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    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    Drug Delivery Technique Bypasses BBB may help many patients with Neurological Conditions

    October 20, 2015, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology, Environment/Geology

    Drugs used to treat a variety of central nervous system diseases may be administered through the nose and diffused through an implanted mucosal graft (A, in red) to gain access to the brain. Under normal circumstances, there are multiple layers within the nose that block the access of pharmaceutical agents from getting to the brain including bone and the dura/arachnoid membrane, which represents part of the blood-brain barrier (B). After endoscopic skull base surgery (C), all of these layers are removed and replaced with a nasal mucosal graft, which is 1,000 times more porous than the native blood-brain barrier. Consequently, these grafts may be used to deliver very large drugs, including proteins, which would otherwise be blocked by the blood-brain barrier. Credit: Garyfallia Pagonis and Benjamin S. Bleier, M.D.

    Drugs used to treat a variety of central nervous system diseases may be administered through the nose and diffused through an implanted mucosal graft (A, in red) to gain access to the brain. Under normal circumstances, there are multiple layers within the nose that block the access of pharmaceutical agents from getting to the brain including bone and the dura/arachnoid membrane, which represents part of the blood-brain barrier (B). After endoscopic skull base surgery (C), all of these layers are removed and replaced with a nasal mucosal graft, which is 1,000 times more porous than the native blood-brain barrier. Consequently, these grafts may be used to deliver very large drugs, including proteins, which would otherwise be blocked by the blood-brain barrier...

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    Researchers learn how to Steer the Heart with Light

    October 20, 2015, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    All-optical system for control of wave dynamics in biological media.

    All-optical system for control of wave dynamics in biological media.

    Team first to use optogenetics to control excitation waves in heart cells.
    We depend on electrical waves to regulate the rhythm of our heartbeat. When those signals go awry, the result is a potentially fatal arrhythmia.
    For heart patients there are currently 2 options to keep these waves in check: electrical devices (pacemakers or defibrillators) or drugs (eg beta blockers). However, these methods are relatively crude: they can stop or start waves but cannot provide fine control over the wave speed and direction

    Dr Gil Bub, from Oxford University explained: ‘When there is scar tissue in the heart or fibrosis, this can cause part of the wave to slow down...

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    Study Reveals Key Role your Gut Bacteria in Body’s Self-Defense

    October 19, 2015, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Metabolic differences in the small intestine A. Metabolic genes as well as the associated reactions involved in the formation of glutathione (GSH) are presented. B, C Significant differences associated with (B) glycine and (C) glutamine are shown. Red and blue arrows indicate the significantly (Q‐value < 0.05) higher and lower expression of the metabolic genes in CONV‐R mice compared to GF mice, respectively. D. The levels of glycine, glutamine, and cysteine used in the de novo synthesis of the GSH are measured in the hepatic portal vein that conducts blood from the gastrointestinal tract to the liver tissue. *Q‐value < 0.05.

    Metabolic differences in the small intestine A. Metabolic genes as well as the associated reactions involved in the formation of glutathione (GSH) are presented. B, C Significant differences associated with (B) glycine and (C) glutamine are shown. Red and blue arrows indicate the significantly (Q‐value < 0.05) higher and lower expression of the metabolic genes in CONV‐R mice compared to GF mice, respectively. D. The levels of glycine, glutamine, and cysteine used in the de novo synthesis of the GSH are measured in the hepatic portal vein that conducts blood from the gastrointestinal tract to the liver tissue. *Q‐value < 0.05.

    Human intestinal flora regulates the levels of the body’s main antioxidant, glutathione, which fights a host of diseases, new research confirms...

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    Orange Lichens are potential source for Anticancer Drugs

    October 19, 2015, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Parietin pigment kills leukemia cells, combats Warburg effect. An orange pigment found in lichens and rhubarb called parietin may have potential as an anti-cancer drug, scientists at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have discovered.

    Parietin, also known as physcion, could slow the growth of and kill human leukemia cells obtained directly from patients, without obvious toxicity to human blood cells. The pigment could also inhibit the growth of human cancer cell lines derived from lung and head and neck tumors when grafted into mice.

    A team of researchers discovered the properties of parietin because they were looking for inhibitors for the metabolic enzyme 6PGD (6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase)...

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