Medical Breakthroughs, Research, and News

[SubGod22]

Knee problems are a common aspect of life for many. Help may be on the way sooner rather than later. I've known people who have had replacement surgeries and while things improve, they're still not great and relatively short lived.

'Off the Charts' Hydrogel Outperforms Cartilage and May Be in Human Knees Next Year

Knee pain comes from the progressive wear and tear of cartilage between the knee joint known as osteoarthritis, which affects nearly one in six adults—867 million people—worldwide.

For those who want to avoid replacing the entire knee joint, there may soon be another option that could help patients get back on their feet fast, pain-free, and stay that way.

GNN reported in 2020 on Duke University’s development of a water-based gel designed to replace worn out cartilage in knee joints based around the principles of biodesign found in our God-given cartilage.

To make this material, the Duke team took thin sheets of cellulose fibers and infused them with a polymer called polyvinyl alcohol—a viscous goo consisting of stringy chains of repeating molecules—to form a gel.

Although 60% water, a single quarter-sized disc of the special gel can bear the weight of a 100-pound kettlebell without tearing or losing its shape.

When the gel is stretched, the cellulose fibers resist pulling and help hold the material together. And when it is squeezed, the negative charges along the rigid polymer chains repel each other and stick to water, helping it spring back to its original shape.

In one experiment, the team subjected it to 100,000 cycles of repeat pulling, and the material held up just as well as porous titanium used for bone implants,

They also rubbed the new material against natural cartilage a million times. They found that its smooth, slippery self-lubricating surface is as wear-resistant as the real thing and four times more wear-resistant than synthetic cartilage implants currently FDA-approved for use in the big toe.

[SubGod22]

Another medical device that should be ready for use soon that can improve the lives of many people.

Bionic Leg Wrap Uses AI to Correct Walking Patterns For Cerebral Palsy, MS, and Stroke Patients

A Velcro sleeve fastened around the leg has been designed with electrodes that help stimulate the muscles of those who experience difficulty getting around due to nervous system conditions.

It uses artificial intelligence to detect walking gait, and sends that information to the electrodes to ensure each leg is moving as much in sync as possible.

Furthermore, this device will be ready for delivery to those who have experienced a stroke, or have multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy, in 2023. All testing and approval has already been concluded.

Called the Neural Sleeve, it was developed by a company that makes bionic wearables called Cionic.

“Think of it as a way to sort of remote control your own leg,” said Yves Béhar, the brains behind a design studio Fuseproject, which worked with Cionic to make the technology usable and scalable.

“What the algorithms do and what the electrodes do is they deliver that right sequence. And when the brain has relearned and re-acquired the knowledge of how to fire those muscles, the sleeve is not needed anymore,” Béhar told Dezeen.

The lightweight fabric is fastened around the leg with Velcro, and comes in different colors and patterns so wearers don’t need to look at it like a medical device, but more like a knee-brace or similar non-tech wearable.

An app on the phone can also quickly change the mode in which the electrodes are firing to suit different actions, such as sitting down or cycling.

[SubGod22]

Another potential discovery that may lead to a lot of help for a common cancer that impacts a lot of lives.

Starving Melanoma of One Key Enzyme Could Lead to Several Different Non-Chemo Treatment Options

Scientists say new treatments for the most severe form of skin cancer could be developed now that they’ve made a major breakthrough, discovering a way to inhibit a key growth enzyme in melanoma.

When Glutaryl-CoA Dehydrogenase, (GCDH) was inhibited in tumors they weren’t able to survive long term. Potentially this is because it’s a key source of “food,” but also because it trigged a protein called NRF2 to acquire an ability to suppress cancer.

GCDH deprivation is now being theorized as a potential treatment, both through targeting pharmaceuticals in the case of a GCDH-inhibitor, or as a dietary intervention.

“In the study, we used genetic approaches to inhibit GCDH, which provide the proof of concept to search for small molecules inhibitors,” says Sachin Verma, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Ze’ev Ronai lab at Stanford, and first author of the study.

