Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

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A drug that increases dopamine can reverse the effects of inflammation on the brain in depression
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01- ... ation.html
An Emory University study published in Molecular Psychiatry shows levodopa, a drug that increases dopamine in the brain, has potential to reverse the effects of inflammation on brain reward circuitry, ultimately improving symptoms of depression.

Numerous labs across the world have shown that inflammation causes reduced motivation and anhedonia, a core symptom of depression, by affecting the brain's reward pathways.

Past research conducted by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine has linked the effects of inflammation on the brain to decreased release of dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter that regulates motivation and motor activity, in the ventral striatum.

In the study, researchers demonstrated that levodopa reversed the effects of inflammation on the brain's functional connectivity in reward circuitry and anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure) in depressed individuals with higher C-reactive protein (CRP), a blood biomarker produced and released by the liver in response to inflammation.

Levels of inflammation can be easily measured by simple blood tests, like CRP, readily available in clinics and hospitals throughout the U.S.

The study included 40 depressed patients with a range of CRP levels from high to low who underwent functional brain scans on two visits after receiving in random order either placebo or levodopa, a drug often prescribed for disorders like Parkinson's disease.

Levodopa improved functional connectivity in a classic ventral striatum to ventromedial prefrontal cortex reward circuit but only in patients with higher levels of CRP. This improvement in reward circuitry in depressed individuals with higher CRP also correlated with reduced symptoms of anhedonia after levodopa.

"This research demonstrates the translational potential for use of inflammation-related deficits in functional connectivity and could have important implications for the future investigations of precision therapies for psychiatric patients with high inflammation," says principal investigator and senior author Jennifer C. Felger, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Emory School of Medicine.
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Bill Gates would rather pay for vaccines than travel to Mars

6 hours ago

Billionaire Bill Gates has said he would rather pay for vaccines than travelling to Mars, which he does not think is a good use of money.

"It's actually quite expensive to go to Mars. You can buy measles vaccines and save lives for $1,000 (£814) per life saved," he told the BBC.

"And so [that] just kind of grounds you, as in - don't go to Mars."

[...]

Mr Gates, who has spent much of his life as the richest person in the world, has given tens of billions of pounds to philanthropic causes, often targeted at global health, especially children.

He now divides his time between climate change, and eradicating malnutrition and diseases such as polio and malaria.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64499635
weatheriscool
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Inhalable powder could protect lungs against COVID-19, flu viruses
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02- ... d-flu.html
by Tracey Peake, North Carolina State University
Researchers have developed an inhalable powder that could protect lungs and airways from viral invasion by reinforcing the body's own mucosal layer. The powder, called Spherical Hydrogel Inhalation for Enhanced Lung Defense, or SHIELD, reduced infection in both mouse and non-human primate models over a 24-hour period, and can be taken repeatedly without affecting normal lung function.

"The idea behind this work is simple—viruses have to penetrate the mucus in order to reach and infect the cells, so we've created an inhalable bioadhesive that combines with your own mucus to prevent viruses from getting to your lung cells," says Ke Cheng, corresponding author of the paper describing the work. "Mucus is the body's natural hydrogel barrier; we are just enhancing that barrier."

Cheng is the Randall B. Terry, Jr. Distinguished Professor in Regenerative Medicine at North Carolina State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and a professor in the NC State/UNC-Chapel Hill Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The inhalable powder microparticles are composed of gelatin and poly(acrylic acid) grafted with a non-toxic ester. When introduced to a moist environment—such as the respiratory tract and lungs—the microparticles swell and adhere to the mucosal layer, increasing the "stickiness" of the mucus.
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New diagnostic test is 1,000 times more sensitive than conventional tests
https://phys.org/news/2023-02-diagnosti ... ional.html
by Shawn Ballard, Washington University in St. Louis

When Srikanth Singamaneni and Guy Genin, both professors of mechanical engineering and materials science at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, established a new collaboration with researchers from the School of Medicine in late 2019, they didn't know the landscape of infectious disease research was about to shift dramatically. In a conference room overlooking Forest Park on a beautiful fall day, the team had one goal in mind: tackle the biggest infectious disease problem facing the world right then.

"Srikanth and I had a vision of a simple, quantitative diagnostic tool, so we connected with infectious disease physicians here at WashU and asked them, 'What are the most important questions that could be answered if you could get really detailed information cheaply at the point of care?'" said Genin, the Harold and Kathleen Faught Professor of Mechanical Engineering.

"Greg Storch told us that one of the most important challenges facing the field of infectious disease is finding a way to figure out quickly if a patient has a bacterial infection and should get antibiotics or has a viral infection, for which antibiotics will not be effective."
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Womb transplants for transgender women will soon be possible, doctors say
https://nationalpost.com/health/womb-tr ... nder-women
If the anatomical challenges in transgender women can be overcome — and surgeons have said none seem insurmountable — uterus transplants would make it possible for trans women to gestate and give birth to a child.
Article content

Forty-five years after the world’s first “test-tube baby” was born, surgeons are preparing for another historical first: transplanting a womb inside the body of someone born male.
Article content

Several teams are “actively working” to make uterus transplants for transgender women a reality, according to an article published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility, with the first such procedure likely to happen “within the next few years, if not sooner.”
https://nationalpost.com/health/womb-tr ... nder-women

Awesome!
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Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02- ... nerve.html
by University of Queensland

Researchers from The University of Queensland have discovered the active compound from an edible mushroom that boosts nerve growth and enhances memory.

