Lifeboat Foundation

Autoimmune diseases pose significant challenges in healthcare, affecting millions worldwide. Recent research has suggested a potential link between gut microbiota and autoimmune conditions, paving the way for innovative therapeutic approaches. A study published in BMC Medicine aimed to systematically review the efficacy of probiotic therapy in managing various autoimmune diseases. The study was conducted by Zeng L. and colleagues.

Autoimmune diseases, including fibromyalgia, psoriasis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), lupus nephritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease, result from dysregulation of the immune system. Genetic, environmental, and microbial factors, particularly gut microbiota, are implicated in their pathogenesis. Probiotics, defined as beneficial microorganisms that colonize the gut and modulate host immunity and metabolism, offer a promising avenue for treatment.

The study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy of probiotic therapy in autoimmune diseases. Researchers searched multiple databases for eligible trials up to June 2022 and assessed outcomes such as Disease Activity Score at 28 joints (DAS28), Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Measure (SLEDAI).

Fanconi anemia is rare genetic disorder that can be caused by changes in the sequence of one of at least 22 different genes. The disease can lead to a variety of symptoms including bone marrow failure, skeletal abnormalities, and increases the risk of cancer in patients. Scientists have long thought that the disease is due to problems with DNA that cause cell death, and disruptions in blood stem cells (also known as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which are crucial for constantly replenishing the body’s supply of blood cells.

When protein-coding genes are expressed, the proteins they encode for start out as strings of amino acids, which have to be properly folded into a three-dimensional shape, or else serious problems can arise. Scientists have now determined that a buildup of miscoded proteins is actually a root cause of Fanconi anemia, and that a bile acid may be useful as a new treatment for the disorder. The research has been reported in Nature Communications.

Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) identified a key metabolite in cells that helps direct immune responses and explains at a single cell level why immune cells that most efficiently recognize pathogens, vaccines, or diseased cells grow and divide faster than other cells.

The findings also indicate that a better understanding of this metabolite and its role in immune response could improve the design of immunotherapies and create longer-lived responses against different types of cancer as well as enhance vaccine strategies. The findings were published online by the journal Science Immunology in a paper titled “Single-cell NAD(H) levels predict clonal lymphocyte expansion dynamics.”

Antigens are foreign substances that our immune system recognizes and responds to by producing more T and B cells. These cells each have unique receptors that recognize specific antigens and can respond appropriately, and they can “remember” and respond similarly when exposed to the same antigen again.

Process, and store data, most of which is handled by the rapidly expanding cloud. A stable, secure, real-time system may allow for interfacing the cloud with the human brain. One promising strategy for enabling such a system, denoted here as a “human brain/cloud interface” (“B/CI”), would be based on technologies referred to here as “neuralnanorobotics.” Future neuralnanorobotics technologies are anticipated to facilitate accurate diagnoses and eventual cures for the ∼400 conditions that affect the human brain. Neuralnanorobotics may also enable a B/CI with controlled connectivity between neural activity and external data storage and processing, via the direct monitoring of the brain’s ∼86 × 10⁹ neurons and ∼2 × 10¹⁴ synapses. Subsequent to navigating the human vasculature, three species of neuralnanorobots (endoneurobots, gliabots, and synaptobots) could traverse the blood–brain barrier (BBB), enter the brain parenchyma, ingress into individual human brain cells, and autoposition themselves at the axon initial segments of neurons (endoneurobots), within glial cells (gliabots), and in intimate proximity to synapses (synaptobots). They would then wirelessly transmit up to ∼6 × 10¹⁶ bits per second of synaptically processed and encoded human–brain electrical information via auxiliary nanorobotic fiber optics (30 cm³) with the capacity to handle up to 10¹⁸ bits/sec and provide rapid data transfer to a cloud based supercomputer for real-time brain-state monitoring and data extraction. A neuralnanorobotically enabled human B/CI might serve as a personalized conduit, allowing persons to obtain direct, instantaneous access to virtually any facet of cumulative human knowledge. Other anticipated applications include myriad opportunities to improve education, intelligence, entertainment, traveling, and other interactive experiences. A specialized application might be the capacity to engage in fully immersive experiential/sensory experiences, including what is referred to here as “transparent shadowing” (TS). Through TS, individuals might experience episodic segments of the lives of other willing participants (locally or remote) to, hopefully, encourage and inspire improved understanding and tolerance among all members of the human family.

“We’ll have nanobots that… connect our neocortex to a synthetic neocortex in the cloud… Our thinking will be a… biological and non-biological hybrid.”

— Ray Kurzweil, TED 2014

Conventionally, corneal abrasion patients wear a clear, oxygen-permeable bandage contact lens for seven to 10 days but this treatment does not ensure the drug remains in the eye for sustained treatment, according to a statement by the University of Waterloo.

This new lens material was developed with the ambition to address the limitations of current methods for treating corneal abrasions. The contact lens material is derived from gelatin methacrylate, a collagen by-product. Collagen is a protein naturally found in the eye and is involved in the wound-healing process but it’s too soft and weak to perform as an appropriate contact lens material.

Dr. Evelyn Yim, an associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo, found a way to transform gelatin methacrylate into a biomaterial ten times stronger than collagen, the statement revealed.

Scientists say that long genes — which are more susceptible to DNA damage — might be a main cause of the body’s aging and could play a role in. the development of diseases like Alzheimer’s.

After decades of slow progress, therapeutic vaccines that direct the immune system to attack tumours could soon become a fixture of cancer treatment.

Versatility and miniaturization of imaging systems are of great importance in today’s information society. Microscopic imaging techniques have always been indispensable for scientific research and disease diagnosis in the biomedical field, which is also stepping towards the integration, portable, and multi-functions.

If someone tells you that you have a big head, take that as a compliment.

Humankind’s brains have apparently gotten bigger and bigger over the years, according to a team of scientists, who are surmising that bigger brains may stave off dementia as folks age.

An international team of researchers, led by the University of California Davis Health, arrived at this finding after studying the MRIs of people starting with those born in the 1930s, all the way through the 1970s.