colleague Eric J. Rubin, of Harvard, and appears in the latest issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology.

The two experts assess the last decade-plus of progress in developing new drug regimens, as well as the discoveries made toward cracking the scientific riddle of the stubborn bacterial disease which disproportionately affects the developing world.

"For now, big challenges remain, but change has already come and there is cause for optimism with a healthy dose of realism," the authors write.

The paper states that multi-drug regimens—the current one-size-fits-all strategy for drug-susceptible TB takes six months under medical supervision—has saved millions of lives.

Science has also reached an "exciting juncture"—where global health authorities are on the cusp of establishing a four-month regimen of drugs in a different combination, and a new 3-drug regimen that cures multidrug resistant TB in six months, both of which could further battle back against this worldwide scourge. Furthermore, crucial partnerships like the TB Drug Accelerator, of which the two authors are part, have made significant advances in understanding how the available drugs work, what new treatments are promising, and the biological problems of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis organism itself.
weatheriscool
Posts: 12967
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Osteoarthritis: Realigning bad knees may prompt the body to generate cartilage again

by Delthia Ricks , Medical Xpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04- ... -body.html
Osteoarthritis is a wear-and-tear disorder marked by bone thickening and cartilage degeneration, an excruciatingly painful disability and a major cause of impaired mobility as people age. But scientists have begun viewing this form of arthritis differently with a deeper understanding of the disorder's causes and an eye toward personalized medicine as a treatment option.

Although for decades medical experts have focused on problems such as the pain caused by bone thickening and the disappearance of cartilage, scientists conducting research in Homburg, Germany at the Institute of Experimental Orthopedics and Osteoarthritis Research, say bone malalignment may play a critical role in osteoarthritis. In a novel clinical study, medical scientists demonstrate how the alignment problem can contribute to osteoarthritis—and they also suggest that correcting it can protect cartilage and reverse its degeneration.

"Although osteoarthritis, a leading cause of disability, has been associated with joint malalignment, scientific translational evidence for this link is lacking," wrote Dr. Tamás Oláh, first author of a research paper in Science Translational Medicine.

But Oláh and a team of researchers launched a two-pronged approach to the problem demonstrating in both animal research and in a human case study that relieving a troublesome misalignment of the joint can help alleviate pain and restore the shock-absorbing role of cartilage in the knee. They report that malalignment of a joint can cause excessive pressure to be placed on it in a manner similar to a condition known as varus malalignment, more commonly known as bow-leggedness. People with severe forms of that condition can suffer cartilage loss and impaired mobility.
weatheriscool
Posts: 12967
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

'Resetting' the injured brain offers clues for concussion treatment
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05- ... tment.html
by Emily Caldwell, The Ohio State University

New research in mice raises the prospects for development of post-concussion therapies that could ward off cognitive decline and depression, two common conditions among people who have experienced a moderate traumatic brain injury.

The study in mice clarified the role of specific immune cells in the brain that contribute to chronic inflammation. Using a technique called forced cell turnover, researchers eliminated these cells in the injured brains of mice for a week and then let them repopulate for two weeks.

"It's almost like hitting the reset button," said senior study author Jonathan Godbout, professor of neuroscience in The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Compared to brain-injured mice recovering naturally, mice that were given the intervention showed less inflammation in the brain and fewer signs of thinking problems 30 days after the injury.

Though temporarily clearing away these cells, called microglia, in humans isn't feasible, the findings shed light on pathways to target that could lower the brain's overall inflammatory profile after a concussion, potentially reducing the risk for behavioral and cognitive problems long after the injury.

"In a moderate brain injury, if the CT scan doesn't show damage, patients go home with a concussion protocol. Sometimes people come back weeks, months later with neuropsychiatric issues. It's a huge problem affecting millions of people," said Godbout, faculty director of Ohio State's Chronic Brain Injury Program and assistant director of basic science in the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research.
weatheriscool
Posts: 12967
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

New rapid virus test uses gold particles and is 150 times more accurate than standard tests
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05- ... urate.html
by Marin Wolf, The Dallas Morning News
University of Texas at Dallas researchers have developed a rapid virus test using gold particles and lasers that promises to deliver results as accurate as lab tests in a fraction of the time.

The technology, called digital plasmonic nanobubble detection—or Diamond for short—is 150 times more accurate than standard rapid tests, according to a study published in Nature Communications last month. Its accuracy is comparable to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which take hours to perform.

The team of UTD scientists that authored the study, led by associate professor of mechanical engineering Dr. Zhenpeng Qin, tested Diamond against respiratory syncytial virus, although the researchers say the technology can be used to detect other prominent viruses, like COVID-19 and influenza.
weatheriscool
Posts: 12967
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Two new Epstein-Barr virus vaccines induce neutralizing antibodies in mice

by Bob Yirka , Medical Xpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05- ... odies.html
A team of researchers from the French health care company Sanofi, working with the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute in the U.S., has developed two new vaccines against Epstein-Barr infections. In their paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the group describes attributes of the two vaccines and their effectiveness in mouse models.

Epstein-Barr viral infections are known to cause mononucleosis and have also been associated with several other conditions including certain cancers. In January, it was found to be a likely cause of multiple sclerosis. Prior research has shown that approximately 95% of adults in the world today have been infected by the virus. For that reason, researchers have been working on a vaccine to protect people from infection, but thus far, none have worked as hoped. In this new effort, the researchers working on these two new vaccines believe they have made a breakthrough.

