New brain scans and blood tests move researchers towards more sensitive diagnosis of battlefield brain trauma and evaluation of new drugs
The March edition of SLAS Discovery features the cover article, “CRISPR: A Screener’s Guide,” by Carlos le Sage, Ph.D., Steffen Lawo, Ph.D., and Benedict C.S. Cross, Ph.D., (Horizon Discovery, United Kingdom). In their review, the authors discuss how CRISPR-Cas9 systems are being used widely throughout the drug discovery process and the development of new precision medicines.
At the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), researchers conducted an online survey of 362 Pennsylvania school nurses (elementary, middle, and high school) to better understand how they have a supply, administer, and perceive storing naloxone in their schools. The results illustrate that though many nurses have a supply of naloxone in their school, important barriers to access and use of this life-saving medication still exist.
Human bodies constantly produce thousands of perfectly folded proteins, but some proteins get misfolded. An excess of these misfolded proteins can overwhelm the body's ability to remove them. When that happens, the rogue proteins bind together and form a substance called amyloid. Webs of amyloid can deposit in any tissue or organ, but some types affect the heart.
Experts believe that tuberculosis, or TB, has been a scourge for humans for some 15,000 years, with the first medical documentation of the disease coming out of India around 1000 B.C.E. Today, the World Health Organization reports that TB is still the leading cause of death worldwide from a single infectious agent, responsible for some 1.5 million fatalities annually. Primary treatment for TB for the past 50 years has remained unchanged and still requires patients to take multiple drugs daily for at least six months. Successful treatment with these anti-TB drugs — taken orally or injected into the bloodstream — depends on the medications “finding their way” into pockets of TB bacteria buried deep within the lungs.
Switching what the powerhouses of heart cells consume for energy could help the heart regenerate when cells die.
While researchers pursue scientific insights into the pancreatic cancer and develop new therapeutic approaches, surgeons on the front line of patient care are also working hard to improve outcomes. Hari Nathan, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of surgery at Michigan Medicine, explains.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have demonstrated the use of stem-cell-derived “mini-brains” to detect harmful side effects of a common drug on the developing brain. Mini-brains are miniature human brain models, developed with human cells and barely visible to the human eye, whose cellular mechanisms mimic those of the developing human brain.
• Among patients with kidney failure and atrial fibrillation, Black, Hispanic White, and Asian patients filled prescriptions of stroke-preventive medications less often than non-Hispanic White patients, and they were more likely to experience stroke. • Equalizing the distribution of these medications would prevent 7%–12% of the stroke disparity among racial/ethnic minorities.
MD Anderson announces a strategic research collaboration with Denali Therapeutics to develop new targeted therapies for Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
According to the results of a large, global study led by Yale Cancer Center researchers, even a tiny amount of a biomarker known as PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand1) can predict a long-term survival benefit from using pembrolizumab (Keytruda).
Like most people, John Gifford wasn’t looking forward to a colonoscopy when he arrived on the UCI Medical Center campus in Orange in 2018. The Riverside man, 65, was concerned about his family history of colorectal cancer and had dutifully scheduled an appointment with UCI Health gastroenterologist Dr. William Karnes. The exam turned out to be intriguing and enlightening – a far cry from what one expects during a colonoscopy, Gifford recalls with a laugh.
An experimental drug already shown to be safe and help some patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma, a deadly form of kidney cancer, effectively disables its molecular target.
Research from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey shows administering the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab together with chemotherapy given at the same time as radiation treatment (chemoradiation) is safe and tolerable as a first-line therapy for patients with stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
As out-of-pocket costs go up for drugs for the neurologic disorders Alzheimer’s disease, peripheral neuropathy and Parkinson’s disease, people are less likely to take the drugs as often as their doctors prescribed, according to a study funded by the American Academy of Neurology and published in the February 19, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today unveiled a grant proposal from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) as one of the highest-scoring proposals, designated as the “Top 100,” in its 100&Changecompetition for a single $100 million grant to help solve one of the world’s most critical societal challenges.
The Endocrine Society today announced an update to its osteoporosis Clinical Practice Guideline to include recommendations for romosozumab, a new medication that was approved last year to treat postmenopausal women at high risk of fracture.
Black men with high blood pressure could benefit from a research study beginning this month to check their vitals while they are getting a haircut at a barbershop.
Renowned scientists including Nobel laureates, research pioneers and celebrated educators will convene at the Experimental Biology (EB) 2020 meeting, to be held April 4–7 in San Diego. Bringing together more than 12,000 life scientists in one interdisciplinary community, EB showcases the latest advances in anatomy, biochemistry, molecular biology, investigative pathology, pharmacology and physiology.
Doctors prescribe more branded medications after marketing visits by the makers of those drugs, new research co-authored by a Cornell University economist confirms.
New guidelines recommend aspirin use in primary prevention for people ages 40 to 70 years old who are at higher risk of a first cardiovascular event, but not for those over 70. Yet, people over 70 are at higher risks of cardiovascular events than those under 70. As a result, health care providers are understandably confused about whether or not to prescribe aspirin for primary prevention of heart attacks or strokes, and if so, to whom.
In experiments with human cells and mice, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report evidence that combining the experimental cancer medication TAK228 (also called sapanisertib) with an existing anti-cancer drug called trametinib may be more effective than either drug alone in decreasing the growth of pediatric low-grade gliomas. These cancers are the most common childhood brain cancer, accounting for up to one-third of all cases. Low grade pediatric gliomas arise in brain cells (glia) that support and nourish neurons, and current standard chemotherapies with decades-old drugs, while generally effective in lengthening life, often carry side effects or are not tolerated. Approximately 50% of children treated with traditional therapy have their tumors regrow, underscoring the need for better, targeted treatments.
