Latest advances in medical research thread

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Injectable self-healing gel provides long-term drug delivery
By Chris Wood
February 19, 2015

A team of MIT researchers have developed a new, self-healing hydrogel that doesn’t require surgical implantation, but can be injected using a syringe. The new gel, which can carry two drugs at once, allows for more convenient treatment of numerous conditions.

 

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DNA screening kit given the go-ahead by US regulator

http://m.bbc.co.uk/n...nology-31552029

A Californian start-up will be allowed to advertise a mail order DNA test that screens for a rare genetic condition, after a U-turn by the US regulator

 

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Men have hands amputated and replaced by bionic ones
http://www.newscientist.com/article...RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|online-news#.VO3WwvmsVUV

The procedure, dubbed "bionic reconstruction", was carried out by Oskar Aszmann at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.Bionic hands are go. Three men with serious nerve damage had their hands amputated and replaced by prosthetic ones that they can control with their minds.

The men had all suffered accidents which damaged the brachial plexus – the bundle of nerve fibres that runs from the spine to the hand. Despite attempted repairs to those nerves, the arm and hand remained paralysed.

"But still there are some nerve fibres present," says Aszmann. "The injury is so massive that there are only a few. This is just not enough to make the hand alive. They will never drive a hand, but they might drive a prosthetic hand."

This approach works because the prosthetic hands come with their own power source. Aszmann's patients plug their hands in to charge every night. Relying on electricity from the grid to power the hand means all the muscles and nerves need do is send the right signals to a prosthetic.

 

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3D engineered bone marrow-like material produces functioning human platelets
By Chris Wood
February 25, 2015

Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering and the University of Pavia (Italy) have developed a three-dimensional tissue made from porous silk, that’s capable of producing platelets for clinical use. The development is expected to have a significant impact on treatment of blood diseases.

 

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First Human Head transplant could happen in 2017

26 February 2015

The first human head transplant could take place in just two years, according to a radical proposal by an Italian surgeon.

Sergio Canavero, from the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, wants the surgery to be used to help extend the lives of people who have suffered degeneration of the muscles and nerves or those who have advanced cancer.
The surgeon plans to announce the project at the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons (AANOS) conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in June, the New Scientist reported.
Mr Canavero published a paper on the technique he would use in the Surgical Neurology International journal this month.
The recipient's head and the donor body would be cooled at the start of the procedure to extend the time that cells can survive without oxygen.
Tissue around the neck would be dissected and major blood vessels would be joined using tiny tubes.

http://news.sky.com/...head-transplant

 

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Brain makes decisions with same method used to break WW2 Enigma code

When making simple decisions, neurons in the brain apply the same statistical trick used by Alan Turing to help break Germany’s Enigma code during World War II, according to a new study in animals by researchers at Columbia University’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and Department of Neuroscience.
Results of the study were published Feb. 5 in Neuron.
As depicted in the film “The Imitation Game,” Alan Turing and his team of codebreakers devised the statistical technique to help them decipher German military messages encrypted with the Enigma machine.

 

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Graphene shown to neutralize cancer stem cells

University of Manchester scientists have used graphene oxide to target and neutralize cancer stem cells (CSCs) while not harming other cells.

This new development opens up the possibility of preventing or treating a broad range of cancers, using a non-toxic material.

In combination with existing treatments, this finding could eventually lead to tumor shrinkage as well as preventing the spread of cancer and its recurrence after treatment, according to the team of researchers led by Professor Michael Lisanti and Aravind Vijayaraghavan, writing in an open-access paper in the journal Oncotarget.

 

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Johns Hopkins scientists identify genetic pathway that may spur cancer cell growth



24 February 2015

Working with cells taken from children with a very rare but ferocious form of brain cancer, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have identified a genetic pathway that acts as a master regulator of thousands of other genes and may spur cancer cell growth and resistance to anticancer treatment.

Their experiments with cells from patients with atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) also found that selumetinib, an experimental anticancer drug currently in clinical trials for other childhood brain cancers, can disrupt part of the molecular pathway regulated by one of these factors, according to a research team led by Eric Raabe, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
AT/RT mostly strikes children 6 and younger, and the survival rate is less than 50 percent even with aggressive surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, treatments that can also disrupt thinking, learning and growth. AT/RT accounts for 1 percent of more than 4,500 reported pediatric brain tumors in the U.S., but it is more common in very young children, and it represents 10 percent of all brain tumors in infants.

http://www.news-medi...n-children.aspx

 

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Epigenome of more than 100 tissue and cell types mapped

Much like mapping the human genome laid the foundations for understanding the genetic basis of human health, new maps of the human epigenome may further unravel the complex links between DNA and disease. The epigenome is part of the machinery that helps direct how genes are turned off and on in different types of cells.
"With this increased understanding of the full epigenome, and the datasets available to the entire scientific community, the NIH Common Fund is striving to catalyze future research, to aid the understanding of how epigenomics plays a role in human diseases, with the expectation that further studies will identify early indications of disease and targets for therapeutics," said James Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., director of NIH Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives that oversees the NIH Common Fund.


