The Medical Thread

[AnimeFan188]

Scientists find cure for type 2 diabetes in rodents,
don’t know how it works:

"The cure for type 2 diabetes may be all in your head, a new study in
rats and mice suggests.

With a single shot to the brain, researchers can rid rodents of all
symptoms of the disease for months. The injection, a relatively low
dose of a tissue growth factor protein called fibroblast growth factor 1
(FGF1), appears to reset powerful neural networks that can control the
amount of sugar in the blood.

So far, it’s not completely clear how exactly FGF1 does that,
researchers report in Nature Medicine. Early experiments found that
FGF1 didn’t appear to lower blood sugar levels in some of the most
obvious ways, such as curbing the rodents’ appetite and spurring
sustained weight loss. Nevertheless, because FGF1 is naturally present
in human brains, as well as those of rodents, researchers are hopeful
that the lucky shot may translate into a useful treatment."

See:

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/...-how-it-works/

[AnimeFan188]

A Universal Cancer Vaccine Might Be Closer Than
You Think:

"There are so many cancers and so many things that can work in
concert or independently to increase a person's cancer risk—to say
nothing of the sheer scope and scale of cancer as an epidemic—that
the idea of a universal cancer vaccine seems pretty far-fetched. Hell,
given the vast and increasingly effective ecology of cancer treatments,
a vaccine doesn't even seem fair (especially if you happen to be a
pharmaceutical corporation pushing those often extremely expensive
treatments).

Nonetheless, a universal cancer vaccine is something being actively
pursued and it may prove to be attainable after all. In a paper
published Wednesday in Nature, researchers from Johannes Gutenberg
University describe the development of a potential vaccine based on
the immune system's natural responses to viral infection. In early
experiments based on mouse tumor models and three human patients
with advanced melanomas, the vaccine, which essentially consists of
nanoscale poison darts with of RNA payloads, was able to induce
specific anti-tumor immune responses."

See:

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-u...e-defenses-rna

[AnimeFan188]

High cholesterol 'does not cause heart disease' new
research finds, so treating with statins a 'waste of time':

"Cholesterol does not cause heart disease in the elderly and trying to
reduce it with drugs like statins is a waste of time, an international
group of experts has claimed.

A review of research involving nearly 70,000 people found there was
no link between what has traditionally been considered “bad”
cholesterol and the premature deaths of over 60-year-olds from
cardiovascular disease.

Published in the BMJ Open journal, the new study found that 92
percent of people with a high cholesterol level lived longer."

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2...esearch-finds/

[AnimeFan188]

Scientists just confirmed there's a second
layer of information hidden in our DNA:

"Theoretical physicists have confirmed that it's not just the information
coded into our DNA that shapes who we are - it's also the way DNA folds
itself that controls which genes are expressed inside our bodies.

That's something biologists have known for years, and they've even been
able to figure out some of the proteins responsible for folding up DNA.
But now a group of physicists have been able to demonstrate for the first
time through simulations how this hidden information controls our
evolution."

See:

http://www.techinsider.io/scientists...a-folds-2016-6

[AnimeFan188]

A Promising Anti-Aging Drug Will Soon Be Tried
On Humans:

"A compound called nicotinamide mono nucleotide (NMN) has been
shown to slow down the aging process and extend the lifespans of
mice. We’re about to find out if it does the same thing to humans.

A planned clinical trial devised by researchers from Washington
University in St. Louis and Keio University in Japan is set to test the
effectiveness and safety of the compound. Starting next month, about
10 healthy people will be administered NMN to see if can improve
bodily function and stave off the effects of aging. Should it work, it
would become the first bona fide anti-aging intervention available on
the market."

See:

http://gizmodo.com/a-promising-anti-...man-1782363625

[AnimeFan188]

Programmable RNA vaccines are 100% effective
in mice against Ebola and Flu and vaccines against
new diseases could be made in seven days:

"MIT engineers have developed a new type of easily customizable
vaccine that can be manufactured in one week, allowing it to be
rapidly deployed in response to disease outbreaks. So far, they have
designed vaccines against Ebola, H1N1 influenza, and Toxoplasma
gondii (a relative of the parasite that causes malaria), which were 100
percent effective in tests in mice.

The vaccine consists of strands of genetic material known as
messenger RNA, which can be designed to code for any viral, bacterial,
or parasitic protein. These molecules are then packaged into a
molecule that delivers the RNA into cells, where it is translated into
proteins that provoke an immune response from the host.

In addition to targeting infectious diseases, the researchers are using
this approach to create cancer vaccines that would teach the immune
system to recognize and destroy tumors."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/07/pro...s-are-100.html

[AnimeFan188]

Bacteria lurking in blood could be culprit in
countless diseases:

"Blood has always been considered free from microbes, because bacteria don’t grow when it is put
in a culture dish. But recent DNA sequencing methods reveal that each millilitre of blood in fact
contains around 1000 bacterial cells.

These bacteria are usually dormant. But they can be revived when iron becomes available in the
blood, and begin secreting lipopolysaccharides (LPS) – molecules on their cell walls that are
recognised by the immune system and stimulate inflammation."

See:

https://www.newscientist.com/article...less-diseases/

[MrTerrorist]

Paolo Macchiarini: A surgeon’s downfall
Ground-breaking work on synthetic organ transplants made Paolo Macchiarini one of the most famous doctors in the world. But some of his academic research is now seen as misleading, and most of the patients who received his revolutionary treatment have died. What went wrong?

[AnimeFan188]

News from the Obesity front:



A metabolic switch to turn off obesity:

"You've tried all the diets. No matter: you've still regained the weight you lost, even
though you ate well and you exercised regularly! This may be due to a particular enzyme
in the brain: the alpha/beta hydrolase domain-6 enzyme, better known as ABHD6. A
study published this week in Cell Reports demonstrates that when this enzyme is blocked
in certain neurons of the mouse hypothalamus, it becomes impossible for them to lose
weight, even if they adhere to an ideal regimen... ideal for mice that is!"

