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Category: biotech/medical – Page 57

Experts warn of wider health impact of tropical cyclones in a warming climate

Beyond direct injuries, exposure to tropical cyclones is associated with higher risks of death across a range of causes including kidney, heart and lung diseases, neuropsychiatric conditions, and diabetes, finds a study published in The BMJ’s climate issue.

Risks were substantially higher in deprived communities and areas that have previously experienced fewer tropical cyclones, suggesting an urgent need to integrate more evidence on into disaster response plans, say the authors.

Tropical cyclones are one of the most devastating and costly extreme weather events, affecting an average of 20.4 million people a year with direct economic losses of US$51.5 billion over the past decade.

Therapeutic brain implants that travel through blood defy the need for surgery

What if clinicians could place tiny electronic chips in the brain that electrically stimulate a precise target, through a simple injection in the arm? This may someday help treat deadly or debilitating brain diseases, while eliminating surgery-related risks and costs.

MIT researchers have taken a major step toward making this scenario a reality. They developed microscopic, wireless bioelectronics that could travel through the body’s circulatory system and autonomously self-implant in a target region of the brain, where they would provide focused treatment.

In a study on mice, the researchers showed that after injection, these minuscule implants can identify and travel to a specific brain region without the need for human guidance. Once there, they can be wirelessly powered to provide electrical stimulation to the precise area. Such stimulation, known as neuromodulation, has shown promise as a way to treat and diseases like Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis.

CRISPR Screening Made Easy with the Revvity Dharmacon™ All-in-One Lentiviral Platform

Revvity’s Dharmacon All-in-one lentiviral platform has expanded to include whole-genome library options for CRISPR knockout (CRISPRko), CRISPR interference (CRISPRi), and CRISPR activation (CRISPRa). Like the individual All-in-one reagents, the whole-genome libraries utilize a single vector lentiviral system with all components necessary for CRISPRko, CRISPRa, and CRISPRi whole-genome pooled screening.

Micron-resolution fiber mapping in histology independent of sample preparation

To understand brain diseases, neuroscientists try to understand the intricate maze of nerve fibers in our brains. For analysis under a microscope, brain tissue is often immersed in paraffin wax to create high-quality slices. But until now, it has been impossible to precisely trace the densely packed nerves in these slices. Researchers from Delft, Stanford, Jülich, and Rotterdam have achieved a milestone: using the ComSLI technique, they can now map the fibers in any tissue sample with micrometer precision. The research is published in Nature Communications.

Micron-resolution fiber mapping in histology independent of sample preparation.

Georgiadis and colleagues conduct micron-resolution fibre mapping on multiple histological tissue sections. Their light-scattering technique works across different sample preparations and tissue types, including formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded brain sections.

This Awesome Periodic Table Shows The Origins of Every Atom in Your Body

Here’s something to think about: the average adult human is made up of-1 (7 octillion) atoms, and most of them are hydrogen — the most common element in the Universe, produced by the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.

The rest of those atoms were forged by ancient stars merging and exploding billions of years after the formation of the Universe, and a tiny amount can be attributed to cosmic rays — high-energy radiation that mostly originates from somewhere outside the Solar System.

As astronomer Carl Sagan once said in an episode of Cosmos, “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”

Nanoparticle Treatment Reverses Alzheimer’s in Mice

Scientists have developed a nanoparticle-based treatment that successfully reversed Alzheimer’s disease in mice.

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, the team co-led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain (IBEC), and West China Hospital, Sichuan University, developed bioactive “supramolecular drugs” that can proactively repair the blood-brain barrier.

The barrier plays an important role in the health of the brain, defending it from harmful substances and other pathogens. Alzheimer’s has been linked to a weakening of the barrier’s integrity, allowing for impairing toxins to make it through.

Bisphenol A causes sex-specific changes in metabolism and the immune system, study reveals

Even small amounts of bisphenol A can lead to long-term health effects. When researchers studied adult rats exposed in the fetal stage, they found that females had developed a more masculine and males a more feminine gene expression pattern. This led to females progressing towards a cancer-like state, while males progressed towards metabolic syndrome, which can increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Bisphenol A is a synthetic chemical with estrogen-like properties that is commonly used in food packaging materials. The substance is banned in many products, but is still present in some packaging. Levels of bisphenol A in people’s bodies are often above levels considered safe, with previous research showing that the substance can cause adverse health effects.

Females masculinized and males feminized In the current study, published in Communications Medicine, researchers investigated how bisphenol A affects the body during the fetal stage.

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