As a worldwide shortage of contrast dye for medical imaging continues, a new UC San Francisco research letter in JAMA quantified strategies medical facilities can employ to safely reduce dye use in computed tomography (CT) by up to 83%. CT is the most common use for the dye.
The three conservation strategies are weight-based (rather than fixed) dosing, reducing contrast dose while reducing tube voltage on scanners, and replacing contrast-enhanced CT with nonenhanced CT when it will minimally affect diagnostic accuracy.
That third strategy—forgoing the dye in some cases of CT when it would result in only small impact on diagnostic accuracy—yielded the most dramatic reduction of dye use: 78%.
"Contrast is essential in any situation where we need to assess the blood vessels—for example, for some trauma patients or those with a suspected acute gastrointestinal bleed—and it is also needed for evaluation of certain cancers, such as in the liver or pancreas," said senior study author Rebecca Smith-Bindman, MD, UCSF professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.
"However, most CT scans are done for less specific indications such as abdominal pain in a patient with suspected appendicitis," Smith-Bindman added. "These can and should be done without contrast during the shortage, because the loss of information in these patients will be acceptable for most patients."
Many different types of bacteria and viruses can cause pneumonia, but there is no easy way to determine which microbe is causing a particular patient's illness. This uncertainty makes it harder for doctors to choose effective treatments because the antibiotics commonly used to treat bacterial pneumonia won't help patients with viral pneumonia. In addition, limiting the use of antibiotics is an important step toward curbing antibiotic resistance.
MIT researchers have now designed a sensor that can distinguish between viral and bacterial pneumonia infections, which they hope will help doctors to choose the appropriate treatment.
"The challenge is that there are a lot of different pathogens that can lead to different kinds of pneumonia, and even with the most extensive and advanced testing, the specific pathogen causing someone's disease can't be identified in about half of patients. And if you treat a viral pneumonia with antibiotics, then you could be contributing to antibiotic resistance, which is a big problem, and the patient won't get better," says Sangeeta Bhatia, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science.
If you've ever swallowed the same round tablet in hopes of curing everything from stomach cramps to headaches, you already know that medicines aren't always designed to treat precise pain points. While over-the-counter pills have cured many ailments for decades, biomedical researchers have only recently begun exploring ways to improve targeted drug delivery when treating more complicated medical conditions, like cardiovascular disease or cancer.
A promising innovation within this burgeoning area of biomedicine is the millirobot. These fingertip-sized robots are poised to become medicine's future lifesavers—to crawl, spin, and swim to enter narrow spaces on their mission to investigate inner workings or dispense medicines.
Serotonin (5-HT) is one of the main neurotransmitters in the human central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. It helps regulate appetite, memory, cognition and mood through serotonin receptors (5-HTR).
A group of international scientists recently made a breakthrough in understanding the structure and function of serotonin receptors. This is the first time researchers have reported the structures of the 5-HT4, 5-HT6, and 5-HT7 receptors, and resolved the structures of all 12 5-HT receptor subtypes.
The study was published online in Molecular Cell on June 16.
Researchers led by H. Eric Xu from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with researchers from Zhejiang University and the University of Copenhagen, systematically revealed the structural basis for the recognition of serotonin receptor subtypes by the small-molecule ligands 5-HT and 5-CT. They also elucidated the molecular mechanism for the selective coupling of Gs and Gi proteins by serotonin receptors.
An oral antiviral drug that targets a key part of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) polymerase and inhibits the synthesis of viral genetic material has been identified, a finding that could provide an effective treatment against RSV disease, according to researchers in the Center for Translational Antiviral Research at Georgia State University.
The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, identify AVG-388 as the lead drug candidate, which effectively blocks the activity of the viral RNA polymerase, an enzyme responsible for replication of the viral genome. RSV is a leading cause of lower respiratory infections in infants and immunocompromised individuals, but no efficient therapeutic exists. The virus caused an estimated 33.1 million cases worldwide in 2015 that required 3.2 million hospitalizations and resulted in 59,800 deaths.
