Lifeboat Foundation

Milekic’s morning could be an advertisement for the potential of AI to transform health care. Mount Sinai is among a group of elite hospitals pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into AI software and education, turning their institutions into laboratories for this technology. They’re buoyed by a growing body of scientific literature, such as a recent study finding AI readings of mammograms detected 20 percent more cases of breast cancer than radiologists — along with the conviction that AI is the future of medicine.

Researchers are also working to translate generative AI, which backs tools that can create words, sounds and text, into a hospital setting. Mount Sinai has deployed a group of… More.

Mount Sinai and other elite hospitals are pouring millions of dollars into chatbots and AI tools, as doctors and nurses worry the technology will upend their jobs.

Summary: Probiotics might play a vital role in preventing cognitive decline associated with aging. By providing participants suffering from mild cognitive impairment with the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG for three months, researchers observed enhanced cognitive performance and gut microbiome modifications.

The study suggests that altering gut microbiome might be a strategic approach to enhancing cognitive function in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. If replicated, these findings could revolutionize preventive strategies in cognitive health using gut microbiome-focused approaches.

Lawrence J. Appel, MD, MPH, is the director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins University. His clinical research focuses on preventing blood pressure-related cardiovascular and kidney diseases. Here, he discusses the link between high blood pressure and kidney disease, and the importance of early detection and management.

Q: What is the link between kidney disease and high blood pressure?

A: High blood pressure is a leading cause for many adverse conditions, such as stroke, heart disease, heart failure, and possibly cognitive decline. Many patients are unaware of the link between elevated blood pressure and kidney disease.

A change in just one letter in the code that makes up a cancer-causing gene can significantly affect how aggressive a tumor is or how well a patient with cancer responds to a particular therapy. A new, very precise gene-editing tool created by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators will enable scientists to study the impact of these specific genetic changes in preclinical models rather than being limited to more broadly targeted tactics, such as deleting the entire gene.

The tool was described in a study published Aug. 10 in Nature Biotechnology. Dr. Lukas Dow, an associate professor of biochemistry in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and his colleagues genetically engineered mice to carry an enzyme that allows the scientists to change a single base or “letter” in the mouse’s genetic code. The enzyme can be turned on or off by feeding the mice an antibiotic called doxycycline, reducing the prospect of unintended genetic changes occurring over time. The tool can also grow miniature versions of intestine, lung, and pancreas tissue called organoids from the mice, enabling even more molecular and biochemical studies of the impact of these precise genetic changes.

“We are excited about using this technology to try and understand the genetic changes that influence a patient’s response to cancer therapies,” said Dr. Dow, who is also a member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.

A healthy immune system: the ultimate balancing act

The immune system is comprised of innate and adaptive immune responses, both of which are crucial in maintaining our health. The innate immune response is the first line of defense that immediately works to prevent the spread of pathogens and tumors.¹ The adaptive immune response is a more sophisticated, secondary response that is specialized to clear specific pathogens and provide long-lasting immunity.²

The efficacy of these two systems depends on balanced inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses, referred to as immunomodulation. For example, upon injury or infection, macrophages secrete molecules that promote inflammation to dilate blood vessels and recruit other immune cells to the damaged site. Once the infection is cleared, the immune system mounts an anti-inflammatory, reparatory response.

Specifically, the researchers examined how THC administered through edibles, a common consumption method, influenced epigenetic changes in crucial areas for fetal development, including the placenta, fetal lung, brain, and heart.

In recent years, the popularity and availability of cannabis has grown significantly, with various consumption methods like edibles gaining traction. However, alongside this trend, there has been a worrisome increase in cannabis use among pregnant women. Unfortunately, our understanding of the detailed effects of using cannabis during pregnancy on the developing child remains limited. Because normal fetal development relies on the crucial process of epigenetic regulation and gene expression modification, it has been suggested that studying the molecular changes linked to cannabis exposure during pregnancy could provide important insights.

To gain a better understanding of the effects of cannabis use during pregnancy, researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) conducted a unique preclinical study that focused on investigating the epigenetic impact of THC, the main active component in cannabis, on fetal development and future health outcomes. The study’s findings were published in the journal Clinical Epigenetics.

Continue reading “The Epigenetic Impact of Cannabis Use During Pregnancy on Child’s Health” »

Australian researchers have identified neutralizing nanobodies that block the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering cells in preclinical models.

The discovery paves the way for further investigations into nanobody-based treatments for COVID-19.

Published in PNAS, the research is part of a consortium-led effort, bringing together the expertise of Australian academic leaders in infectious diseases and antibody therapeutics at WEHI, the Doherty Institute and the Kirby Institute.

Using antibodies derived from alpacas, a University of Kentucky research team has developed a tool that could lead to new therapies to stop the growth of several types of cancer.

While cancer researchers have known that a protein called PRL-3 is linked to the growth of colon, breast, lung, skin and blood cancers, there is little understanding about how it works due to a lack of tools to study it effectively.

With unique alpaca antibodies known as nanobodies, the team led by UK Markey Cancer Center researcher Jessica Blackburn, Ph.D., developed the first effective tool to specifically target PRL-3.

An interdisciplinary team of mathematicians, engineers, physicists, and medical scientists have uncovered an unexpected link between pure mathematics and genetics, that reveals key insights into the structure of neutral mutations and the evolution of organisms.

Number theory, the study of the properties of positive integers, is perhaps the purest form of mathematics. At first sight, it may seem far too abstract to apply to the natural world. In fact, the influential American number theorist Leonard Dickson wrote ‘Thank God that number theory is unsullied by any application.’

And yet, again and again, number theory finds unexpected applications in science and engineering, from leaf angles that (almost) universally follow the Fibonacci sequence, to modern encryption techniques based on factoring prime numbers. Now, researchers have demonstrated an unexpected link between number theory and evolutionary genetics.