Robert Stahelin studies some of the world’s deadliest viruses. Filoviruses, including Ebola virus and Marburg virus, cause viral hemorrhagic fever with high fatality rates. Stahelin, professor at Purdue University, examines how these viruses take advantage of human host cells.
A small amount of electricity delivered at a specific frequency to a particular point in the brain will snap a monkey out of even deep anesthesia, pointing to a circuit of brain activity key to consciousness and suggesting potential treatments for debilitating brain disorders.
Dinosaur blood vessels, giant viruses, and antibiotic-building enzymes
In a new discovery, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have detected widespread inflammation in the brains of veterans diagnosed with Gulf War Illness (GWI).
The emotional distress that often accompanies a breakup is called social pain, and it may cause sadness, depression and loneliness, as well as actual physical pain, research has shown. A study, published recently in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine may have found an antidote – forgiveness combined with acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol.
The University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital was one of the sites for a landmark clinical trial that led to approval of the first oral immunotherapy treatment for peanut allergy in children and teens.
Researchers investigating the drug prescription response to a “superbug” enzyme that renders bacteria resistant to antibiotics are available to discuss why such resistance is posing a growing risk during pandemics such as the current coronavirus.
We know that stress can have a profound impact on health. But it’s rare to discover a health issue that is caused directly by stress. That’s exactly what one Michigan State University researcher and his team have found. Nathan Tykocki, an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, set out to understand why children who seemingly have nothing wrong with them lose bladder function, a condition also known as stress-induced bladder dysfunction, or SIBD.
Scientists report promising activity of a novel drug that targets a key molecular driver of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) in patients with metastatic disease.
Scientists have taken an unprecedented look at proteins involved in endometrial cancer, commonly known as uterine cancer. The study offers insights about which patients will need aggressive treatment and which won’t, and offers clues about why a common cancer treatment is not effective with some patients.
Lowering the risk of developing a life-threatening condition while pregnant is as simple as taking low-dose aspirin every day, according to OB-GYNs at UTHealth. They are now recommending their patients take a low-dose aspirin of 81 milligrams daily to prevent preeclampsia as part of routine prenatal care, just like taking a prenatal vitamin.
In a new article published online ahead of print in Cancer Research, members of Moffitt’s Center of Excellence for Evolutionary Therapy present a case study of an adaptive treatment approach based on evolutionary principles in prostate cancer and suggest that these strategies may provide a path toward improved multidrug adaptive therapies.
It is not uncommon for children and teens with autism spectrum disorder to struggle with sleep. Trouble falling asleep and staying asleep or refusing to go to bed are just some of the sleep problems they can experience. To help families, neurologists and other healthcare providers make decisions on the best treatments, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has issued a new guideline for sleep problems in children and teens with autism, published in the February 12, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
AMSSM has released a position statement regarding “Mental Health Issues and Psychological Factors in Athletes: Detection, Management, Effect on Performance, and Prevention
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered a novel combination of two classes of drugs that, together, cause the highest rate of proliferation ever observed in adult human beta cells—the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin—without harming most other cells in the body. The result is an important step toward a diabetes treatment that restores the body’s ability to produce insulin.
Columbia Engineers have engineered probiotics to safely deliver immunotherapies within tumors, including nanobodies against two proven therapeutic targets—PD-L1 and CTLA-4. Continuously released by bacteria, the drugs continue to attack the tumor after just one dose, facilitating an immune response resulting in tumor regression. The versatile probiotic platform can also be used to deliver multiple immunotherapies simultaneously, enabling the release of effective therapeutic combinations within the tumor for more difficult-to-treat cancers like colorectal cancer.
A new group of antibiotics with a unique approach to attacking bacteria has been discovered, making it a promising clinical candidate in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. The newly-found corbomycin and the lesser-known complestatin have a never-before-seen way to kill bacteria, which is achieved by blocking the function of the bacterial cell wall. The discovery comes from a family of antibiotics called glycopeptides that are produced by soil bacteria.
With 80+ Featured and Scientific Sessions and 2,000+ presentations showcasing advances in fundamental and translational sciences and emerging disciplines and technologies, the 59th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo of the Society of Toxicology is the largest forum for toxicological research in the world.
If translatable into humans, this research published in Nature could help scientists create targeted therapies to mimic or counteract the actions of melatonin, which is implicated in numerous circadian disorders, in problems associated with working night shifts, and especially in jetlag.
Providers are concerned the mandate adds an additional layer of red tape that will delay patient care, reduce the ability of providers to ensure therapies have been properly handled and safely stored, inflate patient out-of-pocket costs, and result in an increase of drug waste.
Some of the antibiotics we use end up in sewage sludge, together with a variety of antibiotic resistant bacteria present in feces.
The increased risk of heart attack or "a broken heart" in early bereavement could be reduced by using common medication in a novel way, according to a world-first study led by the University of Sydney and funded by Heart Research Australia.
It can be the bain of brain drug developers: The interface between the human brain and the bloodstream, the blood-brain-barrier, is so meticulous that animal models often fail to represent it. This improved chip represents important features more accurately.
Statin use alone or with metformin is associated with lower prostate cancer mortality from all causes, among high-risk patients.
UC San Diego researchers use 3D human gut organoids to reveal the molecular system that keeps intestinal linings sealed, demonstrate how the system breaks down and how it can be strengthened with the diabetes drug metformin.
Top-line data reported from international trial
Patients with thyroid eye disease who used the minimally invasive insulin-like growth factor I blocking antibody, teprotumumab, experienced improvement in their symptoms, appearance and quality of life, according to a study recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
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