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New approach to fight tuberculosis

Searching in soil, scientists find a new way to combat tuberculosis

New method to deliver drugs to the central nervous system

A new way to prevent regeneration in central nervous system

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, in which the body's own immune cells attack the fatty, insulating myelin sheath surrounding nerve fibers. The regeneration of intact myelin sheaths is a necessary prerequisite for patients to recover from MS relapses. Nevertheless, the body's ability to regenerate myelin decreases with age. A team led by Prof. Mikael Simons from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now found a possible explanation. Fat derived from myelin, which is not carried away rapidly enough by phagocytes, can trigger chronic inflammation that, in turn, impedes regeneration. Furthermore, in a second publication, Simons' team describes the discovery of novel cell type, which appears only when a myelin sheath is being created. The myelin sheath plays a decisive role in the function of the central nervous system. It is a specialized membrane enriched in lipids, which insulates nerve fibers so that electrical signals can be passed on quickly and efficiently.

by Tetiana Nedashkivska

23 days ago

Laser-targeted removal of prostate tumors

Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, led by prostate cancer (lat. Prostate Carcinoma) treatment pioneer Dr. Eric Walser, have shown that selectively destroying cancerous prostate tissue is as effective as complete prostate removal or radiation therapy while preserving more sexual and urinary function than the other treatments. Prostate cancer the second most common form of cancer in men. In fact, 1 in 9 men will be diagnosed during his lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates 174,650 new cases and 31,620 deaths from prostate cancer in 2019.

by Yana Kurchenko

23 days ago

Predicting and preventing prostate cancer spread

Scientists have uncovered a new pathway which regulates the spread of prostate cancer around the body. The international research team, led by the University of Adelaide and including members from the University of Michigan, Vancouver Prostate Centre, the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins University, showed that a specific microRNA (a type of molecule involved in regulating the level and activity of genes) called miR-194 promotes cancer metastasis by inhibiting a key protein called SOCS2. SOCS2 can suppress the spread of cancer cells. Furthermore, this novel discovery has the potential to lead to the development of a blood test that could predict whether cancer will spread from the prostate tumour to other parts of the body. The research also reveals potential new targets for drugs that may inhibit the spread of cancer.

by Karina Vrashchuk

23 days ago

Prostate cancer biomarkers were identified in seminal fluid

Small liquid sensor may detect prostate cancer instantly

Researchers optimize gene editing for SCD and beta thalassemia

A Computer Model to Predict Prostate Cancer Progression

An international team of cancer researchers from Denmark, the University of Copenhagen (UCopenhagen), and Germany, the German Cancer Research Center, have used cancer patient data to develop a computer model that can predict the course of disease for prostate cancer (lat. Prostate Carcinoma). The model is currently being implemented at a prostate cancer clinic in Germany. The researchers have also found the enzyme that appears to trigger some of the first mutations in prostate cancer. The team studied the earliest mutational events in prostate cancer to develop a computer model. The researchers collected patient data from close to 300 men who have had their entire cancer genome sequenced to characterise all mutations present in the tumour. Based on the data set, the researchers have developed the computer model which can be used to predict how prostate cancer will develop for a given patient. The computer model is currently being implemented at a clinic in Germany.

by Tetiana Nedashkivska

24 days ago

A drug delivery technique to bypass blood-brain barrier

Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary have successfully prevented the development of Parkinson's disease (lat. Parkinson scriptor morbus) in a mouse using new techniques to deliver drugs across the naturally impenetrable blood-brain barrier. Their findings lend hope to patients around the world with neurological conditions that are difficult to treat due to a barrier mechanism that prevents approximately 98 percent of drugs from reaching the brain and central nervous system (lat. Neurological morbis). The team is currently looking at neurodegenerative disease, there is potential for the technology to be expanded to psychiatric diseases, chronic pain, seizure disorders and many other conditions affecting the brain and nervous system (lat. systematis nervosi centralis) down the road. Using nasal mucosal grafting, researchers delivered glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a therapeutic protein in testing for treating Parkinson's disease, to the brains of mice.

by Tetiana Nedashkivska

24 days ago

New test brings faster tuberculosis diagnosis to rural South Africa

The new test that works quickly and in places with few of the amenities - even seemingly basic ones like refrigeration - has been developed by the researchers at Stanford University. Tuberculosis (lat. Phthisis), a distant memory to most Americans, remains a serious public health threat in developing countries, in part because the most common test for the disease was developed a century ago and is not the most reliable. Now, a team of basic chemists working in collaboration with doctors and public health researchers in South Africa has developed a new test that makes it easier to diagnose and therefore treat the disease. Professor Carolyn Bertozzi and her lab have been studying tuberculosis for 20 years. Among their most important discoveries was that of a special sugar molecule, called trehalose, that only living tuberculosis bacteria consume and that other bacteria eschew.

by Tetiana Nedashkivska

24 days ago