Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: health – Page 10

Previous studies reported that the association between statins use and influenza infection was contradictory. A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies were performed to determine the association between statins use and influenza susceptibility. The literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science, from each database’s inception to 21 May 2023. The fixed effect model and random effects model were used for data synthesis. In our study, a total of 1,472,239 statins users and 1,486,881 statins non-users from five articles were included. The pooled risk ratio (RR) of all included participants was 1.05 (95% CI: 1.03–1.07), and there were still significant differences after adjusting for vaccination status. Of note, RR values in statins users were 1.06 (95% CI: 1.03–1.08) in people aged ≥60 years old and 1.05 (95% CI: 1.03–1.07) in participant groups with a higher proportion of females. Administration of statins might be associated with an increased risk of influenza infection, especially among females and elderly people. For those people using statins, we should pay more attention to surveillance of their health conditions and take measures to prevent influenza infection.

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Cytochrome P450 (CYP) proteins are responsible for breaking down more than 80% of all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs, reducing their effectiveness. However, how to prevent CYPs from doing this without off-target effects has puzzled researchers until now.

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have designed new drug frameworks that selectively target CYP3A4, one of the most critical CYP proteins. Structural insights from this work offer a roadmap for future drug developers to better evaluate and selectively target CYP proteins. The findings are published in Nature Communications.

CYP3A4 breaks down drugs that treat various health conditions, including the anti-cancer agent paclitaxel and the COVID-19 therapeutic nirmatrelvir. CYP3A4 are commonly co-administered to reduce CYP3A4’s effect. This includes ritonavir, which is combined with nirmatrelvir in Paxlovid for mild COVID-19 treatment. However, such CYP3A4 inhibitors often affect the similar but distinct CYP3A5 due to the two proteins’ shared features, such as large and promiscuous binding sites, in addition to other unintended CYPs.

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Laser plasma acceleration is a potentially disruptive technology: It could be used to build far more compact accelerators and open up new use cases in fundamental research, industry and health. However, on the path to real-world applications, some properties of the plasma-driven electron beam as delivered by current prototype accelerators still need to be refined.

DESY’s LUX experiment has now made significant progress in this direction: Using a clever correction system, a research team was able to significantly improve the quality of electron bunches accelerated by a laser plasma accelerator. This brings the technology a step closer to concrete applications, such as a plasma-based injector for a synchrotron storage ring. The research group presents their results in the journal Nature.

Conventional electron accelerators use which are directed into so-called resonator cavities. The radio waves transfer energy to the electrons as they fly past, increasing their velocity. To achieve high energies, many resonators have to be connected in series, making the machines large and costly.

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Wearables such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, or data glasses have become an integral part of our everyday lives. They record health data, monitor your sleep, or calculate your calorie consumption. Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have developed the open-source platform “OpenEarable.” It integrates a multitude of sensors into wireless earphones with the aim to enhance health measurements and safety applications in medicine, industry, and everyday life. The scientists are currently presenting their platform at Hannover Messe from March 31 to April 4.

Wearable technologies have made significant progress in recent years, but many of the existing systems are either proprietary, i.e. not customizable by others, or their measurement capabilities are limited. With OpenEarable 2.0, a research team headed by Dr. Tobias Röddiger from KIT’s TECO research group moves one step further: The open-source platform for ear-based sensor applications enables developers to create customized software. With a unique combination of sensors, more than 30 physiological parameters can be measured directly at the ear – from heart rate and breathing patterns to fatigue and body temperature. “Our aim was to create an open and high-precision solution for health monitoring that goes far beyond what is possible with today’s commercial wearables,” says Röddiger. “OpenEarable 2.0 provides a platform for researchers and developers that is easily customizable and scalable. This allows them to program the earphones individually for specific requirements.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) serve as key regulators of enteric nervous system development, orchestrating migration, proliferation, and differentiation of enteric nervous system progenitors.

Aberrant miRNA expression underpins the pathogenesis of several enteric neuropathies, including Hirschsprung’s disease.

A convergence of miRNA activity across distinct enteric neuropathies highlights shared molecular pathways, exemplified by the miR-200 family.

Modulating the expression of miRNAs to influence their associated gene expression networks has therapeutic potential for enteric neuropathies. https://sciencemission.com/MicroRNA-regulation-of-enteric-ne…nd-disease

The enteric nervous system (ENS), an elaborate network of neurons and glia woven through the gastrointestinal tract, is integral for digestive physiology and broader human health. Commensurate with its importance, ENS dysfunction is linked to a range of debilitating gastrointestinal disorders. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), with their pleiotropic roles in post-transcriptional gene regulation, serve as key developmental effectors within the ENS. Herein, we review the regulatory dynamics of miRNAs in ENS ontogeny, showcasing specific miRNAs implicated in both congenital and acquired enteric neuropathies, such as Hirschsprung’s disease (HSCR), achalasia, intestinal neuronal dysplasia (IND), chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO), and slow transit constipation (STC).

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Health care providers can use small devices to hover over moles or lesions and immediately check for common skin cancers, such as melanoma and basal cell carcinoma.

The most significant benefit is that health care professionals who do not specialize in dermatology could perform these checks during a routine visit, making early detection easier and quicker.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, with one in five Americans expected to be affected in their lifetime, according to the City of Hope Cancer Center.

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Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have developed a machine-learning algorithm that could enhance our understanding of human biology and disease. The new method, Weighted Graph Anomalous Node Detection (WGAND), takes inspiration from social network analysis and is designed to identify proteins with significant roles in various human tissues.

Proteins are essential molecules in our bodies, and they interact with each other in , known as (PPI) networks. Studying these networks helps scientists understand how proteins function and how they contribute to health and disease.

Prof. Esti Yeger-Lotem, Dr. Michael Fire, Dr. Jubran Juman, and Dr. Dima Kagan developed the algorithm to analyze these PPI networks to detect “anomalous” proteins—those that stand out due to their unique pattern of weighted interactions. This implies that the amount of the protein and its protein interactors is greater in that particular network, allowing them to carry out more functions and drive more processes. This also indicates the great importance that these proteins have in a particular network, because the body will not waste energy on their production for no reason.

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