Category Health/Medical

The polymeric nanoparticle Accurin encapsulates the clinical candidate AZD2811, an Aurora B kinase inhibitor. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the Feb. 10, 2016 issue of Science Translational Medicine, published by AAAS. The paper, by S. Ashton at institution in location, and colleagues was titled, “Aurora kinase inhibitor nanoparticles target tumors with favorable therapeutic index in vivo.” Credit: Ashton et al., Science Translational Medicine (2016)

Their nanoparticle creation releases the potent but toxic targeted cancer drug directly to tumors, while sparing healthy tissue. The findings in rodents with human tumors have helped launch clinical trials of the nanoparticle-encapsulated version of the drug, which are currently underway...

Researchers have devised several lipid-based diets aimed at slowing down progression and relieving symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Credit: Janickova et al, Bentham Science Publishers

Numerous epidemiological studies have revealed profitable effects of dietary intake of especially fish oil on cognitive decline during aging and dementia. One of the invariable pathologies in AD is degeneration of cholinergic synapses in brain cortex and hippocampus. Current pharmacological interventions are limited to a few drugs that alleviate symptoms but do not slow down the underlying disease processes eg inhibitors of cholinesterases, enzymes that degrade the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, or memantine, a modulator of glutamate neurotransmission.

Within the EU-funded project LipiDiDiet (FP7-211696, the...

Timur Muksunov is a research engineer at Tomsk State University (Russia). Credit: Copyright Tomsk State University

Scientists have created a gas analyzer – ‘electronic nose’ that is able to assess the quality of the food, cosmetic, and medical products, to diagnose diseases by evaluating exhaled gases, and even detect explosives and drugs. The device analyzes a gas mixture using semiconductor sensors.

“Smell is determined by a combination of existing gases in the atmosphere. It is found that the conductivity of the semiconductor probe changes during sedimentation of the gas molecules from the atmosphere. This allows determining their presence,” says Timur Muksunov. “During manufacture the sensor can be customized to react well to some gases, and react badly to the others.”

It is impossible...

These are divergent patterns in overlapping areas of anterior prefrontal cortex. Credit: Center for BrainHealth

The age at which an adolescent begins using marijuana may affect typical brain development. Findings show study participants who began using marijuana at the age of 16 or younger demonstrated brain variations that indicate arrested brain development in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for judgment, reasoning and complex thinking. Individuals who started using marijuana after age 16 showed the opposite effect and demonstrated signs of accelerated brain aging.

“Our findings suggest that the timing of cannabis use can result in very disparate patterns of effects,” explained Francesca Filbey, Ph.D...