Finding effective drugs to fight RSV has been challenging. Through mutations, RSV has escaped advanced candidate classes that prevent the virus from entering a cell. To overcome this issue, recent drug development efforts have focused on the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complex of RSV because of the possible broader window of opportunity to fight the virus during viral genome replication and transcription.
A natural small molecule derived from a cypress tree can transport iron in live mice and human cells lacking the protein that normally does the job, easing a buildup of iron in the liver and restoring hemoglobin and red blood cell production, a new study found.
Stemming from a collaboration between researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the University of Modena in Italy, the study demonstrated that the small molecule hinokitiol potentially could function as a "molecular prosthetic" when the iron-transporting protein ferroportin is missing or defective, offering a potential treatment path for ferroportin disease and certain kinds of anemia.
"This is a really striking demonstration in a whole animal model that an imperfect mimic of a missing protein can reestablish physiology, acting as a prosthesis on a molecular scale," said study co-leader Dr. Martin D. Burke, a professor of chemistry at Illinois and a member of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, as well as a medical doctor. "The implications are really quite broad with respect to other diseases caused by loss of protein function."
Researchers at Tohoku University and the University of Tokyo have discovered electrical wave patterns in the brain related to social behavior in mice. They also observed that mice showing signs of stress, depression, or autism lacked these brain waves.
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and amygdala regions of the brain regulate our emotion, and undergo pathological changes when we experience psychiatric diseases. However, the detailed neuronal processes behind this remain unclear.
Takuya Sasaki from Tohoku University's Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences led a collaborative team who recorded electrical brain signals—so-called brain electrical waves—in the mPFC and amygdala areas of mice. They found that certain brain waves underwent pronounced variations when the mice interacted socially with one another. Specifically, brain waves at the frequency band of theta (4-7 Hz) and gamma (30-60 Hz) decreased and increased, respectively, during socializing.
When the same tests were applied to mice exhibiting poor social skills or symptoms of depression and autism, the brain waves were not present. Notably, artificially replicating social behavior-related brain waves by an optical and genetic manipulation technique in these pathological mouse models restored their ability to interact socially.
Highly antibiotic resistant strain of MRSA that arose in pigs can jump to humans, scientists say
Tuesday 28 June 2022
A highly antibiotic resistant strain of MRSA that arose in pigs thanks to farming practices can jump to humans, scientists say.
The strain has become the dominant type of MRSA among livestock in Europe over the past 50 years but is now a growing cause of MRSA in humans.
Scientists have been increasingly worried about antibiotic resistance in recent years, and experts last year warned of a "hidden pandemic" following the COVID-19 crisis.
A new study found that the CC398 strain has maintained its antibiotic resistance over decades in pigs and other livestock and is capable of rapidly adapting to human hosts while maintaining that resistance.
"Historically high levels of antibiotic use (on pig farms) may have led to the evolution of this highly antibiotic resistant strain of MRSA," said Dr Gemma Murray, a lead author of the study published in eLife.
The results highlight the potential threat that this strain of MRSA poses to public health.
Like many neurological diseases, there's a lot we don't understand about fragile X syndrome. But, after studying the disorder for several years, Lynne Maquat's lab knew two important things: the enzyme AKT, which plays a key role in cell growth and survival, and the quality control pathway known as NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay), are both in overdrive in fragile X.
In a new study in the journal Molecular Cell, the team reveals how these two major players interact, highlighting a complex molecular dance that could inform the development of future treatments for fragile X syndrome.
How can we increase the efficacy of vaccines used to protect against viral respiratory diseases such as influenza and COVID-19? Scientists from Inserm, CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université at the Center of Immunology Marseille-Luminy are opening up new prospects in the field, with the triggering of memory B cells directly in the lungs looking to be a promising avenue. At present, the vaccines are administered intramuscularly and do not trigger the appearance of these cell populations. This research, which enhances fundamental knowledge in the field of immunology, has been published in the journal Immunity.
Memory B cells are immune cells produced primarily in the lymph nodes and spleen following infection. They persist for a long time in these regions and retain the memory of the infectious agent. If the body is confronted with the same agent in the future, these cells are immediately mobilized and rapidly reactivate the immune system for effective protection of the individual.
