Parkinson’s disease is the fastest-growing neurological disorder, with over 10 million cases worldwide.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 31
Protein-like polymers induce protein degradation
These protein-like polymers may help target intractable cancer-causing proteins.
Researchers engineered polymers to target two notorious cancer-causing proteins by Sarah Braner.
A 3D-printed swallowable robot could perform gastrointestinal procedures
Recent technological advances have opened new possibilities for the development of advanced medical devices, including tiny robots that can safely move inside the human body. Some of these systems could help to simplify complex medical procedures, including delicate surgeries and the targeted delivery of drugs to specific sites.
THE MINIMAX lab at University of Texas (UT) Austin specializes in the development of tiny robots for medical, environmental, and other applications. In a recent preprint paper on arXiv, researchers from this lab introduced a new 3Dprintable and magnetically steerable capsule robot that could potentially help to diagnose and treat some gastrointestinal (GI) conditions.
“My motivation for GI health monitoring is deeply personal,” Fangzhou Xia, director of the MINIMAX lab at UT Austin and senior author of the paper, told Medical Xpress. “In 2022, when I was a postdoc at MIT, I experienced a severe GI medical episode involving repeated gallstone-induced bile duct blockage that ultimately required gallbladder removal surgery.
Lp(a) Explained: Genetics, Risk, and What You Can Actually Do
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Nocturnal Hypertension and Prognosis in Patients of Very Advanced Age
RESEARCH ARTICLE: nocturnal hypertension and prognosis in patients of very advanced age.
BACKGROUND: Nocturnal blood pressure (BP) is a better predictor of health outcomes than office or daytime BP. However, the clinical significance of nocturnal hypertension in patients of very advanced age remains unexplored. We aimed to assess the association between nocturnal hypertension and composite cardiovascular outcomes in this population. METHODS: This was a prospective observational study including Japanese elderly outpatients aged ≥80 years. All patients underwent 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring at baseline. Nocturnal hypertension was defined as nocturnal systolic BP ≥120 mm Hg or diastolic BP≥70 mm Hg. Daytime hypertension was defined as daytime systolic BP ≥135 mm Hg and diastolic BP ≥85 mm Hg.
Cell death’s ‘beautiful’ rings!
Over the past several decades, researchers have identified the genes and proteins in plants that initiate the cellular self-destruct sequence. During that time, they also found shared elements of this “resistome” at work in mammalian.
Plant nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors detect pathogen effectors and activate immunity. Coiled-coil NLRs (CNLs) form resistosomes as Ca2+-permeable channels in the plasma membrane (PM). However, the mechanism by which resistosomes activate cell death remains unclear.
The ring, which resembles a wreath or a necklace, the author said, is a combination of proteins that bind to a cell membrane and six channels that orient themselves to run through the membrane. The team made this discovery working with Arabidopsis and Nicotiana bethamaian, popular plant model systems, and a high resolution total internal reflection fluorescence microscope.
The authors show that the CNL SUPPRESSOR OF mkk1 mkk2 2 (SUMM2), unlike canonical CNLs that use a MADA motif to penetrate the PM, tethers to the PM through N-myristoylation, a common feature among many CNLs.
PM targeting via N-myristoylation is essential for SUMM2-induced cell death. Upon activation, SUMM2 promotes the association of the lipase-like proteins ENHANCED DISEASE SUSCEPTIBILITY 1 (EDS1) and PHYTOALEXIN DEFICIENT 4 (PAD4) with the helper NLR-ACTIVATED DISEASE RESISTANCE 1-LIKE 1 (ADR1-L1).
Active SUMM2 induces the clustering of multiple ADR1-L1 resistosomes into a ring-like assembly colocalized with the EDS1–PAD4 complex, and the EDS1–PAD4–ADR1 module is essential for SUMM2-activated cell death.
The finding invites new questions about what exactly the rings do and how they do it. The team’s current hypothesis is that the rings enable communication with nearby cells, sending inflammation signals that can help initiate cell death in a targeted way. ScienceMission sciencenewshighlights.
Beyond the bleed: complications after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Pathophysiology, clinical implications, and management strategies: a review
Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is a critical condition with high case-fatality and lasting impacts on survivors. Acute events that are the direct result of aneurysm rupture, such as acute ischemia, elevated intracranial pressure, cerebral edema, seizures, and hydrocephalus, lead to early brain injury. A delayed cascade of processes, including a prominent systemic inflammatory response, may lead to secondary brain injury and delayed cerebral ischemia, which often further impairs recovery. Systemic complications, including cardiac and pulmonary dysfunction, fever, and electrolyte imbalances, arise in the interplay between early and secondary brain injury and challenge the clinical course.
Study finds CDK4/6 plus EGFR blockade kills pancreatic cancer cells without KRAS drugs
Clinically available KRAS inhibitors mainly target G12C, which is rare in PDAC and often acquires resistance. Oncogenic KRAS inactivates RB1 via CDK4/6, while RB1 mutation is rare. Thus, CDK4/6 inhibition offers an indirect strategy to counter KRAS-driven malignancy without direct KRAS targeting.
Virtually all pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs) are initiated by activating mutations in the oncogene KRAS, which occur in multiple distinct allelic forms. Although considerable efforts have led to the development of inhibitors targeting specific mutant KRAS proteins, the only agents currently approved for clinical use selectively target the KRASG12C variant. However, KRASG12C mutations are exceedingly rare in pancreatic cancer.
Furthermore, in patients with KRASG12C-mutant pancreatic cancer, treatment with KRASG12C inhibitors has shown only modest clinical benefit, comparable to that of conventional chemotherapeutic regimens, and even in cases with an initial objective response, acquired resistance almost invariably emerges within a limited time frame.
Autism’s Link to Parkinson’s Risk May Finally Be Explained
People with autism may be up to six times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease in later life. New research offers a potential explanation based on the role of transporter molecules that recycle unused dopamine in the brain.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter crucial for managing movement and executive functions, and for reinforcing behavior. It’s well known that Parkinson’s is characterized by a drop in dopamine levels, while disruptions in the transport of the chemical have also been linked to autism.
With that context, researchers led by a team from the University of Missouri in the US took a novel approach using a technology known as a DaT SPECT scan, which is typically used to diagnose Parkinson’s in much older people.