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Category: health – Page 8

Researchers develop a new set of genetic tools designed to treat brain diseases

Scientists say they’ve put together a new kind of molecular toolkit that could eventually be used to treat a variety of brain diseases, possibly including epilepsy, sleep disorders and Huntington’s disease.

The kit currently contains more than 1,000 tools of a type known as enhancer AAV vectors, with AAV standing for “adeno-associated virus.” A consortium that included researchers from Seattle’s Allen Institute for Brain Science and the University of Washington combined harmless adeno-associated viruses with snippets of engineered DNA to create a gene-therapy package that could target specific neurons in the brain while having no effect on other cells.

Researchers laid out their findings in a set of eight studies published today in the Cell Press family of journals. The work is part of a project called the Armamentarium for Precision Brain Cell Access, funded through the National Institutes of Health’s BRAIN Initiative.

Adolescent health is at a tipping point, global analysis suggests

By 2030, there will still be over 1 billion of the world’s adolescents (aged 10–24 years) living in countries where preventable and treatable health problems like HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy, unsafe sex, depression, poor nutrition and injury collectively threaten the health and well-being of adolescents, suggests a new analysis from the second Lancet Commission on adolescent health and well-being.

Commission co-chair, Professor Sarah Baird, George Washington University (U.S.) says, The health and well-being of adolescents worldwide is at a tipping point, with mixed progress observed over the past three decades.

While tobacco and alcohol use has declined and participation in secondary and tertiary education has increased, overweight and obesity have risen by up to eight-fold in some countries in Africa and Asia over the past three decades, and there is a growing burden of poor adolescent mental health globally.

Unknown Species of Bacteria Discovered in China’s Space Station

Swabs from China’s Tiangong space station reveal traces of a bacterium unseen on Earth, with characteristics that may help it function under stressful environmental conditions hundreds of kilometers above the planet’s surface.

Naming their discovery after the station, researchers from the Shenzhou Space Biotechnology Group and the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering say the study of Niallia tiangongensis and similar species could be “essential” in protecting astronaut health and spacecraft functionality over long missions.

The swabs were taken from a cabin on board the space station in May 2023 by the Shenzhou-15 crew as part of one of two surveys by the China Space Station Habitation Area Microbiome Programme.

UNM Scientists Discover How Nanoparticles of Toxic Metal Used in MRI Scans Infiltrate Human Tissue

University of New Mexico researchers studying the health risks posed by gadolinium, a toxic rare earth metal used in MRI scans, have found that oxalic acid, a molecule found in many foods, can generate nanoparticles of the metal in human tissues.

ISensor and iMedicine for Human Health

Diabetes has no well-established cure; thus, its management is critical for avoiding severe health complications involving multiple organs. This requires frequent glycaemia monitoring, and the gold standards for this are fingerstick tests. During the last decades, several blood-withdrawal-free platforms have been being studied to replace this test and to improve significantly the quality of life of people with diabetes (PWD). Devices estimating glycaemia level targeting blood or biofluids such as tears, saliva, breath and sweat, are gaining attention; however, most are not reliable, user-friendly and/or cheap. Given the complexity of the topic and the rise of diabetes, a careful analysis is essential to track scientific and industrial progresses in developing diabetes management systems. Here, we summarize the emerging blood glucose level (BGL) measurement methods and report some examples of devices which have been under development in the last decades, discussing the reasons for them not reaching the market or not being really non-invasive and continuous. After discussing more in depth the history of Raman spectroscopy-based researches and devices for BGL measurements, we will examine if this technique could have the potential for the development of a user-friendly, miniaturized, non-invasive and continuous blood glucose-monitoring device, which can operate reliably, without inter-patient variability, over sustained periods.

Diabetes is a lifelong disease that affects more than 400 millions of people worldwide (WHO. Diabetes, 2022). Emerging reports from the International Diabetes Federation state that diabetes is set to rise very fast, estimating 700 millions of cases in the next 25 years (IDF Diabetes Atlas, 2019). Among the various types of diabetes, all characterized by high blood glucose levels, the main two types are type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition where the pancreas produces little or no insulin, and type 2 diabetes, a metabolic disorder that results in hyperglycaemia due to insulin resistance. Diabetes, and related risk factors such as microvascular (retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy) and macrovascular metabolic disorders, is so widespread that it has been defined “the epidemic of the century” (Kharroubi, 2015).

Solar storms and cyberattacks can both cause blackouts. Knowing the difference could save billions of dollars

“Space weather can impact systems that use IT for critical functions and everyday processes,” James Spann, a senior scientist at the Office of Space Weather Observations at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) department, told Space.com in an email. “These space weather impacts can have the same symptoms as a cyberattack, where systems will be brought down, or lockup, or transmit erroneous information.”

NESDIS oversaw a tabletop space weather exercise conducted in May 2024, the first such drill testing the U.S. preparedness for a major solar storm. Results of the exercise, which brought together 35 US government agencies, were published in a report in April.

In one of the simulations during the exercise, NOAA and the U.S. Air Force reported a severe solar flare and radio burst, but another federal department or agency “reported contradictory information, suggesting that the radio and communications disruptions were possibly the result of a cyberattack,” according to the report. Above all, it showed the need for effective communication following such events.

No more sticky patches: 3D-printed wearable monitors health through skin gases

Wearable technologies are revolutionizing health care, but design limitations in adhesive-based personal monitors have kept them from meeting their full potential.

A new University of Arizona study, published in Nature Communications, describes a longer-lasting, 3D-printed, adhesive-free wearable capable of providing a more comprehensive picture of a user’s .

The device, which measures and emissions of gases, continuously tracks and logs associated with dehydration, metabolic shifts and stress levels.

Chronic pain and mental well-being linked to IBS risk: Genetic study identifies modifiable factors

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a prevalent and debilitating gastrointestinal disorder affecting approximately 5%–10% of the global population. Characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, and altered bowel habits, IBS imposes a significant burden on quality of life and health care systems worldwide.

Despite its prevalence, the exact pathogenesis of IBS remains elusive, and effective prevention strategies are lacking. Di Liu and colleagues conducted a comprehensive Mendelian randomization (MR) study—an approach that uses genetic variants as instrumental variables to infer causality.

The study integrates Mendelian randomization (MR) and multiresponse MR (MR2) analyses to distinguish genuine causal relationships from shared or spurious associations. The research is published in the journal eGastroenterology.