Category Health/Medical

Credit: Aleo BME A biopolymer liquid bandage for wound care

Biomaterials and medical device company Aleo BME has received notification from the U.S. Federal Drug Administration that it has been approved for the sale and licensing of ElaSkinTM as a liquid bandage for the protection and treatment of a broad set of skin conditions and injuries. ElaSkin’sTM development validates Aleo BME’s approach to biopolymer production and characterization and demonstrates an ability to enter critical regulated markets and produce medical devices that can benefit large patient populations.

The compelling features of ElaSkinTM include: transparency, elasticity, clean and easy removal, water resistance, rapid drying, bacterial impermeability and the sensation of true protection...

Vitamin D3 could help Heal or Prevent Cardiovascular Damage

A new study conducted by Ohio University scientists suggests that a little more sunlight might help restore damage to your cardiovascular system. The study shows that Vitamin D3 – which is made by the body naturally when skin is exposed to the sun – can significantly restore the damage to the cardiovascular system caused by several diseases, including hypertension, diabetes and atherosclerosis. Vitamin D3 supplements are also available over-the-counter.

The study, by Marvin and Ann Dilley White Chair and Distinguished Professor Dr. Tadeusz Malinski and two graduate students, Alamzeb Khan and Hazem Dawoud, has been published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine. “Generally, Vitamin D3 is associated with the bones...

Blood vessel-on-a-chips show anti-cancer drug effects in human cells. Credit: 2018 YUKIKO MATSUNAGA, INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE, THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

Researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), the University of Tokyo, CNRS and INSERM, report a new organ-on-a-chip technology for the study of blood vessel formation and drugs targeting this event. The technology recreates a human blood vessel and shows how new capillaries grow from a single vessel (parent vessel) in response to proper biochemical signaling cues. The technology can further be used to develop drugs targeting this growth as a therapeutic approach to treat cancer and blood-vessel-related diseases. The study can be read in EBioMedicine.

Angiogenesis describes a specific process of blood vessel formation from...

The new method overcomes obstacles in designing D versions of complex helical peptides. Credit: Michael Garton, University of Toronto

Mirror-image version of existing drugs would last longer in the body thanks to their ability to avoid breakdown by enzymes in the stomach and bloodstream. For patients, this means less frequent drug injections and more medicines could potentially be made available as pills. Designing these drugs has been tricky, however. Now a team of researchers led by Philip Kim, a professor of computer science and molecular genetics in the University of Toronto’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, has developed a new technology for making mirror-image peptides, which bind and activate receptors on the surface of cells.

They created mirror-image versio...