IN BRIEF The U.S. Department of Defense is researching several ways to enhance humans using technology, from strength-enhancing exoskeletons to quick-processing brain implants. With AI already proving more adept than humans at a number of tasks, merging biological and machine intelligence might be humanity’s only hope of keeping up. IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM… Without...
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Disease gougers: New Big Pharma scandal as FDA approves drug for terminal muscular dystrophy – but manufacturer hikes the price from $1,000 to $89,000 a year
Emflaza, a steroid, is one of the only drugs known to slow the effects of DMD Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy is a terminal disease that mainly affects boys Previously, families could import the drug to the US for around $1,000 a year Last week it was approved by the FDA for US use – but the...
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Four-in-one 'miracle' pill to cure high blood pressure: Every patient given treatment during trial saw their hypertension drop to healthy levels
Those given the four-in-one ‘quadpill’ saw blood pressure drop in a month Experts believe the combined medication will minimise side-effects High blood pressure affects more than 17million Britons, or one adult in three Combining four blood pressure drugs into a single pill could be twice as effective as existing treatments, researchers have found. In a...
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The glaucoma operation that saves you from going BLIND: New technique releases pressure on the eye, and saves you from needing constant eye drops
Millions of people have glaucoma, which could cause blindness if left untreated Last month Asteroulla Antoniou, 76, became one of the first to try the procedure Half a million Britons have glaucoma, which can cause blindness if left untreated. Last month, Asteroulla Antoniou, 76, a retired dressmaker from London, underwent a new operation to treat...
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Gilead HIV drug aces phase 2, teeing up tussle with GSK
Gilead is looking to bictegravir to defend its HIV franchise against GSK Gilead has posted upbeat phase 2 data on its next-generation integrase inhibitor bictegravir in HIV patients. The drug more than held its own against GlaxoSmithKline’s dolutegravir, setting the stage for a larger-scale comparison in phase 3 and potential scrap for a multibillion-dollar market. The trial...
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Scientists Reveal How the Brain Maintains Useful Memories
Researchers from the University of Toronto, Canada, have discovered a reason why we often struggle to remember the smaller details of past experiences. Writing in the journal eLife, the team found that there are specific groups of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of a rat’s brain – the region most associated with long-term memory....
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Mitochondrial lipids as potential targets in early onset Parkinson's disease
A team of researchers led by Patrik Verstreken (VIB-KU Leuven) have identified an underlying mechanism in early onset Parkinson’s. Using flies, mice and patient cells, the team focused on cardiolipin, a fat unique to cells’ mitochondria, organelles that produce energy. They demonstrated that reducing the effects of the protein FASN influences the mitochondria, leading to...
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Stressed Out Interferons Reveal Potential Key to Alternative Lupus Treatment
Stressed Out Interferons Reveal Potential Key to Alternative Lupus Treatment Iwona Buskiewicz, Ph.D., left, and colleagues, including Andreas Koenig, Ph.D., far right, in their lab in the Given building at the Larner College of Medicine at UVM. (Photo: Andy Duback) Only one new drug has become available over the past 50 years for the estimated...
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Newfound Effect of Cancer Drug May Expand its Use
NEW YORK, Feb. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A drug first designed to prevent cancer cells from multiplying has a second effect: it switches immune cells that turn down the body’s attack on tumors back into the kind that amplify it. This is the finding of a study led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center and published recently in Cancer Immunology...
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New guidelines outline how to handle back pain
If you have an achy back, you’ve got company. As many as 80 percent of adults will have back pain. Berta Axelrad, 76, has lived with chronic low back pain for most of her life. “The pain is just so, well, it’s terrible!” she said. She swears by exercise, yoga and walking. “It minimizes the...