“Indeed, we are actively searching for potential drugs that could inhibit GCDH, which would be candidates for novel melanoma therapies.”

Starvation as a treatment and/or cure for a variety of different cancers has been explored in oncology, as tumors grow fast but require tons of energy. Tumorous cells eat a lot of sugar, but also dine on growth factors produced through protein consumption.

This could be something like IGF-1, or GCDH which the researchers have discovered is especially needed in melanoma, such that it alone among 6 key enzymes utilized by the tumors caused it to stop spreading.

[SubGod22]

Manuka Honey Could Help to Clear Deadly Drug-Resistant Bacteria Which Cause Cystic Fibrosis

Manuka honey, made in Australia and New Zealand from bees browsing on the Leptospermum scoparium tree, is long known to have wide ranging medicinal properties, but more recently has been identified for its broad spectrum antimicrobial activity.

Now scientists have found that manuka honey has the potential to kill a number of drug resistant bacterial infections such as Mycobacterium abscessus—which usually affects patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) or bronchiectasis.

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust UK, CF is a genetic condition affecting around 10,800 people—one in every 2,500 babies born in the UK, and there are more than 100,000 people with it worldwide.

The incurable condition manifests in the inability to produce mucus and other secretions of the correct density. They’re too thick, and this results in frequent lung infections.

In the study, the researchers used samples of the bacteria Mycobacterium abscessus taken from 16 infected CF patients. They then tested the antibiotic amikacin, combined with manuka honey, to discover what dosage was required to kill the bacteria.

As part of the study the team used a lab-based lung model and nebulizer, a device that produces a fine spray of liquid often used for inhaling a medicinal drug. By nebulizing manuka honey and amikacin together, they found they could improve bacterial clearance, even when using lower doses of amikacin.

Mycobacterium abscessus infects 13% of all UK patients CF, and this new approach is advantageous not only because it has the potential to kill off a highly drug-resistant infection, but because it requires less amikacin to get the job done, resulting in much-less severe side effects.

Potentially helps make some drugs more potent while also reducing side-effects and helping fight against drug resistant strains. Sounds promising enough.

[SubGod22]

This one definitely goes beyond my comprehension, but they make it sound so damn exciting for the future.

Pipes a Million Times Thinner Than Human Hair Could Deliver Personalized Therapies to Individual Cells

US scientists from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland engineered a way that ensured the pipes are safe from infinitesimally small leaks.

“This study suggests very strongly it’s feasible to build nanotubes that don’t leak using these easy techniques for self-assembly, where we mix molecules in a solution and just let them form the structure we want,” said co-author Professor Rebecca Schulman.

“In our case, we can also attach these tubes to different endpoints to form something like plumbing.”

It’s a significant step toward creating the first network of its kind to combat a host of life-threatening diseases.

The team worked with tubes two million times smaller than an ant and a few microns long—equivalent to a dust particle.

They grew and repaired the tubes, enabling them to find and connect to specific cells. It is similar to an established technique that repurposes DNA as building blocks.

They make ‘nanopores’ to control the transport of chemicals across lab-grown lipids that mimic a cell’s membrane.

But short fittings alone can’t reach other tubes. The bio-inspired technology described in Science Advances address these sorts of problems.

“Building a long tube from a pore could allow molecules not only to cross the pore of a membrane that held the molecules inside a chamber or cell, but also to direct where those molecules go after leaving the cell,” said Schulman.

“We were able to build tubes extending from pores much longer than those that had been built before that could bring the transport of molecules along nanotube ‘highways’ close to reality.”

[SubGod22]

Here's an interesting conclusion of something I've never thought about.

Review of More Than 100 Studies Shows Cold Water and Air Increase "Good" Body Fats

In a recent review of more than 100 studies, scientists determined that one of the most significant changes that occurs in the body during exposure to cold air, but especially cold water, is that white fat adipose tissue is converted into brown fat adipose tissue, (BFAT).

BFAT is kind a like a “working fat,” rather than a storage fat, because it burns calories to maintain body temperature to repel the cold, unlike “bad” white fat which stores the energy up.