Professor Frederic Meunier from the Queensland Brain Institute said the team had identified new active compounds from the mushroom, Hericium erinaceus.

"Extracts from these so-called 'lion's mane' mushrooms have been used in traditional medicine in Asian countries for centuries, but we wanted to scientifically determine their potential effect on brain cells," Professor Meunier said.

"Pre-clinical testing found the lion's mane mushroom had a significant impact on the growth of brain cells and improving memory.
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New genetic risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis revealed by analysis of multiple ancestry groups
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02- ... ealed.html
by RIKEN
In a large genetic study published in Nature Genetics, RIKEN researchers have identified 124 genetic markers, 34 of which are novel, that can influence the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. This information could help to develop new treatments for the painful and often debilitating condition.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease where the immune system mistakenly attacks a person's joint tissues, causing inflammation and pain. It is a complex disease that develops as a result of interactions between a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Many genes are involved in determining a person's susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis, with each contributing a small amount to the overall risk of developing the disease. A better understanding of the genetics of the condition could help advance new treatments for it.

"While there have been some recent advances in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, these medications don't work for everyone—and a cure has yet to be identified," says Yukinori Okada of the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences. "Genetic research has the potential to advance our understanding of the disease, revealing new clues that could inspire effective novel treatment strategies."
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Scientists develop new technique for studying mitochondria
https://phys.org/news/2023-02-scientist ... ndria.html
by The Scripps Research Institute
An advanced imaging-based method from scientists at Scripps Research offers a new way of studying mitochondria.

In their report on February 14, 2023, in the Journal of Cell Biology, the scientists described a set of techniques that enables the imaging and quantification of even subtle structural changes inside mitochondria, and the correlation of those changes with other processes ongoing in cells.

Mitochondria are involved not only in energy production, but also in several other critical cellular functions, including cell division and cell-preserving responses to various types of stress. Mitochondrial dysfunctions have been observed in a host of diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and different cancers, and researchers are eager to develop treatments that can reverse these dysfunctions. But the scientific tools for studying the fine details of mitochondria structure have been limited.

"We now have a powerful new toolkit for detecting and quantifying structural, and thus functional, differences in mitochondria—for example, in diseased versus healthy states," says study senior author Danielle Grotjahn, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at Scripps Research.
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Multiple sclerosis discovery could end disease's chronic inflammation

by Josh Barney, University of Virginia
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02- ... ronic.html
University of Virginia Health neuroscientists have discovered a potential way to disrupt the chronic inflammation responsible for multiple sclerosis.

UVA's new study identifies a vital contributor to the hyperactive autoimmune response and neuroinflammation that are the hallmarks of MS. Blocking this lynchpin in a research model of MS alleviated the inflammation, giving researchers a prime target in developing new treatments for multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases.

The research was conducted by Andrea Merchak, a doctoral candidate in neuroscience, and her colleagues in the lab of Alban Gaultier of the University of Virginia School of Medicine's Department of Neuroscience and its Center for Brain Immunology and Glia, or BIG.

"We are approaching the search for multiple sclerosis therapeutics from a new direction," Merchak said. "By modulating the microbiome [the collection of microorganisms that naturally live inside us], we are making inroads in understanding how the immune response can end up out of control in autoimmunity. We can use this information to find early interventions."
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Reversed With a Single Drug – “Incurable” Liver Disease May Be Curable

https://scitechdaily.com/reversed-with- ... e-curable/
By Sanford Burnham Prebys February 23, 2023
Human Body Liver.Pain Disease
Alagille syndrome is a genetic disorder that affects the liver, heart, and other parts of the body. It is characterized by a reduction in the number of bile ducts within the liver, leading to bile accumulation and liver damage. The disease can also cause heart problems, including heart defects, and facial abnormalities.

A new study from Sanford Burnham Prebys has discovered a drug that can spur liver regeneration in patients with Alagille syndrome.

For the first time, research conducted by Associate Professor Duc Dong, Ph.D. has revealed that the detrimental effects of Alagille syndrome, a genetic disorder that has no cure, can be reversed using a single drug. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have the potential to revolutionize the treatment approach for this rare condition, and could also shed light on more widespread diseases.

“Alagille syndrome is widely considered an incurable disease, but we believe we’re on the way to changing that,” says Dong, who is also the associate dean of admissions for Sanford Burnham Prebys’ graduate school. “We aim to advance this drug into clinical trials, and our results demonstrate its effectiveness for the first time.”
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