Medical Breakthroughs, Research, and News

[Kung Wu]

Magic

I guess ... from the article:

Our study has limitations. Although 95Mat5 demonstrated successful protection of mice against lethal venom challenges from diverse snake species, it should be emphasized that this antibody alone does not constitute the definitive product for universal antivenom development because all mice exploded 3 days after injection.

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Those damned exploding mice. Almost had it.

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New AI Smartphone App Accurately Diagnoses Ear Infections and Prevents Unnecessary Antibiotic Use

An AI-powered application developed by physician-scientists at the University of Pittsburgh in the US could decrease unnecessary antibiotic use in children by diagnosing ear infections via smartphone.

The only thing worse than your child getting an ear infection is wrongly believing they have one and administering a redundant course of antibiotics which obliterates their developing gut microbiome.

Around 70% of children develop an ear infection before the age of one, the most common of which is acute otitis media (AOM).

However, AOM is often confused with other issues such as fluid behind the ear, which can lead to infections being incorrectly diagnosed and incorrectly treated.

The study’s senior author Dr. Alejandro Hoberman, a professor of pediatrics, explained that an underdiagnosis of AOM results in inadequate care, while overdiagnosis results in unnecessary antibiotic treatment, which can compromise the effectiveness of currently available antibiotics.

To develop the new AI tool, Dr. Hoberman and his research team built and annotated a training library of 1,151 videos of the tympanic membrane, also known as the eardrum, from 635 children who visited outpatient pediatric offices at the University of Pittsburgh’s Medical Center between 2018 and 2023.

“The eardrum is a thin, flat piece of tissue that stretches across the ear canal,” explained Dr. Hoberman. “In AOM, the eardrum bulges like a bagel, leaving a central area of depression that resembles a bagel hole.”

“In contrast, in children with otitis media with effusion, no bulging of the tympanic membrane is present.”

Two trained experts with extensive experience in AOM research reviewed the videos and made a diagnosis of AOM or not AOM, which the research team then used to teach two different AI models

The completed AI tool works by looking at a video of a patient’s eardrum and assessing its shape, position, color, and translucency to make a diagnosis.

Results, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, revealed that diagnosis was 93% accurate, with low rates of both false negatives and false positives.

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New Cheap, Non-Invasive Test For Oral Cancer Tackles Difficult-to-Diagnose Disease - With Results in 30 Minutes

A new cheap, non-invasive test for oral cancer which could potentially save millions of lives has been developed.

Oral cancers and precancerous mouth lesions are considered especially difficult to diagnose early and accurately.

The biopsies are expensive, invasive and stressful for the patient, and can lead to complications. They’re also not feasible if repeated screenings of the same lesion are required.

But a team of researchers, led by a clinician scientist at Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, has discovered a simpler, low-cost test to detect the cancer and monitor precancerous lesions, while determining when a biopsy is warranted.

And the results can be determined within thirty minutes.

Their findings are based on a scoring system linked to the levels of two proteins in the cells which can be brushed from suspicious oral lesions at dental clinics or by ear, nose and throat doctors.

One of the proteins (human beta defensin 3 or hBD-3) is expressed at high levels in early-stage oral cancer, while the second (hBD-2) is low or unchanged.

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CAR-T Cell Therapy Achieves Near-Complete Tumor Regression in Brain Cancer After Five Days

Clinical trials for a novel treatment for patients with glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer, have shown rapid success, with some patients experiencing a dramatic decline in tumor size just days after their first treatment course.

Researchers from the Mass General Cancer Center, Massachusetts, have shared the results for the first three patients in a clinical trial of CAR-T cell therapy for glioblastoma.

CAR-T cell therapy, or CAR-T for short, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, and works by using a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer. It’s currently the most personalized way to treat the disease.

A patient’s cells are extracted, modified to produce proteins on their surface, and then injected back into the body to target the tumor directly. CAR-T therapies have been approved for the treatment of blood cancers but the therapy’s use for solid tumors is limited.

The trial, known as INCIPIENT, was designed to evaluate the safety of CARv3-TEAM-E T cells in patients with recurrent glioblastoma, which is the most common form of brain cancer in adults.

Combining two separate treatment strategies, CAR-T and bispecific antibodies, known as T-cell engaging antibody molecules or “TEAMs” the approach showed promise in preclinical models of glioblastoma.

