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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,690

Resetting the biological clock

The biological clock is present in almost all cells of an organism. As more and more evidence emerges that clocks in certain organs could be out of sync, there is a need to investigate and reset these clocks locally. Scientists from the Netherlands and Japan introduced a light-controlled on/off switch to a kinase inhibitor, which affects clock function. This gives them control of the biological clock in cultured cells and explanted tissue. They published their results on 26 May in Nature Communications.

Life on Earth has evolved under a 24-hour cycle of light and dark, hot and cold. “As a result, our cells are synchronized to these 24-hour oscillations,” says Wiktor Szymanski, Professor of Radiological Chemistry at the University Medical Center Groningen. Our circadian clock is regulated by a central controller in the , a region in the brain directly above the optic nerve, but all our cells contain a clock of their own. These clocks consist of an oscillation in the production and breakdown of certain proteins.

Flickering Lights and Sound Could Be New Weapon Against Alzheimer’s

Summary: A “flicker treatment” that uses flickering lights and sounds has been shown to be tolerable, safe, and effective in treating adults with mild cognitive impairment.

Source: Georgia Tech.

For the past few years, Annabelle Singer and her collaborators have been using flickering lights and sound to treat mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, and they’ve seen some dramatic results.

Limit on lab-grown human embryos dropped

The international body representing stem-cell scientists has torn up a decades-old limit on the length of time that scientists should grow human embryos in the lab, giving more leeway to researchers who are studying human development and disease.

Previously, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) recommended that scientists culture human embryos for no more than two weeks after fertilization. But on 26 May, the society said it was relaxing this famous limit, known as the ‘14-day rule’. Rather than replace or extend the limit, the ISSCR now suggests that studies proposing to grow human embryos beyond the two-week mark be considered on a case-by-case basis, and be subjected to several phases of review to determine at what point the experiments must be stopped.

The ISSCR made this change and others to its guidelines for biomedical research in response to rapid advances in the field, including the ability to create embryo-like structures from human stem cells. In addition to relaxing the ‘14-day rule’, for instance, the group advises against editing genes in human embryos until the safety of genome editing is better established.

The efficacy and safety of Favipiravir in treatment of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials

The novel coronavirus outbreak began in late December 2019 and rapidly spread worldwide, critically impacting public health systems. A number of already approved and marketed drugs are being tested for repurposing, including Favipiravir. We aim to investigate the efficacy and safety of Favipiravir in treatment of COVID-19 patients through a systematic review and meta-analysis. This systematic review and meta-analysis were reported in accordance with the PRISMA statement. We registered the protocol in the PROSPERO (CRD42020180032). All clinical trials which addressed the safety and efficacy of Favipiravir in comparison to other control groups for treatment of patients with confirmed infection with SARS-CoV2 were included. We searched electronic databases including LitCovid/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, Cochrane, and Scientific Information Database up to 31 December 2020.

Simple Diagnostic Tool Predicts Individual Risk of Alzheimer’s

Summary: A new algorithm that uses data from memory tests and blood samples is able to accurately predict an individual’s risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: Lund University.

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed an algorithm that combines data from a simple blood test and brief memory tests, to predict with great accuracy who will develop Alzheimer’s disease in the future.

You can live to 150? Scientists create app that shows human lifespan could nearly double

An iPhone app that estimates biological aging discovered that life expectancy has the capacity to be almost double the current norm.

GEYLANG, Singapore — Have you made any plans for the 22nd century yet? A new study finds you might want to think about it because it’s possible for humans to live to see their 150th birthday!

Scientists in Singapore have developed an iPhone app that accurately estimates biological aging. It discovered that life expectancy has the capacity to be almost double the current norm. The findings are based on blood samples from hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and United Kingdom.

The instrument, called DOSI, uses artificial intelligence to work out body resilience, the ability to recover from injury or disease. DOSI, which stands for dynamic organism state indicator, takes into account age, illnesses, and lifestyles to make its estimates.