Martin Burke: Replacing Lost Proteins to Treat Disease
As a medical student, Martin Burke, M.D., Ph.D., helped care for a young college student with cystic fibrosis (CF), an inherited disease that affects the body’s ability to make sweat and mucus. Dr. Burke had just studied CF in class, so he relayed what he had learned to her. He had a lot of information to give—doctors and researchers know the exact amino acid changes in an ion channel protein called cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) that cause CF.
Credit: UIUC News Bureau, Fred Zwicky.
“At one point in the conversation, she stopped me and said, ‘It sounds like you know exactly what’s...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 10, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Tools and Techniques Medicines Profiles Source Type: blogs
How Can the Immune System Go Awry?
This post is part of a miniseries on the immune system. Be sure to check out the other posts in this series that you may have missed.
The immune system is designed to closely monitor the body for signs of intruders that may cause infection. But what happens if it malfunctions? Overactive and underactive immune systems can both have negative effects on your health.
Autoimmune Disorders
To effectively monitor the body for pathogens, the adaptive immune system has to learn what a pathogen “looks like” on a molecular level. During their development, white blood cells go through training to learn how to differe...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - January 8, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Cells Injury and Illness Diseases Immunology Miniseries Infectious Diseases Microbes Sepsis Source Type: blogs
Science Snippet: Zooming In on Nanoparticles
Nanoparticles come in many different shapes and configurations. Credit: Adapted from Stevens, et. al., under Creative Commons License 4.0.
Nanoparticles may sound like gadgets from a science fiction movie, but they exist in real life. They’re particles of any material that are less than 100 nanometers (one-billionth of a meter) in all dimensions. Nanoparticles appear in nature, and humans have, mostly unknowingly, used them since ancient times. For example, hair dyeing in ancient Egypt involved lead sulfite nanoparticles, and artisans in the Middle Ages added gold and silver nanoparticles to stained-glass windows. Over...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - December 13, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Tools and Techniques Cool Tools/Techniques Cool Videos Medicines Science Snippet Source Type: blogs
What are nitazenes? Benzimidazole opioids
Benzimidazole opioids, also commonly known as nitazenes, were first synthesised by CIBA Pharmaceuticals in the 1950s as putative alternatives to morphine and heroin for use as strong painkillers. They have never made it into use in clinical medicine because the risk of addiction, respiratory depression, and death in use is too high.
Etonitazene has hundreds of times the potency of morphine
The compounds are classified as opioid New Psychoactive Substances (opioid NPS). Their mode of action is to bind to the brain’s mu-opioid receptors, but their unique structure means that some examples are several hundred times more...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - December 11, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Chemistry Health and Medicine Pharma Source Type: blogs
Quiz: Sepsis Science
Bacteria are the most common triggers of sepsis.Credit: Mark Ellisman and Thomas Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California San Diego.
At least 1.7 million adults in the United States develop a life-threatening condition called sepsis each year. Sepsis is an overwhelming or impaired whole-body immune response that’s most often caused by bacterial infections. However, it can also be caused by viral infections, such as COVID-19 or influenza; fungal infections; or other injuries, including physical trauma. Anyone can get sepsis, but there’s a higher risk ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - September 13, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Injury and Illness Quiz Research Roundup Sepsis Source Type: blogs
One of the tiniest moths I ’ ve ever seen
Yesterday, I was tidying up egg cartons and the moth trap when I noticed a Least Carpet roosting on a window frame, I stepped up with a pot to catch it so I could release it into the back garden but spotted another tiny moth next to it. At this point, I wasn’t even sure it was a moth. It looked orange with what seemed to be white stripes. I grabbed a quick phone macro shot, before potting it. It wasn’t a species I’d noticed or recorded before, but the ObsIdentify app ticked it as the Horse-chestnut Leafminer, Cameraria ohridella. This was confirmed by a quick look at the species page on UK Moths.
I set u...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 20, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs
Not the Last of Them
BY KIM BELLARD
I’m seeing two conflicting yet connected visions about the future. One is when journalist David Wallace-Wells says we might be in for “golden age for medicine,” with CRISPR and mRNA revolutionizing drug development. The second is the dystopian HBO hit “The Last of Us,” in which a fungal infection has turned much of the world’s population into zombie-like creatures.
The conflict is clear but the connection not so much. Mr. Wallace-Wells never mentions fungi in his article, but if we’re going to have a golden age of medicine, or if we want to avoid a global fungal outbreak, we better be p...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 27, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Medical Practice Fungal Infections Kim Bellard Medical School Source Type: blogs
Not The Last of Them
By KIM BELLARD
I’m seeing two conflicting yet connected visions about the future. One is when journalist David Wallace-Wells says we might be in for “golden age for medicine,” with CRISPR and mRNA revolutionizing drug development. The second is the dystopian HBO hit “The Last of Us,” in which a fungal infection has turned much of the world’s population into zombie-like creatures.
