Lifeboat Foundation

The fact that our immune systems capture and destroy nanoparticles and the drugs they carry has been a problem in the field of nanomedicine for some time. But, in the fight against cancer, researchers are now attempting to exploit this problem to their advantage.

Researchers around the world are seeking to identify techniques that use nanoparticles in the treatment of disease. Such particles are about 100 nanometers—one thousandth of a millimeter—in diameter, and within them researchers are inserting large numbers of even smaller drug molecules.

Optimism for this approach in the treatment of various forms of cancer has been particularly great.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects roughly 2.5 million people worldwide and is a neurological disease affecting the brain and spinal cord. More specifically, MS is when the immune system attacks the body’s protective layer around nerve fibers known as myelin sheaths. The breakdown of myelin sheath leads to a disconnect between your brain and body. The immune cells responsible for myelin sheath deterioration include CD4+ T cells, or effector cells, which are part of the body’s first line of defense. In MS, the effector cells do not recognize that the myelin sheath is a normal part of the body. Therefore, the effector cells become the dominant cell type, trying to kill and get rid of the myelin sheath. The immune response will generate inflammation which destroys the myelin sheath leading to a disruption of signals along the nerves from the brain to the body.

A group of researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine recently published a therapy that controls the symptoms of MS. The goal of the therapy was to stop effector cells from attacking the myelin sheath and to promote the production of T regulatory cells-or T regs-which have been demonstrated to reduce autoimmune effects.

Dr. Giorgio Raimondi, PhD, MSc, Jordan Green, and others used three therapeutic agents to control MS symptoms. Researchers used microparticles, which are small, bioengineered spheres to deliver the agents. The first agent is a combination of two proteins which include Interleukin-2 (IL2) and an antibody that promotes T reg production. IL2 stimulates T cell expansion, while the antibody blocks specific parts of IL2 to specifically expand T regs compared to effector cells. The second agent includes a molecule that presents a protein specific to myelin so that the immune response will generate T regs specifically designed to protect the myelin sheath. Finally, the third agent is rapamycin, which is an immunosuppressant drug designed to reduce effector T cells.

A groundbreaking study conducted by researchers from the Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS) Medical School has shown promising results in repairing damaged heart muscle by transplanting precursor stem cells into pigs.

The research, which focuses on regenerating heart tissue damaged by a lack of oxygen, could revolutionize the treatment of heart failure in humans, a report shared by NewAtlas tells us.

KEY LARGO, Fla. — A university professor who spent 100 days living underwater at a Florida Keys lodge for scuba divers resurfaced Friday and raised his face to the sun for the first time since March 1.

Dr. Joseph Dituri set a new record for the longest time living underwater without depressurization during his stay at Jules’ Undersea Lodge, submerged beneath 30 feet of water in a Key Largo lagoon.

The diving explorer and medical researcher shattered the previous mark of 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes set by two Tennessee professors at the same lodge in 2014.

We’ve been waxing lyrical (and critical) about Apple’s Vision Pro here at TechCrunch this week – but, of course, there are other things happening in the world of wearable tech, as well. Sol Reader raised a $5 million seed round with a headset that doesn’t promise to do more. In fact, it is trying to do just the opposite: Focus your attention on just the book at hand. Or book on the face, as it were.

“I’m excited to see Apple’s demonstration of the future of general AR/VR for the masses. However, even if it’s eventually affordable and in a much smaller form factor, we’re still left with the haunting question: Do I really need more time with my smart devices,” said Ben Chelf, CEO at Sol. “At Sol, we’re less concerned with spatial computing or augmented and virtual realities and more interested in how our personal devices can encourage us to spend our time wisely. We are building the Sol Reader specifically for a single important use case — reading. And while Big Tech surely will improve specs and reduce cost over time, we can now provide a time-well-spent option at 10% of the cost of Apple’s Vision.”

The device is simple: It slips over your eyes like a pair of glasses and blocks all distractions while reading. Even as I’m typing that, I’m sensing some sadness: I have wanted this product to exist for many years – I was basically raised by books, and lost my ability to focus on reading over the past few years. Something broke in me during the pandemic – I was checking my phone every 10 seconds to see what Trump had done now and how close we were to a COVID-19-powered abyss. Suffice it to say, my mental health wasn’t at its finest – and I can’t praise the idea of Sol Reader enough. The idea of being able to set a timer and put a book on my face is extremely attractive to me.

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Continue reading “Taurine Deficiency As A Driver Of Aging: What’s My Data (Youthful Or Aged)?” »

This is a new channel with Liz Parrish. This is an hour with Aubrey.

Most people consider #aging to be a normal part of the cycle of #life and #death. But, did you know that some people see aging merely as a disease?
Which means that they believe there is a cure for aging.
And, these people are in pursuit of that cure.

Continue reading “Ep#04 Aubrey De Grey : What if we don’t have to die” »

With the Monsoon rains comes many infectious diseases that can pose health risks, such as mosquito-borne malaria and dengue.

Early suggestion for a likely diagnosis can save lives. However, many infections share the same symptoms and clinical findings. The combination of a detailed patient anamnesis, physical examination, and laboratory data is therefore a prerequisite for identification of the likely cause.

In a paper published in Science Advances, an international team led by deCODE genetics, a subsidiary of Amgen, reveals the discovery of sequence variants in the gene ABCC9 that influence the pitch of voices.

Speaking is one of the most characteristic human behaviors, and yet the genetic underpinnings of voice and speech are largely unknown. In the first study of its kind, the scientists combined speech recordings from almost 13,000 Icelanders with data, in the sequence of the genome, to search for common variants in ABCC9 that are associated with a higher-pitched voice.

Continue reading “Study reveals first genetic locus for voice pitch” »