Three patients were enrolled in the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, between March 2023 and July 2023.

Patients’ T cells were collected and transformed into the new version of CAR-TEAM cells, which were then infused back into each patient. The patients tolerated the infusions well, though nearly all had fevers and altered mental status soon after infusion.

Just days after a single treatment, patients experienced dramatic reductions in their tumors, with one patient achieving near-complete tumor regression in five days after one treatment.

“The CAR-T platform has revolutionized how we think about treating patients with cancer, but solid tumors like glioblastoma have remained challenging to treat because not all cancer cells are exactly alike and cells within the tumor vary,” said assistant professor Bryan Choi from Harvard Medical School said.

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Scientists Discover Potential HIV Cure that Eliminates Disease from Cells Using CRISPR-Cas Gene Editing

A new study has unveiled a likely future cure for HIV which uses molecular scissors to ‘cut out’ HIV DNA from infected cells.

To cut out this virus, the team used CRISPR-Cas gene editing technology—a groundbreaking method that allows for precise alterations to a patient’s genome, for which its inventors won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020.

One of the significant challenges in HIV treatment is the virus’s ability to integrate its genome into the host’s DNA, making it extremely difficult to eliminate—but the CRISPR-Cas tool provides a new means to isolate and target HIV DNA.

Because HIV can infect different types of cells and tissues in the body, each with its own unique environment and characteristics, the researchers are searching for a way to target HIV in all of these situations.

In this study, which is to be presented ahead of this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, the authors used CRISPR-Cas and two guide RNAs against “conserved” HIV sequences.

They focused on parts of the virus genome that stay the same across all known HIV strains and infected T cells. Their experiments showed outstanding antiviral performance, managing to completely inactivate HIV with a single guide RNA and cut out the viral DNA with two guide RNAs.

Talk about a potential game changer.

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Woman Given New 3D-Printed Windpipe in World First

A biotech company has established a stunning milestone for prosthetics as their firm became the first and only one in the world to produce a bio-3D-printed windpipe that was successfully transplanted into a human body.

Nasal stem cells and cartilage cells were obtained from other patients who underwent other procedures, and these were replicated and combined with polycaprolactone (PCL) for structural support as well as a special ink made from living cells to make the windpipe, or trachea.

The transplant procedure was performed at St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul on a woman in her 50s who lost part of her own trachea during thyroid removal surgery. The one-of-a-kind 3D printer, designed with over a decade of research and testing, was provided by the company T&R Biofab.

The hospital and T&R both hope that the artificial trachea will allow her to live a relatively normal life until its expiration date five years from now, at which point the hypothesis is that her body will have regenerated her own.

According to the BBC, the patient did not require any immunosuppressants, a medicine used to prevent the body from rejecting the new organ. Additionally, six months after the operation, the windpipe is not only healing well but new blood vessels are starting to form.

Pretty impressive.

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Miracle Surgery Reverses Blindness In Three-Year-Old

Today's good news story comes from London, England.

In a remarkable turn of events, Khadijah Chaudhry, a three-year-old girl diagnosed with Leber congenital amaurosis-4, has defied the odds and regained her sight thanks to a groundbreaking gene therapy procedure.

Born with a condition that threatened to rob her of her vision before she turned four, Khadijah's future seemed uncertain until she became one of the first children in the world to undergo a pioneering keyhole eye surgery at Evelina London Children's Hospital.

Leber congenital amaurosis-4, affecting approximately one in 40,000 newborns, severely limits vision, leaving individuals with only the ability to discern light from dark. For Khadijah, this diagnosis meant a life potentially shrouded in darkness before she even reached her fourth birthday. However, the innovative gene therapy offered a glimmer of hope.

During the procedure, Khadijah was injected with healthy copies of a crucial gene, a treatment designed to halt and even reverse the progression of her blindness. Led by renowned surgeon Neruban Kumaran, the medical team at Evelina London Children's Hospital embarked on this revolutionary journey to restore Khadijah's sight.

Although the technique is still in its experimental stages and not yet licensed for widespread use, the initial results have been nothing short of miraculous. Khadijah's parents have already observed improvements in her vision, signaling a promising outcome for the young girl's future.

Being able to improve the quality of life for a child is awesome. Hopefully this leads to more successes and more widespread use.