Following extensive research into these memory B cells, researchers discovered three years ago that they could also be localized in the lungs. The team led by Inserm researcher Mauro Gaya and his colleagues from the Center of Immunology Marseille-Luminy (AMU/CNRS/Inserm) and the Center for Immunophenomics (AMU/CNRS/Inserm) went further in order to describe the nature and functioning of this specific immune cell population.
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are learning more about how special regulatory T cells can impact the immune system's response and how those cells could be manipulated for potential treatments for food allergies and autoimmune diseases.
In a study recently published in Science Immunology, researchers focused on regulatory T cells, or Treg cells, that regulate immune responses in the body and keep the immune system in order while fighting pathogens. In some cases, the immune system becomes overly responsive, leading to autoimmune diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes or lupus, food allergies or other issues. Researchers were able to identify the differences in isoforms that control Treg cells and how that affects the body's immune function.
"There is a particular gene that controls this regulatory group of T cells, which controls immune response," said Baohua Zhou, Ph.D., lead author of the study and associate professor of pediatrics for IU School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. "Treg cells can help maintain the right balance to help the immune system not respond too strongly or too weakly."
Researchers at the University of British Columbia's School of Biomedical Engineering have discovered that an existing cancer drug could have potential as a treatment for muscular dystrophy.
The researchers found that the drug—known as a colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) inhibitor—helped slow the progress of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in mice by increasing the resiliency of muscle fibers.
The findings were published today in Science Translational Medicine.
"This is a class of drug that is already being used in clinical trials to treat rare forms of cancer," says Dr. Farshad Babaeijandaghi, a postdoctoral fellow at UBC and first author on the study. "To find that it could potentially serve a double purpose as a treatment for muscular dystrophy is incredibly exciting. It shows a lot of promise, and with further testing, could help extend and improve quality of life for patients."
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe genetic disorder that leads to progressive muscle weakness and degeneration due to disruptions to the protein dystrophin, which helps keep muscle cells intact. It is the most common congenital disease in Canada, affecting about one out of every 3,500 males, and in rarer cases, females.
A new universal flu vaccine constructed with key parts of the influenza virus offers broad cross protection against different strains and subtypes of influenza A viruses in young and aged populations, according to a new study by researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.
The researchers developed the universal flu vaccine by genetically linking two highly conserved (relatively unchanged over time) portions of the virus—the extracellular domain of matrix 2 (M2e) and the stalk protein found in influenza A H3N2 viruses. The findings, published in the journal npj Vaccines, show that M2e-stalk protein vaccination induced broad protection against different influenza virus strains and subtypes by universal vaccine-mediated immunity in adult and aged mice.
Scientists have faced obstacles in the development of effective vaccines for influenza viruses because the head portion of the influenza virus is constantly changing. When comparing the H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses, particular challenges exist in H3N2 subtypes because of stalk mutations in circulating strains and the unstable structure of stalk proteins for H3N2 viruses. These drawbacks have been difficult to overcome in developing effective H3 stalk-based vaccines.
Vaccine effectiveness against H3N2 was low during the past decade, only about 33 percent, and dropped to 6 percent during the 2014–2015 flu season. New mutations of H3N2 variants emerged with increased virulence. Also, the outbreak of H7N9, another influenza A subtype, caused concern for potential pandemics. Therefore, developing an effective vaccine to protect against these viruses is a high priority.
his soft, electronic ‘nerve cooler’ could be a new way to relieve pain
The device uses evaporative cooling to block pain signals, experiments in rats suggest
a flexible clear implant with a wavy design in the center, held up by tweezers https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ner ... ic-implant
This flexible, dissolvable implant relieves pain by using evaporative cooling on nerves.
Northwestern University
By Meghan Rosen
June 30, 2022 at 2:00 pm
A flexible electronic implant could one day make pain management a lot more chill.
Created from materials that dissolve in the body, the device encircles nerves with an evaporative cooler. Implanted in rats, the cooler blocked pain signals from zipping up to the brain, bioengineer John Rogers and colleagues report in the July 1 Science.
