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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 1616

May 11, 2020

Supercomputer Simulations Identify Several Drugs as Potential Candidates Against COVID-19

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, supercomputing

Drugs used for curing hepatitis C might also help against Covid-19 / World Health Organization publishes paper presented by researchers from Mainz University.

Several drugs approved for treating hepatitis C viral infection were identified as potential candidates against COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This is the result of research based on extensive calculations using the MOGON II supercomputer at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). One of the most powerful computers in the world, MOGON II is operated by JGU and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz.

As the JGU researchers explained in their paper recently published at the World Health Organization (WHO) website, they had simulated the way that about 42,000 different substances listed in open databases bind to certain proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and thereby inhibit the penetration of the virus into the human body or its multiplication.

May 11, 2020

Stem cell treatment for coronavirus symptoms being trialed in the UAE

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

We repurposed some tools from the Stem Cell Therapy for Cancer/Brain Tumor. Those tools are T-Cells, B-Cells, and Natural Killer Cells. Instead of programming those cancer killing cells to attack cancer cells, we have programmed them to seek out, identify, attack, and destroy all the Coronavirus cells in the entire body.

Stem Cell Neurotherapy sends therapeutic messages, e.g., “your stem cells are transforming into new cells for the lungs, liver, and kidneys” to the DNA inside the nucleus of stem cells. Inside the nucleus, the DNA receives the message and transmits it to the RNA, which translates the message into genetic code.

The genes inside the stem cells transmit the coded message to the proteins, which are converted by the mitochondria into ATP, which provides the energy for the coded message to transform the stem cells into a new set of lung cells, as well as new cells for the kidneys and liver.

May 11, 2020

Anti-viral drug cocktail shows success clearing COVID-19 in ‘seven days’

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Scientists in Hong Kong recently completed a clinical study in which they found that administering a cocktail of three different anti-viral medications to patients enduring mild coronavirus symptoms “may rapidly suppress the amount of virus in a patient’s body.”

The three-drug anti-viral cocktail is made up of the HIV medication lopinavir-ritonavir, the hepatitis therapy drug ribavirin and the multiple sclerosis treatment interferon-beta.

May 10, 2020

A cluster of coronavirus cases in California was traced to a coughing patient at a birthday party

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

A birthday party was behind a cluster of coronavirus cases in Pasadena, California, according to health officials.

A “large number” of extended family members and friends were at the party, the Pasadena Public Health Department said in <a href=“https://www.cityofpasadena.net/city-manager/news-releases/cluster-of-covid-19-cases-traced-to-birthday-party/ target=“_blank”>a news release, adding the event took place after the city issued a stay-at-home order in March.

One patient at the party was coughing and not wearing a face covering, health officials said, and other party guests were also not covering their face or social distancing…

May 10, 2020

Reversing age: dual species measurement of epigenetic age with a single clock

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, finance, genetics, life extension, neuroscience

Young blood plasma is known to confer beneficial effects on various organs in mice. However, it was not known whether young plasma rejuvenates cells and tissues at the epigenetic level; whether it alters the epigenetic clock, which is a highly-accurate molecular biomarker of aging. To address this question, we developed and validated six different epigenetic clocks for rat tissues that are based on DNA methylation values derived from n=593 tissue samples. As indicated by their respective names, the rat pan-tissue clock can be applied to DNA methylation profiles from all rat tissues, while the rat brain-, liver-, and blood clocks apply to the corresponding tissue types. We also developed two epigenetic clocks that apply to both human and rat tissues by adding n=850 human tissue samples to the training data. We employed these six clocks to investigate the rejuvenation effects of a plasma fraction treatment in different rat tissues. The treatment more than halved the epigenetic ages of blood, heart, and liver tissue. A less pronounced, but statistically significant, rejuvenation effect could be observed in the hypothalamus. The treatment was accompanied by progressive improvement in the function of these organs as ascertained through numerous biochemical/physiological biomarkers and behavioral responses to assess cognitive functions. Cellular senescence, which is not associated with epigenetic aging, was also considerably reduced in vital organs. Overall, this study demonstrates that a plasma-derived treatment markedly reverses aging according to epigenetic clocks and benchmark biomarkers of aging.

Several authors are founders, owners, employees (Harold Katcher and Akshay Sanghavi) or consultants of Nugenics Research (Steve Horvath and Agnivesh Shrivastava) which plans to commercialize the “Elixir” treatment. Other authors (Kavita Singh, Shraddha Khairnar) received financial support from Nugenics Research. The other authors do not have conflict of interest.

May 10, 2020

Bodies of Covid-19 victims lie in the streets of Ecuadorian city

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Bodies of coronavirus victims have been seen lying in the streets of the Ecuadorian capital amid warnings the pandemic is yet to peak across Latin America.

Forensics experts were seen attending to the corpse of a 65-year-old man suspected of contracting COVID-19 in Quito on Tuesday. Funeral home workers later arrived to load him into a coffin and drive him away.

Continue reading “Bodies of Covid-19 victims lie in the streets of Ecuadorian city” »

May 10, 2020

As COVID-19 Deaths Rise, Makeshift Morgues Go Up in New York

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

‘I still can’t believe what I’m seeing.’ One couple’s apartment overlooks the street where a morgue was erected.

May 10, 2020

Door-to-door tests help track COVID-19’s spread in one Oregon town

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Surveying neighborhoods directly may give a more accurate view than mail-in tests and other methods, researchers say.

May 10, 2020

Cannabis shows promise blocking coronavirus infection: Alberta researcher

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

“Cannabis extracts are showing potential in making people more resistant to the novel coronavirus, says an Alberta researcher leading a study.

After sifting through 400 cannabis strains, researchers at the University of Lethbridge are concentrating on about a dozen that show promising results in ensuring less fertile ground for the potentially lethal virus to take root, said biological scientist Dr. Igor Kovalchuk.”


But the absence of clinical trials remains a barrier, and funding from an increasingly cash-strapped cannabis industry isn’t there to fuel that, said Kovalchuk.

Continue reading “Cannabis shows promise blocking coronavirus infection: Alberta researcher” »

May 10, 2020

Fiber imaging beyond the limits of resolution and speed

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology

Researchers at ARCNL and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam have developed a compact setup for fast, super-resolution microscopy through an ultrathin fiber. Using smart signal processing, they beat the theoretical limits of resolution and speed. Because the method does not require any special fluorescent labelling, it is promising for both medical applications and characterization of 3D structures in nanolithography. On May 7th, the results were published in Light: Science & Applications, a scientific journal in the Nature family.

“Imaging at the nanoscale is limited by the wavelength of the light that is used. There are ways to overcome this diffraction limit, but they typically require large microscopes and difficult processing procedures,” says Lyuba Amitonova. “These systems are unsuitable for imaging in deep layers of biological tissue or in other hard-to-reach places.”

Amitonova recently started a research group on Nanoscale Imaging and Metrology at ARCNL. She is also connected to VU Amsterdam where she works on ultrathin fibers for endomicroscopy in the group of Johannes de Boer. Amitonova and de Boer have developed a way to overcome the in small systems to enable deep-tissue imaging with super-resolution.