Had the amazing opportunity to write a small scene for the Netflix series ‘Black Mirror.’ If you haven’t checked out ‘Arkangel’ in the new season, be sure to give it a look!
Bioprinting is an additive manufacturing process similar to 3D printing – it uses a digital file as a blueprint to print an object layer by layer. But unlike 3D printing, bioprinters print with cells and biomaterials, creating organ-like structures that let living cells multiply.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disease characterized by profound fatigue, sleep abnormalities, pain, and other symptoms that are made worse by exertion.
Study: Leaded gas caused American adults to lose 825M IQ points. Leaded gas was banned in 1996, but exposure to the poison cost Americans born before then several IQ points on average, researchers estimated.
A new treatment has been developed that could destroy hard to reach cancer tumors that evade normal treatment. The treatment utilizes existing equipment available at hospitals, as MRI scanners are already a vital tool for diagnosing cancer.
The magnetic fields of the MRI scanner are used to steer a small magnetic seed through the body and into the tumor, where it is then remotely activated to destroy the cancer cells with heat. The 2mm seeds can be navigated accurately, and cause little damage to tissues around the cancer.
The researchers call the therapy MINIMA, which stands for minimally invasive image-guided ablation.
Zinc supplementation may exacerbate rheumatoid arthritis (RA), new laboratory data suggest.
In monocytes from rheumatoid arthritis patients, plasma zinc concentrations and Zip8 expression were increased, and Zip8 expression correlated with more severe disease. Thus, inhibiting zinc influx into monocytes and macrophages could prevent excessive inflammatory responses that occur in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis – the researchers concluded.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada have conducted the world’s first molecular-level structural analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant spike (S) protein. The analysis – done at near atomic resolution using cryo-electron microscopy – reveals how the heavily mutated Omicron variant attaches to and infects human cells.
The S protein, which is located on the outside of a coronavirus, enables SARS-CoV-2 to enter human cells. The Omicron variant has an unprecedented 37 mutations on its S protein – three to five times more than previous variants.
A team of doctors and researchers working at Erasmus Hospital in Belgium has successfully treated an adult woman infected with a drug-resistant bacteria using a combination of bacteriophage therapy and antibiotics. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the group describes the reasons for the use of the treatment and the ways it might be used in other cases.
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. Research involving their use in human patients has been ongoing for several decades, but they are still not used to treat patients. In this new effort, the researchers were presented with a unique opportunity not only to treat a patient in need of help, but to learn more about the possible use of viruses to treat patients infected with bacteria that have become resistant to conventional antibiotics.
Bacteria may Demonstrate any of Five General Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance: 1. Lack of entry; Decreased cell permeability. 2. Greater exit; Active efflux. 3. Enzymatic inactivation of the antibiotic. 4. Altered target; Modification of drug receptor site. 5. Synthesis of resistant metabolic pathway.
More than HIV, more than malaria. The death toll worldwide from bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in 2019 exceeded 1.2 million people, according to a new study.
In terms of preventable deaths, 1.27 million people could have been saved if drug-resistant infections were replaced with infections susceptible to current antibiotics. Furthermore, 4.95 million fewer people would have died if drug-resistant infections were replaced by no infections, researchers estimated.
University of Connecticut bioengineers have used piezoelectric biodegradable nanofiber tissue scaffold technology to successfully regrow cartilage directly in a rabbit’s knee, an achievement that could represent a promising hop toward healing joints and treating disorders such as osteoarthritis, in humans.
The team, headed by UConn bioengineer Thanh Nguyen, PhD, implanted a biodegradable piezoelectric poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) nanofiber tissue scaffold into the knee of rabbits with major cartilage defects. The polymer effectively acts as a battery-less electrical stimulator, which generates a tiny burst of electric current when subjected to force—for example, when the rabbit walked or hopped. This charge promoted cell colonization and growth into the cartilage of the test animals. Encouragingly, rabbits treated using the piezoelectric scaffold implant in combination with 1–2 months of treadmill exercise demonstrated completely healed cartilage.
A 57-year-old man with life-threatening heart disease has received a heart from a genetically modified pig, a groundbreaking procedure that offers hope to hundreds of thousands of patients with failing organs.
It is the first successful transplant of a pig’s heart into a human being. The eight-hour operation took place in Baltimore, and the patient, David Bennett Sr. of Maryland, was doing well three days later, according to surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
This video introduces the newfound benefits and information that the ultrasound provides, particularly that ultrasounds are non-invasive for both mother and child and relatively inexpensive. Fetal growth and even potential abnormalities can be discovered as they happen in real time. All the ultrasound requires is a full bladder, to provide a water-path for the ultrasound to be viewed.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first-ever eye drops to treat age-related blurry vision, potentially eliminating the need for reading glasses for millions.
The drug, pilocarpine, sold under the brand name Vuity, aims at helping those who have trouble seeing things close-up. According to Allergan, the drug’s manufacturer, Vuity takes effect in about 15 minutes. One drop on each eye provides sharper vision that lasts for six to 10 hours.
Ottoman Medical Students With Cadaver, Abdullah Frères, 1885.
Modern-style medical schools were first opened in the Ottoman Empire in 1839 at the beginning of the Tanzimat period. These “Tıbbiye” schools trained scores of Ottoman students such as those pictured here in the modern medical sciences, producing not just a core of competent doctors but also many prominent intellectuals such as Abdullah Cevdet, a Kurdish intellectual and physician as well as a prominent figure in the Young Turk movement.
