Lifeboat Foundation

For people ages 75 and older, age-related changes in general health and in the heart and blood vessels require consideration and likely modifications in how heart attacks and heart disease are treated, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published today in the Association’s flagship, peer-reviewed journal Circulation.

The new statement, “Management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the older adult population,” highlights recent evidence to help clinicians better care for patients over age 75. According to the statement, 30–40% of people hospitalized with ACS are age 75 or older. ACS includes heart attack and unstable angina (heart-related chest pain).

The statement is an update of a 2007 American Heart Association statement on the treatment of heart attacks in the elderly.

The study brings much hope to patients with brain and spinal cord cancers.

A small pilot trial involving patients with lymphoma of the brain and/or spinal cord has shown that CAR-T-cell therapy known as axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) can be a viable treatment option for patients who often have little hope, according to a press release by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators published on Sunday. “For many patients with lymphoma of the central nervous system, there aren’t great treatment options,” said Dana-Farber’s Caron Jacobson, MD, MMSc, who led the trial.

Our early results suggest that expanding the applicability of CAR-T cells to this indication could improve patient outcomes.

Continue reading “Pilot trial sees tumors shrink or disappear in 78% of patients” »

Today, the University of Colorado Cancer Center released new research that showcases chemotherapy treatment before and after surgery for pancreatic cancer as the most effective combination for patients.

The study findings were published in JAMA Oncology and led by Marco Del Chiaro, MD, division chief of surgical oncology in the University of Colorado Department of Surgery and visiting researcher Toshitaka Sugawara, MD, Ph.D.

“It’s critical to have large scale data that doctors can use to make decisions about chemotherapy plans for patients who qualify for pancreatic cancer surgery,” said author Marco Del Chiaro, MD, division chief of surgical oncology at the CU Cancer Center on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

The fight against Alzheimer’s disease has been a tough one, but we are making progress. Not only have scientists created tech that can detect Alzheimer’s in a single brain scan, but some research has also shown that repurposable drugs could help find a cure.

A new therapy that makes the immune system kill bone marrow cancer cells was successful in as many as 73% of patients in two clinical trials, according to researchers from The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The therapy, known as a bispecific antibody, binds to both T cells and multiple myeloma cells and directs the T cells— white blood cells that can be enlisted to fight off diseases—to kill multiple myeloma cells. The researchers described this strategy as “bringing your army right to the enemy.”

The success of the off-the-shelf immunotherapy, called talquetamab, was even seen in patients whose cancer was resistant to all approved multiple myeloma therapies. It uses a different target than other approved therapies: a receptor expressed on the surface of cancer cells known as GPRC5D.

In recent years, engineers have been working to develop increasingly sophisticated and smaller electronic components that could power the devices of the future. This includes thin and stretchable components that could be easily worn on the skin or implanted inside the human body.

Researchers at RIKEN, Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, University of Tokyo, and other institutes in Japan, Singapore and China have recently realized a new, elastic electrical conductor that is 1.3-micrometers thin. This conductor, introduced in a paper published in Nature Electronics, could advance the development of both wearable and implantable sensors.

“Ultrathin electronic devices can form a conformal interface with curved surfaces, are not perceivable by human when wearing, and do not induce strong foreign body rejection (FBR) when implanted in animals,” Zhi Jiang, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore.

An analysis of 22 large-scale gene expression datasets pointed to exercise and activity in general as the most effective theoretical treatment for reversing gene expressions typical of Alzheimer’s disease. Fluoxetine, a well-known antidepressant, also showed effect, particularly when combined with exercise. Curcumin showed positive effects as well. The study was published in Scientific Reports.

Alzheimer’s disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder that affects multiple brain regions. It is the most common disease that causes dementia and is very difficult to treat. In the course of the disease, abnormal collections of proteins called tau accumulate inside neurons.

Another type of protein clumps together to form so-called amyloid plaques that collect between neurons and disrupt cell functions. These and other changes harm the functioning of the brain across different regions and lead to dysfunction and death of brain cells.

A German-based biotechnologist and filmmaker has presented his concept for an artificial womb. This futuristic device could allow a foetus to grow and develop outside the body, without the need for women to undergo pregnancy.

Research from Imperial College London suggests that gold compouds recovered from discarded SIM cards can significantly lower the cost of making medicines.