Category Biology/Biotechnology

New Potential Therapy for Crohn’s disease in Children

High magnification micrograph of Crohn’s disease. Biopsy of esophagus. H&E stain. Credit: Nephron/Wikipedia

Scientists from the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago demonstrated that a nanotherapy reduces intestinal inflammation and shrinks lesions in a rodent model of severe Crohn’s disease. This approach could become an alternative to biologic antibody therapies that carry many side effects, including increased risk of certain cancers. It might also prevent the need for surgery in the future. Findings were published in the journal Advanced Therapeutics.

Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the digestive tract, most often in the small intestine...

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Gut Microbiome implicated in Healthy Aging and Longevity

gut
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Data from over 9,000 people reveal a distinct gut microbiome signature that is associated with healthy aging and survival in the latest decades of life. The gut microbiome is an integral component of the body, but its importance in the human aging process is unclear. ISB researchers and their collaborators have identified distinct signatures in the gut microbiome that are associated with either healthy or unhealthy aging trajectories, which in turn predict survival in a population of older individuals. The work is set to be published in the journal Nature Metabolism.

The research team analyzed gut microbiome, phenotypic and clinical data from over 9,000 people — between the ages of 18 and 101 years old — across three independent cohorts...

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New link between Personality and Risk of Early Death

Dr Páraic Ó Súilleabháin, from the Department of Psychology and Health Research Institute at University of Limerick, who was principal investigator on the study

Ground-breaking research led by University of Limerick has revealed for the first time that the immune system directly links personality to long-term risk of death. The study sheds new light on why people who are more conscientious tend to live longer.

Results from the new international study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity have found that the immune system plays a previously unknown role in the link between personality traits and long-term risk of death.

“Personality is known to be associated with long-term risk of death, it is a well replicated finding observed across numerous research studies...

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Never-before-seen Antibody Binding, informing Liver Cancer, antibody design

A structural snapshot of a phosphohistidine analogue (ball and stick model) nestled at the interface between different areas (green, brown) of a phosphohistidine antibody. Such structures provide insights into the molecular properties of the antibodies, which makes them useful for revealing elusive phosphohistidine-containing proteins in cells.
Credit: Salk Institute

Xray crystallography and recombinant antibodies uncover workings of an elusive molecule central to human health. In structural biology, some molecules are so unusual they can only be captured with a unique set of tools...

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