Though far from ready for human use, a future version could potentially let “patients dial up or down the pain relief they need at any given moment,” says Rogers, of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
An interdisciplinary team of biologists, chemists and engineers from the University of Portsmouth have become the first to successfully grow a limpet inspired biomaterial with extreme strength.
The small aquatic snail-like mollusks use a tongue bristling with tiny microscopic teeth to scrape food off rocks and into their mouths. These teeth contain a hard yet flexible composite, which in 2015 was found to be the strongest known biologically occurring material, far stronger than spider silk and comparable to man-made substances, including carbon fiber and Kevlar.
The team has now successfully mimicked limpet tooth formation in a laboratory and used it to create a new composite biomaterial. The study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, suggests it has the potential to be upscaled into something that could rival the strength and flexibility of synthetics, but be disposed of without generating harmful waste products.
Lead author Dr. Robin Rumney, from the University's School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, said, "Fully synthetic composites like Kevlar are widely used, but the manufacturing processes can be toxic, the materials difficult and expensive to recycle.
"Here we have a material which potentially is much more sustainable in terms of how it's sourced and made, and at the end of its life can be biodegraded."
A new universal flu vaccine protects against influenza B viruses, offering broad defense against different strains and improved immune protection, according to a new study by researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.
The double-layered protein nanoparticle vaccine, which is constructed with a stabilized portion of the influenza virus (the hemagglutinin (HA) stalk), induced broadly reactive immune responses and conferred robust and sustained cross-immune protection against influenza B virus strains of both lineages. The findings are published in the journal Biomaterials.
Influenza epidemics pose a major threat to public health, and type B influenza has coincided with several severe flu outbreaks. About one-fourth of clinical infection cases are caused by influenza B viruses each year. Influenza B viruses are sometimes the dominant circulating strains during influenza seasons, such as the 2019-20 U.S. flu season when influenza B caused more than 50 percent of the infections.
(EurekAlert) Boston, MA—Spirituality should be incorporated into care for both serious illness and overall health, according to a study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
“This study represents the most rigorous and comprehensive systematic analysis of the modern day literature regarding health and spirituality to date,” said Tracy Balboni, lead author and senior physician at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center and professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School. “Our findings indicate that attention to spirituality in serious illness and in health should be a vital part of future whole person-centered care, and the results should stimulate more national discussion and progress on how spirituality can be incorporated into this type of value-sensitive care.”
“Spirituality is important to many patients as they think about their health,” said Tyler VanderWeele, the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Harvard Chan School. “Focusing on spirituality in health care means caring for the whole person, not just their disease.”
The study, which was co-authored by Balboni, VanderWeele, and senior author Howard Koh, the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership at Harvard Chan School, will be published online in JAMA on July 12, 2022. Balboni, VanderWeele, and Koh are also co-chairs of the Interfaculty Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion at Harvard University.
According to the International Consensus Conference on Spiritual Care in Health Care, spirituality is “the way individuals seek ultimate meaning, purpose, connection, value, or transcendence.” This could include organized religion but extends well beyond to include ways of finding ultimate meaning by connecting, for example, to family, community, or nature.
With rising global temperatures and dwindling pollinator populations, food production has become increasingly difficult for the world's growers.
A new study from researchers at the University of Maryland's Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics addresses this issue, providing insight into exactly how flowering plants develop fruits and seeds.
"Understanding this process is especially important because common food crops—such as peanuts, corn, rice and strawberries—are all fruits and seeds derived from flowers," said Zhongchi Liu, the study's senior author and a professor of cell biology and molecular genetics at UMD. "Knowing how plants 'decide' to turn part of their flowers into fruit and seed is crucial to agriculture and our food supply."
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications on July 9, 2022.
In the study, Liu and her team aimed to discover how fertilization—or pollination—triggers a flowering plant to start the fruit development process. The team suspected that an internal communication system was responsible for signaling the plant to develop fruit, but the researchers were unsure how that system was being activated by fertilization or pollination.
