Lifeboat Foundation

Surprising findings could springboard the development of new anticancer drugs, or potentially even directly repurpose existing drugs for cancer therapy.

Drugs that are currently used to treat a wide range of conditions such as diabetes, inflammation, alcoholism, and even canine arthritis, can also kill laboratory-grown cancer cells, according to the results of a study by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Using a molecular barcoding technology called PRISM (profiling relative inhibition simultaneously in mixtures) the researchers were able to screen thousands of existing drug compounds against different types of cancer cell lines. The results identified 49 compounds with previously unrecognized anticancer activity. The researchers say their surprising findings, which highlighted novel anticancer mechanisms and targets, could feasibly be used to springboard the development of new anticancer drugs, or potentially even directly repurpose existing drugs for cancer therapy.

Continue reading “Anticancer Activity Discovered in Dozens of Existing Noncancer Drugs” »

A hungry nanoparticle that enters your body and eats away at your insides sounds like a nightmare straight out of a Michael Crichton novel. In fact, it could be a future defense against heart attacks, strokes, and potentially other fatal diseases — as strange as that might initially sound.

Developed by scientists at Michigan State and Stanford universities, the innovative new “Trojan Horse” nanoparticle works by munching away portions of the plaques responsible for heart attacks. In a proof-of-concept demonstration, the researchers recently showed that their specially developed nanoparticle is able to accurately home in on atherosclerotic plaque, which is responsible for atherosclerosis, one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

“What the nanotherapy does is it enters inflammatory monocytes [a type of white blood cell] in the blood, and carries them into the plaque — hence the ‘Trojan Horse’ label — where they become macrophages, and stimulatesthose and other macrophages in plaque to devour cellular debris,” Bryan Smith, associate professor of biomedical engineering at MSU, told Digital Trends. “This ‘taking out the trash’ attribute stabilizes the plaque with minimal side effects.”

Scientists are posting their papers on the China outbreak as fast as they can write them, skipping traditional journals.

New gut bacteria research reveals that gut microbes can differ depending upon what region of the world you live in.

I know it is cute to talk about. But the so deemed Longevity secret of this article being amazingly similar to all other studies (again olive oil and wine) then they go on to declare the ages of the village and they then say some of them have even lived past one hundred??? There are many centenarians (I prefer to call them centurians) in all nations that fly under the radar. Such as in Dallas several times a week they wish some one on channel 4 news that is 100 or greater Happy Birthday. But I believe this is a false alarm looking for a place to go off-sound… You be the Judge??? AEWR.

Researchers studying the inhabitants of Campodimele, Italy, who are known for their longevity.

In 2016, a well preserved praying mantis preserved in Dominican amber sold at auction for $6,000. The amber dates to the Oligocene period, about 33.9 million to 23 years ago.

Cybersecurity experts are issuing a warning surrounding threats of computer viruses posing online as files about the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

“It’s getting their attention, because everyone’s been in tune, around the world, on this virus,” Raleigh cybersecurity expert Giovanni Masucci said to our NBC affiliate WECT.

Rasa cofounder Alan Nichol weighs in on Meena, Google’s latest attempt at conversational AI, and what it means for the future of AI assistants.

If the rocket company pulled off a point-to-point transportation business with its Starship rocket, international airline travel could implode.