Category Health/Medical

Tiny Bubbles can be Future Treatment for Inflammation

Multimeric decoy receptor EV-sorting protein chimaera is functionalized on several EV subpopulations.

Scientists hope that tiny sacs of material excreted by cells — so-called extracellular vesicles — can be used to deliver drugs inside the body. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show that these nanobubbles can transport protein drugs that reduce inflammation caused by different diseases. The technique, which is presented in Nature Biomedical Engineering, shows promising results in animal models.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are important in inter-cellular communication as carriers of biological signals. They are nanometre-sized membrane-coated packages excreted by cells that can deliver fatty acids, proteins and genetic material to different tissues.

The tiny bubbles are f...

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Massage doesn’t just make Muscles feel better, it makes them Heal Faster and Stronger

Immunofluorescence images show that when an injured muscle is treated with mechanotherapy (right), its muscle fiber type composition changes compared to untreated muscles (left). The resulting composition of the treated muscle is more similar to that of healthy muscle, implying that treatment helps restore proper muscle function. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Study in mice confirms link between mechanotherapy and immunotherapy in muscle regeneration. Massage has been used to treat sore, injured muscles for more than 3,000 years, and today many athletes swear by massage guns to rehabilitate their bodies...

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Cancer Chemotherapy Drug Reverses Alzheimer’s Symptoms in Mice

Cancer chemotherapy drug reverses Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice
Since cancerous tumours also rely on new blood vessel growth to survive and thrive, the researchers reasoned that a proven anti-cancer drug might halt the process in Alzheimer’s. Credit: Jesse Orrico/Unsplash

A drug commonly used to treat cancer can restore memory and cognitive function in mice that display symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, new UBC research has found.

The drug, Axitinib, inhibits the growth of new blood vessels in the brain — a feature shared by both cancer tumours and Alzheimer’s disease, but this hallmark represents a new target for Alzheimer’s therapies.

Mice with Alzheimer’s disease that underwent the therapy not only exhibited a reduction in blood vessels and other Alzheimer’s markers in their brains, they also performed remarkably well in tests designed to...

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Natural compound in basil may protect against Alzheimer’s disease pathology

Alzheimer’s disease model of the worm C. elegans treated with the plant-derived compound fenchol (Left) and with a DMSO placebo (Right). Fenchol reduced accumulation of amyloid-β (green dots) in the organism’s head, compared to the placebo. | Images courtesy of Hariom Yadav, PhD, of the University of South Florida, first appeared as Fig. 4d in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, DIO: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.735933

Fenchol, a natural compound abundant in some plants including basil, can help protect the brain against Alzheimer’s disease pathology, a preclinical study led by University of South Florida Health (USF Health) researchers suggests.

The new study published Oct...

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