Researchers at the University of Sydney have discovered an antidote to the deadly sting delivered by the most venomous creature on earth—the Australian box jellyfish.
The Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) has about 60 tentacles that can grow up to three metres long. Each tentacle has millions of microscopic hooks filled with venom.
Each box jellyfish carries enough venom to kill more than 60 humans.
Results of a recently completed clinical trial of a potential drug to treat Type 2 diabetes in children were announced Sunday [April 28] at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2019 meeting in Baltimore, Md. The New England Journal of Medicine also published the findings. Study coauthor Jane Lynch, M.D., FAAP, professor of pediatrics at UT Health San Antonio, said the drug, liraglutide, in combination with an existing medication, metformin, showed robust effect in treating children studied in the Ellipse trial.
Currently only two drugs, metformin and insulin, are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes in children. By comparison, more than 30 drugs are approved to treat this form of diabetes in adults.
“We’ve not been able to get drugs approved for children beyond metformin and insulin,” Dr. Lynch said. “This adult diabetes medication was very effective in our trial of youth with Type 2 diabetes and was well tolerated. We urgently need other options for medical treatment of Type 2 diabetes in our youth under age 18. If approved, this drug would be a fantastic new option to complement oral metformin therapy as an alternative to insulin for our youth and adolescents with Type 2 diabetes.”
Researchers from University of Jyväskylä and Aalto University in Finland have developed a customized DNA nanostructure that can perform a predefined task in human body-like conditions. To do so, the team built a capsule-like carrier that opens and closes according to the pH level of the surrounding solution. The nanocapsule can be loaded—or packed—with a variety of cargo, closed for delivery and opened again through a subtle pH increase.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine, showcase a novel CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing therapy that can suppress the accelerated aging observed in mice with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. This treatment provides an important insight into the molecular pathways involved in accelerated aging, as well as how to reduce toxic proteins via gene therapy. The researchers hope to translate this therapy to humans to potentially provide a cure for progeria as well as possibly slowing down the aging process to delay the onset of age-related diseases in everyone.
Link to paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0343-4
Abstract.
Researchers have tested nicotinamide mononucleotide on aged mice to see if it can help reverse age-related cognitive decline by improving blood flow in the brain.
The brain is a hungry organ
Healthy brain function relies on efficient cerebral blood flow (CBF) to wash away harmful waste products for disposal and supply the brain with an adequate supply of oxygen and sufficient nutrients.
Drones might be a favorite toy among adults with significant disposable income, but they’ve also proven to be incredibly useful as tools, and sometimes life-saving ones at that. The latest example of this growing trend comes to us from the University of Maryland Medical Center, where a medical drone delivered a kidney that was subsequently successfully transplanted into a patient.
The delivery, which was documented in a brief YouTube video published by UMMC, is just a small first step in a larger effort to enhance the delivery systems used for vital items like organs and other medical materials.
The drone delivery of a kidney recently used for an organ transplant in Baltimore is being characterized by the University of Maryland as a “pioneering breakthrough” advancement in human medicine and aviation technology.
“It’s huge. We knew from the very first time that we met with Dr. (Joseph) Scalea, and he suggested the idea of what he wanted to do — we knew it would be earth-shattering and life-changing, and it really has become that,” Matthew Scassero, director of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site at the University of Maryland, told WTOP.
The unmanned aircraft system’s flight on April 19 through the city of Baltimore occurred at about 12:30 a.m. and was less than 3 miles, but represents a huge first step.
Smart watches. Pacemakers. Internet-connected glasses. These are devices designed to make life easier. And yet, all this wearable technology can be hacked. The devices send personal health information to your smartphone over the airways, so anyone with the know-how could scoop it up and steal it. But now, researchers at Northeastern have a better, more secure idea: Send data through your body.
Associate professor Kaushik Chowdhury worked with a team of researchers from the Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil to develop a safe, hacker-proof method to transmit sensitive data.
“The truth is, no matter what I do when it comes to wireless devices, I’m radiating the signal through the air,” Chowdhury says. “There is the danger that the signal can be jammed, or analyzed by someone else. Our method secures this sensitive information so it can’t be leaked.”