See:

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-1...c-obesity.html


=========================


New molecule may help fight obesity by converting 'bad' fat
to 'good' fat:

"Research suggests that activation of a chemical called Beta-LGND2 by the estrogen
receptor Beta (ER-Beta) reduces obesity and metabolic diseases in mice by converting
bad fat (white fat) to good fat (brown fat). This is significant as brown fat increases
metabolism and may facilitate weight loss."

See:

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10...besity-by.html

[AnimeFan188]

OUR HEALTHY FUTURE: How technology and public health efforts
will transform and extend people's lives in the next ten years:

"One of the great stories of the 20th Century was the dramatic extension of the human
lifespan.

Advances in medical technology, disease eradication, and improved living conditions made
it far more common and normal for people to live into old age. In 1900, global life
expectancy was 31. In 1950 it was 48. In 2010 it was 70.

So the question is: What's next?"

See:

http://www.businessinsider.com/longe...-of-medicine-1

[AnimeFan188]

Blood from old people has harmful toxins so blood banks need to
be changed and all blood needs to be regularly filtered:

"Can transfusions of “young blood” make old people healthier? That’s the hope of a few
startup companies and some wish-to-live-forever billionaires who think transfusions from
youngsters might delay aging.

But scientists in California who invented a gadget to test the question say instead it’s the
harmful toxins in old people’s blood that seem to be the problem."

See:

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11...s-harmful.html

[AnimeFan188]

Scientists reverse ageing in mammals and predict human
trials within 10 years:

"Using a new technique which takes adult cells back to their embryonic form, US
researchers at the Salk Institute in California, showed it was possible to reverse ageing in
mice, allowing the animals to not only look younger, but live for 30 per cent longer.

The technique involves stimulating four genes which are particularly active during
development in the womb. It was also found to work to turn the clock back on human
skin cells in the lab, making them look and behave younger.

Scientists hope to eventually create a drug which can mimic the effect of the found genes
which could be taken to slow down, and even reverse the ageing process. They say it will
take around 10 years to get to human trials."

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2...trials-within/

[Ithekro]

130 here we come?

[AnimeFan188]

Doctor Discovers Mysterious Chicken Virus That May
Cause Obesity:

"A doctor from India has discovered the virus which many medical professionals now
believe is responsible for a significant amount of the obesity seen throughout the world.
Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar, who is a nutritional biochemist in addition to being a physician, has
been involved with obesity treatment and research for over twenty years."

See:

https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2016/1...inglepage=true

[AnimeFan188]

Medical first, children had cancer cured with genetically engineered
T-cells from another person:

"Doctors in London say they have cured two babies of leukemia in the world’s first
attempt to treat cancer with genetically engineered immune cells from a donor.

Experiments, which took place at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, raise the
possibility of off-the-shelf cellular therapy using inexpensive supplies of universal cells that
could be dripped into patients' veins on a moment’s notice."

See:

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/01...cer-cured.html

[Cosmic Eagle]

Such adoptive transfer therapy with CAR-T cells have been around for a while now with the usual challenges for onco-immunotherapy like immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment, change in tumor antigen expression etc.

http://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.1200/JCO.2015.64.5929


There's even iPSC (manufactured stem cell) derived CAR-T experiments in the works which would help overcome the problem of T-cell exhaustion by providing continual regeneration of therapeutic cells

[AnimeFan188]

Critical step in cellular repair of damaged DNA identified
which could be big for reversing aging and human trials
will start within six months:

"UNSW researchers have identified a critical step in the molecular process that allows cells
to repair damaged DNA – and it could mean big things for the future of anti-ageing drugs,
childhood cancer survivors and even astronauts. It could lead to a revolutionary drug that
actually reverses ageing, improves DNA repair and could even help NASA get its astronauts
to Mars.

Their experiments in mice suggest a treatment is possible for DNA damage from ageing
and radiation. It is so promising it has attracted the attention of NASA, which believes the
treatment can help its Mars mission."

See:

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/03...repair-of.html

[AnimeFan188]

Diabetes drug could be the first to reverse the disease:

"A daily pill that restores the body’s sensitivity to insulin may make it easier to control the
diabetes boom in rich nations where obesity is on the rise. Stephanie Stanford of the
University of California, San Diego, and her team have found that giving mice with diabetes
a drug that affects insulin signalling restores their ability to control their blood sugar levels.

The drug was given daily, by mouth, and did not seem to have any side effects in the
mice. The animals had developed the condition after a high-fat diet had made them
obese."

See:

https://www.newscientist.com/article...e-disease/amp/

[AnimeFan188]

#WeAreNotWaiting: Diabetics are hacking their health,
because traditional systems have failed them:

"Diabetics have been waiting for years for better technology to manage their condition.
Some got tired of waiting and hacked together an open source hardware and software
solution. This is their story."

See:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/...e-failed-them/

[AnimeFan188]

New Cancer Drug Is So Effective Against
Tumors, the FDA Approved It Immediately:

"A small but significant new study is blowing experts away after it found that a particular
cancer drug overwhelmingly helped shrink or eradicate tumors in patients whose cancer
had resisted every other form of treatment.

The study, which was published in the journal Science, followed 86 patients who had
advanced cancer of the pancreas, prostate, uterus, or bone. The patients were given
pembrolizumab, which also goes by the brand name Keytruda, and the results were very
promising. Sixty-six patients had tumors that shrank significantly and stabilized; among
them were 18 patients whose tumors disappeared and haven’t returned."

See:

https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/new-can...164122959.html