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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,143

Experimental Gene Therapy Cures Teen’s “Incurable” Cancer

Reposting 😗

Thanks to a new experimental gene therapy, one teen’s previously incurable leukemia is now entirely undetectable, marking an incredible breakthrough in genetic immunotherapies. Alyssa, 13, from Leicester in the UK, was told that the only remaining options were end-of-life care to ensure she was comfortable as the aggressive T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia took hold – but the experimental CAR-T base editing therapy was able to modify her immune system to clear all detectable cancer cells.

T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia is a type of cancer that affects T-lymphocytes, an immune white blood cell that is created in the bone marrow. In this type of fast-moving leukemia, these cells divide uncontrollably and enter the bloodstream, traveling to the liver, spleen, and lymph nodes. This can cause death in a short span of just months or even weeks without treatment.

Currently, standard care procedures involve chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, which is an infamously difficult procedure. In Alyssa’s case, both of these treatments failed.

MPS VI

The body constantly replaces used materials and breaks them down for disposal. MPS VI patients are missing an enzyme essential to breaking down the mucopolysaccharide dermatan sulfate. These materials remain stored in the body’s cells, causing progressive damage. Babies may show little sign of the disease (so better testing is needed), but as cells sustain damage, symptoms start to appear.

Its sad when people have disorders that have a low life expectancy in their 20’s and 30’s EnzymeMaroteaux-Lamy syndrome Is one such affliction, however their is enzyme replacement treatment, but more needs to be done.

Enzyme Replacement Treatment.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7752495/

Learn more about MPS VI and the available treatments and resources for this diagnosis.

Breakthrough Material Separates Heavy Water From Normal Water at Room Temperature

A flipping action in a porous material facilitates the passage of normal water to separate it out from heavy water.

A research group led by Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University’s Institute for Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), Japan and Cheng Gu of South China University of Technology, China have made a material that can effectively separate heavy water from normal water at room temperature. Until now, this process has been very difficult and energy intensive. The findings have implications for industrial – and even biological – processes that involve using different forms of the same molecule. The scientists reported their results in the journal Nature.

Isotopologues are molecules that have the same chemical formula and whose atoms bond in similar arrangements, but at least one of their atoms has a different number of neutrons than the parent molecule. For example, a water molecule (H2O) is formed of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms. The nucleus of each of the hydrogen atoms contains one proton and no neutrons. In heavy water (D2O), on the other hand, the deuterium (D) atoms are hydrogen isotopes with nuclei containing one proton and one neutron. Heavy water has applications in nuclear reactors, medical imaging, and in biological investigations.

Physician, heal thyself?

Following established guidelines about prescription drugs would seem to be an obvious course of action, especially for the professionals that do the prescribing. Yet doctors and their family members are less likely than other people to comply with those guidelines, according to a large-scale study co-authored by an MIT economist.

Depending on your perspective, that result might seem surprising or it might produce a knowing nod. Either way, the result is contrary to past scholarly hypotheses. Many experts have surmised that knowing more, and having easier communication with medical providers, leads patients to follow instructions more closely.

ChatGPT: The AI-powered Chatbot that is equal parts brilliant and terrifying

At number 4 on IE’s list of 22 best innovations is ChatGPT, an AI-powered Chatbot that gained over 1 million registered users in just 5 days after release.

The year 2022 saw a host of brilliant inventions, ranging from the James Webb Space Telescope, the HIV vaccine, and DALL-E, to transparent solar windows. But just when we thought the year had seen its fair share of excellence and innovation, ChatGPT caught us by surprise.

Developed by the OpenAI foundation, an independent research body founded by Elon Musk, the Artificial Intelligence-powered chatbot released on November 30, is everything mind-blowing, bizarre, and daunting. The San Francisco-based company is also responsible for the breakthrough image generator DALL-E 2.

Neuroscientists developed a blood-based biomarker for Alzheimer’s diagnosis

A significant step toward improved accessibility.

Neuroscientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine developed a new test to identify a sign of Alzheimer’s disease neurodegeneration in a blood sample, according to a press release.

“At present, diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease requires neuroimaging,” said senior author Thomas Karikari, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Pitt.

Artur Plawgo/iStock.

Called “brain-derived tau” (BD-tau), the biomarker is specific to neurodegenerations related to Alzheimer’s disease, and it reportedly outperforms currently used blood diagnostic tests.