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Patients Could Avoid Thyroid Surgery With New Minimally Invasive Procedure

A new study this week shows that patients could avoid thyroid cancer surgery with a minimally invasive procedure that could be used for this disease, and would spare people from having to undergo an operation.

Researchers at China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing developed the new application using microwave ablation, and the research marks the first multi-centre analysis of patients who used the new procedure compared with those who got surgery for their multi-focal papillary thyroid cancer (PTC).

“These findings challenge traditional treatment paradigms and open new avenues for less invasive management strategies,” said Dr. Ming-An Yu, director of interventional medicine.

Thyroid surgery can impact the patient’s quality of life due to factors like scarring, lifelong hormone replacement, and potential complications, such as permanent hoarseness.

On the other hand, microwave ablation, which rarely produces any serious side effects, uses heat from microwave energy to destroy cancer cells.

The study, published in the journal Radiology, looked at 775 patients with Stage 1 PTC, who were being treated with either microwave ablation or surgery at ten different centers between 2015 and December 2021.

The patients—229 in the microwave ablation group and 453 in the surgical resection group, all with two or more lumps found in the gland—were followed-up for between one and four years.

Microwave ablation was associated with similar progression-free survival rates to surgery—but with fewer complications and a greater potential for preserving thyroid function.

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Game changer potential.

Bioengineered Corneas Stand to Cure Blindness For Millions of People Around the World

In an interview with the Brisbane Times, an Australian ophthalmologist and biotech entrepreneur lays out his vision for a world in which curing blindness in millions of people worldwide is easy and can be done with a bit of cell replication and a 3D printer.

Professor Gerard Sutton is co-founder of Bienco, which he claims now possesses a product—both physical and intellectual—that will soon be able to mass-produce natural corneas for transplantation into the blind.

Cornea transplantation is the most common way of restoring lost sight, but it’s a very technical procedure that relies on donors. The thin see-through “windscreen” of the eyeball, damage or disease to the cornea is a major cause of non-hereditary blindness worldwide.

In the interview, Sutton’s voice shrinks as he recalls a trip he took to Myanmar in 2004 when he was hoping to help the situation of blindness from the previous civil war by training surgeons to perform cornea transplants. On ice, he said, he had brought along four donated corneas from the NSW Eye Bank.

On his arrival at the clinic set to host him, 1,000 people were waiting, thanks to a small article in a local paper. Out of a thousand blind men and women, he had to select four who would be the most suitable for transplant: he picked young people.

This was a transformational experience, and when paired with a follow-up trip to Cambodia where a similar situation occurred, Professor Sutton realized he needed to do something more: something “out of left field” that would allow him to send as many corneas to these parts of the world as was needed.

“At present, there is only one donor cornea available globally to treat every 70 people requiring a corneal transplant,” said Professor Damien Harkin who is a part of Bienco’s staff based at the Queensland University of Technology. “Through laboratory cultivation we estimate that a single donor cornea could provide treatment for 30 people.”

We should know more within the next five years.

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This won't shock anyone, but...

Exercise Cuts Heart Disease Risk by 23% With Benefits Doubling for Those With Depression

Regular exercise can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by as much as a quarter, in part by lowering stress, according to a new study.

The research revealed that exercising helped to reduce stress-related brain activity, which is associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases.

The study of more than 50,000 people found that those who met workout recommendations of 150 minutes a week had a 23 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those not meeting these recommendations.

And those with stress-related conditions such as depression exhibited the most benefits from exercising.

Experts say the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, demonstrates how physical activity can lead to beneficial effects in the brain.

To assess the mechanisms underlying the psychological and cardiovascular disease benefits of physical activity, the researchers analyzed the medical records and other information of 50,359 participants from the Mass General Brigham Biobank who completed a physical activity survey.

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This is a cool possibility. If this comes to market, professional athletes/team will be all over it.

New Way to Heal Broken Bones Faster May Also Make Them 3x Stronger

A new high-tech way of healing broken bones could take less time, and also make them over three times stronger.

The new treatment method uses plasma irradiation to promote faster bone healing in complex fractures, say Japanese scientists.

They have already successfully tested the technique on lab rats.

The team found that bones not only healed quicker but the strength of the healed areas after irradiation was also around 3.5 times stronger than that of non-irradiated ones.