Experts say the increasing popularity of cold exposure to air or water, sometimes called “cryotherapy” will have an impact on fats could prevent obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Dunking yourself in cold water during the winter months has also been found to reduce the risk of diabetes by significantly increasing insulin sensitivity and decreased insulin concentration.

Adiponectin is produced by BFAT, and it plays a vital role in protecting against insulin resistance, diabetes, and other diseases. Cold water dips’ impact on insulin worked for experienced and inexperienced swimmers alike.

Another huge benefit of cold water immersion that doesn’t relate to obesity is that being up to your neck in water around 40°F, your brain’s production of norepinephrine increase 300% in just a few minutes, while a dunk long enough to convert your WFAT cells to BFAT cells, at more manageable temperatures of 57°F, will increase norepinephrine by 500%.

Norepinephrine is similar to adrenaline, and leads to a feeling of positive elation. It’s also a neurotransmitter, basically meaning it facilities the speed of brain activity.

So go enjoy a cold bath

[ShockBand]

Here's an interesting conclusion of something I've never thought about.

Review of More Than 100 Studies Shows Cold Water and Air Increase "Good" Body Fats



So go enjoy a cold bath

BFAT? I feel seen.

[Ted Lasso's Neighbor]

Here's an interesting conclusion of something I've never thought about.

Review of More Than 100 Studies Shows Cold Water and Air Increase "Good" Body Fats



So go enjoy a cold bath

When I first read the headline I thought it said Farts instead of Fats :)

[Shockm]

This probably doesn’t belong here, but I noticed that a new synthetic opioid drug has made it to America, called Nitazene that is 10-20X more lethal than Fentanyl. It probably deserves its own thread.

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/new-opioids-called-nitazenes-may-be-20-times-stronger-than-fentanyl

[shock]

When I first read the headline I thought it said Farts instead of Fats :)

Dam. Guess I need to get out of the water now.

[SubGod22]

New Scoliosis Brace that Grows With Patients Wins Dyson Award For Grad Student Who Wants to Make a Difference

A University of Cincinnati grad student has invented an adjustable brace for young patients who need to reposition their curved spines—winning a prestigious award for her design genius.

Impacting 7 million Americans every year, scoliosis is a curvature in the spine that often occurs before puberty. Despite the large number affected, advancements in braces that treat this medical condition have not been changed since the late 1950s.

Common braces are bulky, inflexible and—most importantly to teenagers—very noticeable, which can deter many youth from wearing the device as often as they should.

That’s why Sangyu Xi won the American James Dyson Award for creating a novel prototype called Airy, a breathable, comfortable, and adjustable brace that can accommodate a patient’s growth for up to three years.

Airy is even recyclable and includes an app to track wear time and healing.

This sounds like a positive development for all of those that suffer with this. Pretty cool that your doc can get data from it to help with your progress and it's more comfortable and less bulky. Still in the early stages but so far so good. The ability to donate or recycle it once the patient moves on from it is also a nice feature that would help keep both waste and cost down.

[SubGod22]

Boy With Crippling 'Suicide Disease' Takes First Steps in a Year After Traveling to US for Pioneering Treatment

A young boy with a crippling condition that is so painful it’s dubbed the ‘suicide disease’ has taken his first steps in almost a year after traveling across the pond for pioneering treatment in the USA.

Dillon Wilford was in so much pain from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) that he even begged his mother Melanie to let him have his leg amputated.

But after their family spent almost $20,000 to travel from the UK for specialized treatment, the 11-year-old became pain free for the first time in months.

Doctors in Houston, Texas, treated Dillon with a VECTTOR machine, which delivers a form of electro-stimulation to nerves to reduce pain.

Ecstatic with the news, Melanie said it has reduced his pain level to a zero the majority of the time, compared to an eight or nine, which he would routinely rate it.

“Honestly it’s just unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable, and all of that was in the space of a couple of days.

“The first night in the States, he said it was the comfiest night’s sleep he has ever had. He laid on his side, which he couldn’t do (before); he had long pajamas on, which he couldn’t do; and he had the covers over him, which he couldn’t do—so, it’s just amazing.”

