MEDGADGET EDITORS MEDICINE Many of the existing diseases that strike us are poorly treated not because effective drugs don’t exist, but because there’s no reliable way of delivering the drugs to their intended destinations. Anyone following this publication will be familiar with the dozens of types of synthetic vessel that scientists have created to ferry...
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New tumor-driving mutations discovered in the under-explored regions of the cancer genome
by Ontario Institute for Cancer Research In an unprecedented pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes, researchers at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) have discovered new regions of non-coding DNA that, when altered, may lead to cancer growth and progression. The study, published today in Molecular Cell, reveals novel mechanisms of disease progression that could...
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Cell research offers diabetes treatment hope
by University of Edinburgh In Type 1 diabetes the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas are destroyed. Insulin injections maintain health but blood glucose levels can be difficult to control. Currently in the UK it is estimated that approximately 400,000 people in the UK have type 1 diabetes. Controlling glucose The current recommendation for people with...
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Cheap roundworm drug found to enhance the effects of chemotherapy in prostate cancer
by Ali Howard, University of Glasgow Scientists at the University of Glasgow and Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute have tested close to 1000 existing medicines and discovered that a cheap drug commonly used to treat parasitic worm infection could be a game-changing treatment for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting men...
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Rich rewards: Scientists reveal ADHD medication’s effect on the brain
Researchers scan the brain to uncover how medication for ADHD affects the brain’s reward system OKINAWA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (OIST) GRADUATE UNIVERSITY Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobiological disorder characterized by symptoms of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity. People with the condition are often prescribed a stimulant drug called methylphenidate, which treats these...
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Acid reflux drugs may have negative side effects for breast cancer survivors
Study links use of drug with poorer concentration, memory OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY COLUMBUS, Ohio – Acid reflux drugs that are sometimes recommended to ease stomach problems during cancer treatment may have an unintended side effect: impairment of breast cancer survivors’ memory and concentration. New Ohio State University research shows an association between breast cancer survivors’...
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Mutations in donors’ stem cells may cause problems for cancer patients
A stem cell transplant — also called a bone marrow transplant — is a common treatment for blood cancers, such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Such treatment can cure blood cancers but also can lead to life-threatening complications, including heart problems and graft-versus-host disease, in which new immune cells from the donor attack a patient’s...
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Vanderbilt-led team discovers new genetic disease and defines underlying mechanism
Studies that started in zebrafish have now pointed to a role for collagen secretion in a wide variety of clinical symptoms — and in a newly identified genetic syndrome. Ela Knapik, MD, associate professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and her colleagues discovered the syndrome caused by mutation of a single gene and...
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New Mechanisms Describe How the Genome Regulates Itself
An organism’s genome contains all of the information necessary for each of its cells and tissues to develop and function properly. Written in DNA, each individual gene encodes for something, whether it is a structural protein that helps define a tissue’s shape, an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reactions of life, or a signaling protein...
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The kill-switch for CRISPR that could make gene-editing safer
How anti-CRISPR proteins and other molecules could bolster biosecurity and improve medical treatments. Illustration by Sébastien Thibault It started out as “sort of a stupid thing to do”, recalls Joe Bondy-Denomy, a microbiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. As a graduate student in the early 2010s, he tried to infect bacteria with viruses...