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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,596

FDA withdrawing cancer drug Ukoniq (umbralisib)

Due to safety concerns, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has withdrawn its approval for the cancer medicine Ukoniq (umbralisib). Ukoniq was approved to treat two specific types of lymphoma: marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) and follicular lymphoma (FL).

Updated findings from the UNITY-CLL clinical trial continued to show a possible increased risk of death in patients receiving Ukoniq. As a result, we determined the risks of treatment with Ukoniq outweigh its benefits. Based upon this determination, the drug’s manufacturer, TG Therapeutics, announced it was voluntarily withdrawing Ukoniq from the market for the approved uses in MZL and FL.

Health care professionals should stop prescribing Ukoniq and switch patients to alternative treatments. Inform patients currently taking Ukoniq of the increased risk of death seen in the clinical trial and advise them to stop taking the medicine. In limited circumstances in which a patient may be receiving benefit from Ukoniq, TG Therapeutics plans to make it available under expanded access.

A 3D printed human ear has been successfully transplanted in a world-first

Using the patient’s own cellsAn American biotech company has just announced that they have successfully transplanted a 3D printed human ear into a patient, initially reported by The New York Times. The company, Queens-based 3DBio Therapeutics, printed the ear using the patient’s own cells.

In what has been described as a world first, a U.S. company has created and transplanted a 3D-printed ear made of the patient’s own cells.

How electric fish were able to evolve electric organs

Electric organs help electric fish, such as the electric eel, do all sorts of amazing things: They send and receive signals that are akin to bird songs, helping them to recognize other electric fish by species, sex and even individual. A new study in Science Advances explains how small genetic changes enabled electric fish to evolve electric organs. The finding might also help scientists pinpoint the genetic mutations behind some human diseases.

Evolution took advantage of a quirk of genetics to develop electric organs. All fish have duplicate versions of the same gene that produces tiny muscle motors, called . To evolve electric organs, electric fish turned off one duplicate of the channel gene in muscles and turned it on in other cells. The tiny motors that typically make muscles contract were repurposed to generate electric signals, and voila! A new organ with some astonishing capabilities was born.

“This is exciting because we can see how a small change in the gene can completely change where it’s expressed,” said Harold Zakon, professor of neuroscience and integrative biology at The University of Texas at Austin and corresponding author of the study.

Why Does Parkinson’s Disease Cause Neurons To Die?

A study reveals one of the reasons why neurons die in Parkinson’s patients

According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, around 7 million individuals worldwide suffer from Parkinson’s disease. Although the origins of this neurodegenerative disorder are not entirely understood, it is known that many of its symptoms are caused by the death of neurons that create dopamine.

A study conducted in mice by a research team at the University of Cordoba has uncovered one of the causes of this neuronal loss: the key resides in the protein called DJ1, whose association with Parkinson’s disease has previously been established, but its specific role was unknown until now.

Gold nanoparticles arranged

A new technology is using particles of gold to make colors. With further work, the method developed at Aalto University could herald a new display technology.

The technique uses nanocylinders suspended in a gel. The gel only transmits certain colors when lit by polarized light, and the color depends on the orientation of the gold nanocylinders. In a clever twist, a collaboration led by Anton Kuzyk’s and Juho Pokki’s research groups used DNA molecules to control the orientation of gold nanocylinders in the gel.

“DNA isn’t just an information carrier—it can also be a building block. We designed the DNA molecules to have a certain melting temperature, so we could basically program the material,” says Aalto doctoral candidate Joonas Ryssy, the study’s lead author. When the gel heats past the , the DNA molecules loosen their grip and the gold nanocylinders change orientation. When the temperature drops, they tighten up again, and the nanoparticles go back to their original position.

Organ Transplant Breakthrough Shows Human Liver Can Survive Outside The Body For Days

When a donor organ becomes available to someone in need of a transplant, medical personnel need to act quickly. It only takes a few hours for expanding ice crystals to damage delicate tissue, leaving a window of less than 12 hours to assess, transport, and implant the new organ.

This not only creates a tremendous time crunch to perform a delicate procedure, but leaves many organs unviable for transplantation.

But a new breakthrough could vastly improve the landscape of liver transplantation: Scientists kept a liver preserved for three days, in non-frozen conditions, before transplanting it into a patient.

Coffee drinkers have a 29 percent lower risk of death than non-coffee drinkers

Is it all down to a cup of joe then?

People who drink coffee regularly, with or without sugar, both seem to benefit from the beverage as it cuts down on the risk of early death, * The Guardian* reported.

Grabbing a cup of coffee may just be something you do almost unconsciously as you sit down with your morning newspaper or before you start your workday. As the day wears on, you might be down three cups or maybe even five without giving it a second thought. However, scientists have been very conscious of the world’s coffee consumption.

Estimates suggest that over 400 million cups of coffee are consumed every day) in the U.S. That’s literally more than a cup of coffee for every inhabitant of the country. Since not everybody consumes coffee every day, the numbers suggest that an average American coffee consumer drinks three cups of coffee a day.

## How does coffee affect your health?

The critical component of coffee, caffeine is a stimulant of the central nervous system. Every time you consume caffeine or a soft drink that is also pumped with caffeine, the chemical blocks the action of adenosine on the neuronal receptors and stops you from feeling drowsy.

While this helps you feel more active and energized, caffeine is an addictive drug and researchers have warned against excessive consumption of it. Strangely though, consumption of coffee has also been linked to positive outcomes such as limiting the growth of prostate cancers or warmer brews being packed with antioxidants.

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