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Rare genetic variants could point to new treatments for severe psychiatric disorder.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 2000
Scientists have developed a new approach to cell-based therapies that can be triggered by a compound found in green tea.
A lab worker in San Diego became infected with a smallpox-related virus, known as the vaccinia virus, after she accidentally stuck her finger with a needle, according to a new report.
The infection caused the tip of the woman’s finger to swell and turn black. Her case is unique because it marks the first time that doctors have used tecovirimat — a recently approved drug for smallpox — to treat a laboratory-acquired infection with vaccinia virus, the report said.
Emma doesn’t look so great.
Her legs are puffy and covered in varicose veins. Her eyes are flat and dead, and her back looks like she spends her days ringing the bell at Notre-Dame Cathedral.
It’s harsh but true. Emma is a life-sized doll depicting what the average office worker in the United Kingdom could look like in 20 years if changes aren’t made to the workplace environment.
Scientists have developed a new gene-editing technology that could potentially correct up to 89% of genetic defects, including those that cause diseases like sickle cell anemia.
The new technique is called “prime editing,” and was developed by researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, who published their findings Monday in the journal Nature.
Prime editing builds on powerful CRISPR gene editing, but is more precise and versatile — it “directly writes new genetic information into a specified DNA site,” according to the paper.
Nearly half the U.S. population is projected to have one or more chronic conditions by 2030 and the need to better manage both care delivery and costs has never been greater.
At the same time, Baby Boomers are entering their “Golden Years” and seeking out preventative and lifestyle medicine to ensure that they live longer and with more personal freedom. And they want to do all of this while “aging in place” and not being relegated to the decrepit and outdated nursing homes of their own parents’ generation. After all, we live in a new era of instant song selection, streaming movies, and Amazon home delivery.
A technology designed to preserve synapses across the whole brain of a large mammal is successful
Using a combination of ultrafast glutaraldehyde fixation and very low temperature storage, researchers have demonstrated for the first-time ever a way to preserve a brain’s connectome (the 150 trillion synaptic connections presumed to encode all of a person’s knowledge) for centuries-long storage in a large mammal. This laboratory demonstration clears the way to develop Aldehyde-Stabilized Cryopreservation into a ‘last resort’ medical option, one that would prevent the destruction of the patient’s unique connectome, offering at least some hope for future revival via mind uploading. You can view images and videos demonstrating the quality of the preservation method for yourself at the evaluation page.
New cellular and molecular processes underlying communication between gut microbes and brain cells have been described for the first time by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell’s Ithaca campus.
Over the last two decades, scientists have observed a clear link between autoimmune disorders and a variety of psychiatric conditions. For example, people with autoimmune disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis and multiple sclerosis may also have depleted gut microbiota and experience anxiety, depression and mood disorders. Genetic risks for autoimmune disorders and psychiatric disorders also appear to be closely related. But precisely how gut health affects brain health has been unknown.
“Our study provides new insight into the mechanisms of how the gut and brain communicate at the molecular level,” said co-senior author Dr. David Artis, director of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, director of the Friedman Center for Nutrition and Inflammation and the Michael Kors Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “No one yet has understood how IBD and other chronic gastrointestinal conditions influence behavior and mental health. Our study is the beginning of a new way to understand the whole picture.”