Miotto et al. show that in mice, liver-derived extracellular vesicles act on skeletal muscle and the pancreas and increase glucose effectiveness and insulin secretion, thereby modulating glycaemic control.
Discussions are emerging about conducting clinical trials on humans with nanorobots for medical applications. Currently, in the United States, four burgeoning companies are striving towards this aim, working to advance their nanomachines into Phase 1 studies, subsequent to laboratory research and preclinical trials on animals.
The article “Delivering drugs with microrobots”, published in Science on December 7, 2023, has recaptured the international scientific community’s attention on the practical, effective use of nanorobots in Clinical Practice and Medicine.
Its author, Bradley Nelson, a Robotics and Intelligent Systems professor at ETH Zurich, poses a straightforward question: where are these diminutive biocompatible machines, designed to be injected into the human body for more efficient exploration, internal repair, and precise, targeted drug delivery? Researchers have discussed them for years – he notes – yet we still do not see them progressing from laboratories to the forefront of clinical trials. How close are we to this milestone?
Figuring out how the human body can withstand underwater pressure has been a problem for over a century, but a ragtag band of divers is experimenting with hydrogen to find out.
Because brains are intricate and surgery is risky, scientists are seeking non-invasive methods like LILFUS – which use sound waves for brain issues.
Our brain is a sensitive organ.
Using the results of a standard blood test and an online tool, you can find out if you are at increased risk of having a heart attack within six months. The tool has been developed by a research group at Uppsala University in the hope of increasing patients’ motivation to change their lifestyles.
Their paper is published in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research.
Heart attacks are the most common cause of death in the world and are increasing globally. Many high-risk people are not identified or do not take their preventive treatment.
Longstanding challenges in biomedical research such as monitoring brain chemistry and tracking the spread of drugs through the body require much smaller and more precise sensors. A new nanoscale sensor that can monitor areas 1,000 times smaller than current technology and can track subtle changes in the chemical content of biological tissue with sub-second resolution, greatly outperforming standard technologies.
The device, developed by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is silicon-based and takes advantage of techniques developed for microelectronics manufacturing. The small device size enables it to collect chemical content with close to 100% efficiency from highly localized regions of tissue in a fraction of a second. The capabilities of this new nanodialysis device are reported in the journal ACS Nano.
“With our nanodialysis device, we take an established technique and push it into a new extreme, making biomedical research problems that were impossible before quite feasible now,” said Yurii Vlasov, a U. of I. electrical & computer engineering professor and a co-lead of the study. “Moreover, since our devices are made on silicon using microelectronics fabrication techniques, they can be manufactured and deployed on large scales.”
Streamlined workflows for DNA and RNA sequencing are helping clinicians to deliver prompt, targeted care to people in days — or even hours.
Varda plans to pioneer the use of orbital manufacturing spacecraft such as this capsule to open unique pathways for engineering materials in space. “Processing materials in microgravity, or the near-weightless conditions found in space, offers a unique environment not available through terrestrial processing,” the company’s website states.
Related: Private Varda Space capsule returns to Earth with space-grown antiviral drug aboard
The recovery made Varda only the third private company to recover an intact spacecraft from orbit, after SpaceX and Boeing.
Endothelial cells line at the most inner layer of blood vessels. They act to control hemostasis, arterial tone/reactivity, wound healing, tissue oxygen, and nutrient supply. With age, endothelial cells become senescent, characterized by reduced regeneration capacity, inflammation, and abnormal secretory profile. Endothelial senescence represents one of the earliest features of arterial ageing and contributes to many age-related diseases. Compared to those in arteries and veins, endothelial cells of the microcirculation exhibit a greater extent of heterogeneity. Microcirculatory endothelial senescence leads to a declined capillary density, reduced angiogenic potentials, decreased blood flow, impaired barrier properties, and hypoperfusion in a tissue or organ-dependent manner.
A genetic marker linked to premature aging was reversed in children with obesity during a six-month diet and exercise program, according to a recent study led by the Stanford School of Medicine.
Children’s telomeres — protective molecular “caps” on the chromosomes — were longer during the weight management program, then were shorter again in the year after the program ended, the study found. The research was published last month in Pediatric Obesity.