The conflict is clear but the connection not so much. Mr. Wallace-Wells never mentions fungi in his article, but if we’re going to have a golden age of medicine, or if we want to avoid a global fungal outbreak, we better be pay...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 27, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Fungi Golden Age of Medicine Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs
Nanorobots Release Reactive Oxygen Species to Kill Fungal Biofilms
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed nanorobots that can travel to the site of a fungal infection under the influence of an external magnetic field, bind to the fungal cells, and then release reactive oxygen species to completely destroy the fungus. The tiny particles are an example of catalytic nanoparticles, which the researchers have dubbed ‘nanozymes’. Made using iron oxide, they are maneuverable under the influence of magnet fields, allowing the researchers to localize them in a specific part of the body. In tests so far, the nanorobots have been shown to destroy fungal biofilms, which are ...
Source: Medgadget - June 19, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Medicine Nanomedicine nanozymes upenn Source Type: blogs
The Myth of Stage 1 Pressure Injuries
The current body of knowledge surrounding pressure injuries is replete with myths that have been accepted as fact. A myth is defined as a popular belief, sometimes imaginary, that has no basis in reality but serves to perpetuate an opinion or world view. Stage 1 pressure injuries are one of the common myths ingrained into our wound care lexicon. According to NPIAP criteria, Stage 1 manifests no impairment of skin integrity, with vague and nonspecific criteria that renders its inclusion in the staging system unwarranted and misleading.
The designation of “Stage 1 Pressure Injury” should be eliminated from the st...
Source: Jeffrey M. Levine MD | Geriatric Specialist | Wound Care | Pressure Ulcers - May 28, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Jeffrey M Levine Tags: Featured Medical Articles Geriatric Medicine Long-Term Care Pressure Injuries & Wound Care bedsore bedsores decubiti decubitus ulcer Healthcare Quality Jeff Levine MD Jeffrey M Levine MD pressure sore pressure sores pressure ulce Source Type: blogs
Black Turbinate Sign: Mucormycosis
India is witnessing an increased number of cases of mucormycosis and this MRI sign is useful for radiologists to diagnose this condition on MRI. Black turbinate sign means non-enhancement of nasal turbinates in a patient with acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis. Angioinvasive fungal infection (e.g. mucormycosis) involves the nasal mucosa and causes infarction of surrounding tissue. The infarcted tissue is non-enhancing on CEMR giving rise to this appearance.Famous Radiology Blog http://www.sumerdoc.blogspot.com
TeleRad Providers at www.teleradproviders.com Mail us at sales@teleradproviders.com (Source: Sumer's Radiology Site)
Source: Sumer's Radiology Site - May 21, 2021 Category: Radiology Authors: Sumer Sethi Source Type: blogs
Case of the Week 606
This week ' s case is from Sandeep T, the same individual who contributed the amazingCase 409 from many years past. The current case is less dramatic, but a beautiful example of a classic. The following were seen on skin scrapings from a young man with a 2-month history of severe itching in the back of his left ear. The physician suspected fungal infection and ordered a KOH wet mount of the skin scrapings. This is what was seen. Identification? (Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites)
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - September 15, 2020 Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, July 6th 2020
Fight Aging! publishes news and commentary relevant to the goal of ending all age-related disease, to be achieved by bringing the mechanisms of aging under the control of modern medicine. This weekly newsletter is sent to thousands of interested subscribers. To subscribe or unsubscribe from the newsletter,
please visit:
https://www.fightaging.org/newsletter/
Longevity Industry Consulting Services
Reason, the founder of Fight Aging! and Repair Biotechnologies, offers strategic consulting services to investors, entrepreneurs, and others interested in the longevity industry and its complexities. To find out m...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 5, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Far Too Little Consideration is Given to the Failure of the Immune System in the Old
There is no situation so terrible that it will not be silently accepted as set in stone, only given that it has lasted for long enough to become routine. So it is with aging, and all of the pain, suffering, and death that accompanies it. The present furor surrounding COVID-19 is unusual for casting at least a little light upon the point that infectious disease largely kills older people, and in very large numbers, year in and year out. In the normal course of affairs, no-one cares until it is their turn to be old, frail, and vulnerable.
The immune system decays with age, becoming simultaneously overactive (inflammag...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 3, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