Dillon first started showing symptoms almost a year ago in November 2021, when he woke up with a limp and by the evening he was left debilitated by pain.

This is a fantastic story and a disease I wasn't familiar with. I can't imagine the pain one must go through to beg to have their leg amputated. Then to find a treatment that is relatively simple and drug free that can get you back to a normal, pain free life is remarkable.

[SubGod22]

Doctors Hail New Era for Cancer Screening as Single Blood Test Spots Multiple Cancers in Early Stages

A new cancer blood test is being described by British physicians as a “game changer” and “a new era” as a trial has turned up dozens of early-stage, undiagnosed cases.

It’s called the Galleri test, and it looks for multiple different kinds of cancer DNA in the blood, which can not only identify cases in much earlier stages, but even where to look in the body to find it.

In the recently-completed Pathfinder Trial, 6,621 adults over 50 took the Galleri blood test, which came back positive in 92 patients, 35 of which already had solid tumors, and none of whom had any early symptoms.

The tumors, found in the liver, colon, breast and blood, were mostly either too small to have been detected normally, or in the case of some others, not of the kind that are routinely tested for, including ovarian and pancreatic, which tend to be diagnosed late and have high mortality.

“Blood tests for multiple types of cancer used to belong in the realm of science fiction, but now they are an area of cancer research that is showing promise for patients,” said Naser Turabi, the director of evidence and implementation at Cancer Research UK.

Anything that can help lead to the survival of more people is a good thing. Cancer is a *****, and this blood test apparently found cancers that had been too small to be noticed with many traditional tests or aren't routinely tested for.

[SubGod22]

Anything that can help a child overcome an illness and live a normal life is approved by me.

'Miracle' Drug Has Young Girl Running Dancing and Swimming Again Despite Cystic Fibrosis

7-year-old Harriet Corr has cystic fibrosis (CR) and has had to endure coughing fits and a weakened immune system all her life.

CR is a condition that disrupts the body’s ability to produce certain fluids, and for a variety of reasons this results in almost perpetual bacterial infections in the lungs, but also metabolic issues such as diabetes.

With her health declining, Harriet’s mom Emma Corr campaigned for seven years for her daughter to be granted access to the drug Orkambi which is available in the US.

Corr teamed up with a group of parents whose children have CR to lobby the government to get the drug available on the NHS. Orkambi was made available in October 2019 and then another drug, Kaftrio, was also green-lighted in February 2022.

Orkambi didn’t improve Harriet’s condition, but as soon as she started taking Kaftrio in February 2022, there was an “overnight” transformation in her health.

The schoolgirl is now able to run around and keep up with other children her age, has gained weight and no longer is kept up all night coughing.

Her lung capacity is now 120% after plummeting to a frightening 67% at her worst.

[SubGod22]

How amazing would this be? Sounds like they may be on the right track to curing at least some spinal cord injuries.

Revolutionary Jab that Could Repair Spinal Cord Injuries Developed by Scientists

“This work shows a drug called TTK21 that is administered systemically once a week after a chronic spinal cord injury in animals can promote neuronal regrowth and an increase in synapses that are needed for neuronal transmission,” said lead author Dr. Simone Di Giovanni, of Imperial College London.

“This is important because chronic spinal cord injury is a condition without a cure where neuronal regrowth and repair fail.”

Damage to the spinal cord interrupts the constant stream of electrical signals from the brain to the body. It can lead to paralysis below an injury.

The study published in the journal PLOS Biology showed TTK21 aided the regrowth of sensory and motor neurons when given to mice 12 weeks after severe injury.

It belongs to a group of therapies known as epigenetic activators which target damaged DNA.

In experiments, lab rodents with severe spinal cord injury lived in an enriched environment with opportunities to be physically active—as is encouraged in human patients.

Treatment lasted for 10 weeks. Several improvements were identified, the most noticeable being the sprouting of more axons in the spinal cord. Retraction of motor axons above the point of injury was also halted, and sensory axon growth increased.