Category Health/Medical

Credit: photo by Robin Hecker for The Ohio State University College of Medicine and The Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science Ohio State Researchers Create Bioelectric Bandage for Chronic Wounds (From left to right: Vish Subramaniam, PhD, Sashwati Roy, PhD and Shaurya Prakash, PhD)

Good news for the millions of people who suffer from skin wounds that won’t heal. A team of researchers at The Ohio State University has brought a potentially transformative solution to the problem by creating a portable adhesive patch that drives a continuous, small electrical current to stimulate healing and reduce the risk of infection...

Electron micrographs revealed the alignment of the plasma membrane, with evident increase in extracellular spacing between cellular elements, to be affected in 30d w1118 flies, when compared to 3d or 30dSpd w1118 flies. Credit: Gupta VK, Pech U, Bhukel A, Fulterer A, Ender A, Mauermann SF, et al.; Creative Commons Attribution License

Synapses, connecting the neurons in our brains, continuously encode new memories, but the ability to form new memories (“learning”) diminishes drastically for many of us as we get older. Specific changes at the level of synapses directly provoke age-related dementia. However, administering a simple substance already found in our bodies, spermidine, can help to avoid such age-related synaptic changes and thereby protect from age-induced memory impairment.

Just ...

Killer T cells (green and red) surrounding a cancer cell. Credit: Alex Ritter, Jennifer Lippincott Schwartz, Gillian Griffiths/National Institutes of Health

In experiments with mice immune cells, called synNotch T cells, efficiently homed in on tumors and released a specialized antibody therapy, eradicating the cancer without attacking normal cells. In addition to delivering therapeutic agents, synNotch cells can be programmed to kill cancer cells in a variety of other ways. But synNotch cells can also carry out instructions that suppress the immune response, offering the possibility that these cells could be used to treat autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes or to locally suppress immune system rejection of transplanted organs.

“SynNotch is a universal molecular sensor that allows ...

Highlights •Cx43 expression and beige adipocyte gap junctions are increased during WAT beiging •Genetic disruption or pharmacological inhibition of Cx43 blunts WAT beiging •Overexpression of Cx43 promotes WAT beiging in the presence of a mild cold stimulus •Human beige or brown fat has higher Cx43 expression than white adipose tissue

When exposed to cold, clusters of cells within the body’s white fat become beige – a color change that reflects the creation of more energy-producing mitochondria, that enable cells to burn calories and give off heat...