Ageing is the result of on/off in the genomics. Hacking the control machinery will payback huge than trying to stop ageing by current drugs. Rapamycin like drugs "may" enlengthen life by 10 years, but this next generation technology has the potential to enlengthen it indefinitely.

 

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Protein shown to slow progress of Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis
By Nick Lavars
March 2, 2015

Researchers have identified a promising new target in the battle against certain neurological diseases. A protein known as TREM2 has been proven effective in clearing away unwanted debris in the brain, the unchecked buildup of which can lead to both Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS).

 

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Drug-delivering nano "drones" to help prevent heart attacks
By Karen Sprey
March 2, 2015
2 Pictures

Scientists have developed targeted, biodegradable nano "drones" to deliver anti-inflammatory drugs that heal and stabilize arterial plaque in mice. Their work could pave the way for more effective prevention of heart attack and stroke in humans caused by atherosclerosis, in which artery walls thicken and suffer reduced plasticity due to an accumulation of white blood cells.

 

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Prosthetic ankle scans the ground ahead and adjusts accordingly
By Nick Lavars
March 2, 2015

Computer-controlled artificial legs have aided in improving amputees' freedom of movement by mimicking the natural motion of their missing limbs. Now, a new robotic ankle promises to make this motion even more precise by using a camera to scan the ground ahead and dynamically adjusting to the terrain underfoot.

 

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Neuroscientists identify new way several brain areas communicate

Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientists have identified a new pathway by which several brain areas communicate within the brain's striatum.

Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the findings illustrate structural and functional connections that allow the brain to use reinforcement learning to make spatial decisions, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Communication between these regions is important for abilities like how a baseball player is able to estimate where to swing his bat or how a person finds a car in a large parking lot filled with similar cars.

 

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Activating genes on demand

"Such a capability could lead to gene therapies that would mitigate age-related degeneration and the onset of disease; in the study, Church and his team demonstrated the ability to manipulate gene expression in yeast, flies, mouse and human cell cultures."

 

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Lung cancer stem cell therapy to be trialled in UK

Friday 6 March 2015 07.53 GMT

British patients will be the first in the world to receive a pioneering cell therapy that scientists hope will transform the treatment of lung cancer.

The treatment uses stem cells taken from bone marrow that have been genetically modified to find and destroy cancer cells.

If successful, the treatment would offer hope to lung cancer patients, who continue to face one of the worst outlooks of all cancer patients. More than 40,000 people are diagnosed with the disease in the UK each year and only 5% of patients survive beyond 10 years.

http://www.theguardi...herapy-trial-uk

 

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Prosthetic arm takes alternate route to mind control
By Lakshmi Sandhana
March 9, 2015
3 Pictures

Researchers from the Medical University of Vienna have developed a technique that allows amputees to control a robotic prosthesis with their mind when there's no neural connection left to exploit between the brain and the part of the hand that remains. Called "bionic reconstruction," the procedure was applied to three patients who were able to successfully use the prosthesis to undertake routine activities, thereby improving their quality of life.

 

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Genetics breakthrough will boost diabetes research
Genetics breakthrough will boost diabetes resear

Patrick Concannon, director of the University of Florida Genetics Institute. Credit: UF Health file photo

The genes that increase the risk of Type 1 diabetes have lost their hiding place. A research group that includes a University of Florida genetics expert has located and narrowed down the number of genes that play a role in the disease, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Genetics. Knowing the identities and location of causative genes is a crucial development: Other researchers can use this information to better predict who might develop Type 1 diabetes and how to prevent it.

 

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Scientists find class of drugs that boosts healthy lifespan

A research team from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Mayo Clinic and other institutions has identified a new class of drugs that in animal models dramatically slows the aging process—alleviating symptoms of frailty, improving cardiac function and extending a healthy lifespan.
The new research was published March 9 online ahead of print by the journal Aging Cell.

The scientists coined the term "senolytics" for the new class of drugs.

"We view this study as a big, first step toward developing treatments that can be given safely to patients to extend healthspan or to treat age-related diseases and disorders," said TSRI Professor Paul Robbins, PhD, who with Associate Professor Laura Niedernhofer, MD, PhD, led the research efforts for the paper at Scripps Florida. "When senolytic agents, like the combination we identified, are used clinically, the results could be transformative."

Scientists find class of drugs that boosts healthy lifespan

 

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Researchers develop new paper-based portable lab
By Antonio Pasolini
March 11, 2015
2 Pictures

Point-of-care medical diagnostics technologies offer a fast and cheap way to help patients as they require no experienced personnel or expensive laboratory tests. Several innovations such as a DNA test chip and a biosensor that can detect viruses give us an idea of the possibilities in this field. Now a research team at the University of Rhode Island in the US has developed a paper-based platform that's claimed can perform complex diagnostics.

 

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Heart-on-a-chip beats a steady rhythym
By Colin Jeffrey
March 11, 2015

The growing number of biological structures being grown on chips in various laboratories around the world is rapidly replicating the entire gamut of major human organs. Now one of the most important of all – a viable functioning heart – has been added to that list by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) who have taken adult stem cells and grown a lattice of pulsing human heart tissue on a silicon device.