Category Health/Medical

Overdoses from opioids like painkillers might become a thing of the pas–a vaccine to combat drug overdose is on the horizon. Eric Norris via Flickr, CC by 2.0

Scientists TSRI have developed a vaccine that blocks the pain-numbing effects of the opioid drugs oxycodone (oxy) and hydrocodone (hydro) in animal models. The vaccine also appears to decrease the risk of fatal opioid overdose, a growing cause of death in the United States. “We saw both blunting of the drug’s effects and, remarkably, prevention of drug lethality,” said Prof. Kim D. Janda.

MOA: The new oxy/hydro vaccine takes advantage of the immune system’s ability to recognize, seek out and neutralize invaders. Opioids were designed to reach receptors in the brain, causing pain reduction and feelings of euphoria...

Heterochronic blood exchange effects on muscle regeneration and performance.

A new study from UC Berkeley found that tissue health and repair dramatically decline in young mice when half of their blood is replaced with blood from old mice. The study argues against the rejuvenating properties of young blood and points to old blood, or molecules within, as driving the aging process. “Our study suggests that young blood by itself will not work as effective medicine,” said A/Prof Irina Conboy, Dept of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley. “It’s more accurate to say that there are inhibitors in old blood that we need to target to reverse aging.”

In 2005, Conboy et al published a study in Nature that found evidence for tissue rejuvenation in older mice when they are surgically joined to younger mice so...

Mitochondrial DNA is the small circular chromosome found inside mitochondria. The mitochondria are organelles found in cells that are the sites of energy production. Credit: http://www.genome.gov/ (CC0)

Researchers from Caltech and UCLA have developed a new approach to removing cellular damage that accumulates with age. The technique can potentially help slow or reverse an important cause of aging. The team developed a technique to remove mutated DNA from mitochondria. There are hundreds to thousands of mitochondria per cell, each of which carries its own small circular DNA genome, mtDNA, the products of which are required for energy production...

Cutter Lindbergh, left, a doctoral candidate in the psychology department, and Stephen Miller, director of the Bio-Imaging Research Center, used fMRI technology to see how different levels of carotenoids, chemical compounds derived from fruits and vegetables, affected brain functioning in older adults. Credit: UGA

The same compounds that give plants and vegetables their vibrant colors might be able to bolster brain functioning in older adults, according to a recent study from University of Georgia. The research is the first to use fMRI technology to investigate how levels of those compounds affect brain activity and showed that study participants with lower levels had to rely on more brain power to complete memory-oriented tasks...