Category Health/Medical

Fructose could drive Alzheimer’s disease

An evolutionary human foraging instinct, fueled by fructose production in the brain, may hold clues to the development and possible treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

The study, published recently in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, offers a new way of looking at a fatal disease characterized by abnormal accumulations of proteins in the brain that slowly erode memory and cognition.

“We make the case that Alzheimer’s disease is driven by diet,” said the study’s lead author Richard Johnson, MD, professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine specializing in renal disease and hypertension...

Read More

Packaged DNA: New Method to Promote Bone Growth

Researchers develop new method to promote bone growth
Schematic illustration of the DNA-activated bone-ECM-mimicking surface coating. The lipid components OO4/DOPE were formulated to cationic liposomes. The cationic liposomes were assembled with DNA encoding either of the reporter gene green fluorescent protein (GFP) or the therapeutic gene BMP-2, to LPX. LPX were assembled into DNA-activated surface coatings as tool for in situ transfection using the LbL technique. Credit: Advanced Healthcare Materials (2022). DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202201978

DNA can help to stimulate bone healing in a localised and targeted manner, for example after a complicated fracture or after severe tissue loss following surgery...

Read More

Telomeres, Mitochondria, and Inflammation oh my! Three hallmarks of Aging Work Together to Prevent Cancer

Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes from damage. This image shows telomeres (green) and DNA (blue) during DNA repair activities.
Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes from damage. This image shows telomeres (green) and DNA (blue) during DNA repair activities.

As we age, the end caps of our chromosomes, called telomeres, gradually shorten. Now, Salk scientists have discovered that when telomeres become very short, they communicate with mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses. This communication triggers a complex set of signaling pathways and initiates an inflammatory response that destroys cells that could otherwise become cancerous.

The findings, published in Nature on February 8, 2023, could lead to new ways of preventing and treating cancer as well as designing better interventions to offset the harmful consequences of aging.

The discovery is the result of a collaboration between co-senior authors ...

Read More

Wear and forget: An Ultrasoft Material for On Skin Health Devices

. Leakage-resistant property.
Conceptual illustration of conventional nonporous (A) and multifunctional porous (B) EGaIn composites upon compression. Here, porous structures can provide damping effect to substantially reduce stresses induced on liquid metal conductive pathways (see details in fig. S5), therefore endowing leakage-resistant property. In addition, antimicrobial additive can offer antibacterial and antiviral property. (C) Chemical structure of the antimicrobial additive, ε-PL, modified with BEHS for uniform dispersion in solvents. (D) Schematic of the EGaIn particle made by tip sonication of bulk EGaIn. (E) 3D tomography image of porous composites before sintering, showing EGaIn particle (yellow) distributions in elastomers (pink). Scale bar, 100 μm. (F) Photographs of compr...
Read More