The work involved developing nanoparticle-based vaccines that target the glycoproteins that mediate entry of the virus into both B cells and epithelial cells. The idea is that this will help the immune system target the viruses and kill them. The vaccines are called gH/gL+gp350D123 and gH/gL/gp42+gp350D123. More specifically, the researchers developed single chain-chain proteins that would fuse to bacterial ferritin and, in the process, would self-assemble into nanoparticles.
weatheriscool
Posts: 12967
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

Retinal cell map could advance precise therapies for blinding diseases
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05- ... apies.html
by National Eye Institute

Researchers have identified distinct differences among the cells comprising a tissue in the retina that is vital to human visual perception. The scientists from the National Eye Institute (NEI) discovered five subpopulations of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)—a layer of tissue that nourishes and supports the retina's light-sensing photoreceptors. Using artificial intelligence, the researchers analyzed images of RPE at single-cell resolution to create a reference map that locates each subpopulation within the eye. A report on the research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"These results provide a first-of-its-kind framework for understanding different RPE cell subpopulations and their vulnerability to retinal diseases, and for developing targeted therapies to treat them," said Michael F. Chiang, M.D., director of the NEI, part of the National Institutes of Health.

"The findings will help us develop more precise cell and gene therapies for specific degenerative eye diseases," said the study's lead investigator, Kapil Bharti, Ph.D., who directs the NEI Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research Section.

Vision begins when light hits the rod and cone photoreceptors that line the retina in the back of the eye. Once activated, photoreceptors send signals through a complex network of other retinal neurons that converge at the optic nerve before traveling to various centers in the brain. The RPE sits beneath the photoreceptors as a monolayer, one cell deep.

Age and disease can cause metabolic changes in RPE cells that can lead to photoreceptor degeneration. The impact on vision from these RPE changes varies dramatically by severity and where the RPE cells reside within the retina. For example, late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD) affects mostly peripheral retina and, therefore, peripheral vision. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss, primarily affects RPE cells in the macula, which is crucial for central vision.
User avatar
caltrek
Posts: 6509
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by caltrek »

Racial Gap in Completed Doctor Visits Disappeared in 2020 as Telemedicine Adopted
May 9, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/952128

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Historically, there has been racial inequity when it comes to primary care appointments, which are vital for managing and preventing chronic disease. But as COVID-19 struck the United States in 2020 and telemedicine availability rose sharply, gaps in access disappeared for Black patients at Penn Medicine, new research shows. And even once “normal” in-office appointments returned, the historic inequities stayed erased, indicating that telemedicine wasn’t just a stopgap solution but a potential long-term tool for equity. These findings, from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, were published in Telemedicine and e-Health.

“We looked through the entire year of 2020, not just the first half of the year when telemedicine was the only option for many people, and the appointment completion gap between Black and non-Black patients closed,” said the study’s senior author, Krisda Chaiyachati, MD, an assistant professor Medicine at Penn Medicine and the physician lead for Value-based Care and Innovation at Verily. “Offering telemedicine, even though it was for a crisis, appears to have been a significant step forward toward addressing long-standing inequities in healthcare access.”

COVID-19’s sudden onset in early 2020 resulted in a telemedicine boom. Use of it had typically been narrow, largely as a result of regulations and hesitancy among payers, but emergency provisions allowed health care entities to quickly conduct appointments via phone or computer. There was some concern that these developments, while good for preventing the spread of COVID, might adversely impact racial and ethnic groups who have been historically underserved by health care.

That’s why Chaiyachati – who headed Penn Medicine’s virtual visit service, Penn Medicine OnDemand, through most of the pandemic – and his fellow researchers decided to focus on whether Black patients at Philadelphia-area practices were able to see their primary care providers as often in 2020 as they had in 2019, and then compare those numbers to non-Black patients (which, in this population, mainly consists of white, non-Hispanic people). Data from roughly 1 million appointments in each year were analyzed.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
weatheriscool
Posts: 12967
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

US scientists say Sarin gas blamed for Gulf War syndrome
Source: BBC

US scientists say they have discovered what caused thousands of soldiers who served in the 1991 Gulf War to fall sick with mysterious symptoms. They have pinned the blame on the nerve agent sarin, which was released into the air when caches of Iraqi chemical weapons were bombed. Many veterans have complained of a range of debilitating symptoms which developed after their service. But for decades the cause of Gulf War Syndrome has remained elusive.

Sarin is usually deadly, but lead researcher Dr Robert Haley said the gas that soldiers were exposed to in Iraq was diluted, and so not fatal. "But it was enough to make people ill if they were genetically predisposed to illness from it." Dr Haley said the key to whether somebody fell ill was a gene known as PON1, which plays an important role in breaking down toxic chemicals in the body.

His team found veterans with a less effective version of the PON1 gene were more likely to become sick. The latest study - largely funded by the US government - involved more than 1,000 randomly-selected American Gulf War veterans. Dr Haley, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said: "This is the most definitive study. "We believe it will stand up to any criticism. And we hope our findings will lead to treatment that will relieve some of the symptoms."
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-61398886
weatheriscool
Posts: 12967
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

Post by weatheriscool »

First successful treatment of antibiotic-resistant mycobacterial lung infection with bacteriophages

by National Jewish Health
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05- ... -lung.html
For the first time, researchers have successfully used bacteriophages—viruses that kill bacteria—to treat an antibiotic-resistant mycobacterial lung infection, clearing the way for a young National Jewish Health patient with cystic fibrosis to receive a life-saving lung transplant. The successful use of phages to treat a Mycobacterium abscessus lung infection was reported in a case study published today in the journal Cell.

"We had tried unsuccessfully for years to clear the mycobacterial infection with a variety of antibiotics," said Jerry Nick, MD, lead author on the study and director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program at National Jewish Health. "When we used the bacteria's own natural enemies, we were able to clear the infection which resulted in a successful lung transplant."

"I am so grateful for the effort, persistence and creativity of all the people who were involved in my treatment," said Jarrod Johnson, recipient of the lung transplant. "I thought I was going to die. They have literally saved my life."
Post Reply