Currently, fractures that are displaced or complex require surgery and possibly lengthy recovery times while the patient remains immobilized.

The research team led by scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan aimed to shorten recovery times and speed up bone healing by using non-thermal atmospheric-pressure plasma, which is attracting widespread interest for use in medical applications due to its tissue repair capacity.

One group of 24 animals had normal fractures which are generally easy to heal while the other group of 20 had fractures known as “non-union”, where healing is usually prolonged or does not complete.

The irradiation didn’t offer the normal fracture group any significant advantages, but boosted the healing and recovery time of the bones with non-union fractures.

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Another potential breakthrough for cancer treatment.

Cancer Breakthrough Found to Boost Immune Cells Without Harmful Side-Effects By Directing Protein Cytokines

A new way to safely boost immune cells to fight cancer—avoiding harmful side-effects such as hair loss—has been developed.

Scientists at Virginia Tech devised the ground-breaking immunotherapy to localize cancer-killing cytokines in tumors, improving the effectiveness of current treatments.

Immunotherapy involves harnessing the power of the body’s immune system to fight potentially deadly cancer cells. The researchers at the school’s College of Engineering have found a way to revamp a treatment procedure into an innovative practice.

Their approach involves activating the immune cells in the body and “reprogramming” them to attack and destroy the cancer cells.

The method is frequently implemented with the protein cytokine. Cytokines are small protein molecules that act as “intercellular biochemical messengers” and are released by the body’s immune cells to coordinate their response.

“Cytokines are potent and highly effective at stimulating the immune cells to eliminate cancer cells,” explained chemical engineering Professor Rong Tong (pictured above, left).

“The problem is they’re so potent that if they roam freely throughout the body, they’ll activate every immune cell they encounter, which can cause an overactive immune response and potentially fatal side effects.”

Unlike previous methods, the new technique ensures that the immune cell-stimulating cytokines effectively localize within the tumors for weeks while preserving the cytokine’s structure and reactivity levels.

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Vitamin D Improves Immunity to Cancer And Reduces Tumor Growth in Mice, Study Finds

Researchers have found that vitamin D improves immunity to cancer by encouraging the growth of a type of gut bacteria in lab mice.

Given a diet rich in vitamin D, they had better immune resistance to cancers and improved responses to immunotherapy treatment.

The team found that vitamin D acts on cells in the intestine, which in turn increases the amount of a ‘good’ bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis. This microbe gave mice better immunity to cancer as the transplanted tumors didn’t grow as much.

The team from the Francis Crick Institute, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health and Aalborg University in Denmark reported their findings in the journal Science.

To test if the bacteria alone could give better cancer immunity, mice were split into two groups. One received a normal diet but with Bacteroides fragilis, which improved immune response. The mice placed on a vitamin D-deficient diet were not able to resist tumor growth.

“What we’ve shown here came as a surprise,” said Caetano Reis e Sousa, head of the Immunobiology Laboratory at the Crick, and senior author. “Vitamin D can regulate the gut microbiome to favor a type of bacteria which gives mice better immunity to cancer.”

Previous studies have proposed a link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer risk in humans, although the evidence hasn’t been conclusive—but Bacteroides fragilis is found in our human microbiomes, too.

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GREAT NEWS FOR US!

Watching Sports Boosts Well-being and Improves Your Health, According to 'Ground-breaking' Research

Beyond simply providing entertainment and relaxation, watching sports fosters community and belonging, which benefits both individuals and their society.

Despite its recognized positive effects, limited evidence exists on the link between watching sports and well-being. To address this gap, the team of Japanese researchers used a multi-method approach and found that sports viewing activates brain reward circuits, leading to improved well-being.

This is especially true when watching popular sports like baseball or football, which can notably boost both physical and mental well-being.

Their research offers insights for public health policies and individual well-being enhancement.

Led by Associate Professor Shintaro Sato from the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Waseda University, the team found that watching sport—particularly in large crowds—goes “beyond entertainment” by fostering a sense of community and personal belonging.

“This sense of connection not only makes individuals feel good but also benefits society by improving health, enhancing productivity, and reducing crime,” said Professor Sato.

He explained that a significant challenge in well-being research is the subjective nature of measurement procedures, potentially leading to biased findings. These studies focused on both subjective and objective measures of well-being, combining secondary data analysis, self-reports, and neuro-imaging measures to understand the connection.