Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical

MRNA vaccines have to potential to end the COVID19 pandemic. How do they work? Are they safe? And how could they’ve been developed so quickly?

The main idea of mRNA vaccines is to trick our bodies to produce part of a virus. This kickstarts our immune response, without getting us sick. All that’s needed is a part of the virus’s DNA or RNA, packaged into mRNA. Cool!

(mRNA is the technology behind the vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna & CureVac)

💡 Follow-up video.

I answer 10 of your mostly asked questions (and address some misconceptions).

📚 Sources used to make this video:
https://savjee.be/videos/simply-explained/mrna-vaccines/
☝️ This page also contains answers for frequently asked questions.

📢 Help translate this video into other languages:
https://amara.org/en/videos/5xxdHBPpQHsH/info/how-mrna-vaccines-work-simply-explained/

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Summary: Researchers believe they have found a cause of memory loss in epilepsy patients by recording single neurons in the brain.

Source: Cedars Sinai.

The discovery could offer a way to measure the effectiveness of memory-restoring therapies including medications and deep-brain stimulation. It also could be a step toward recovering lost memory among patients with a variety of brain conditions.

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A great beginning, but more research is needed.

While there are treatments for temporarily alleviating the symptoms of dementia, there is currently no cure available. The search is therefore on to identify lifestyle factors, such as diet, that can reduce individuals’ risk of developing the condition.

Previous research into possible links between eating foods rich in flavonoids and reduced risk of cognitive decline later in life has been inconclusive, however.

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Circa 2020

On 8 May 2020, the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) reported the case of the first cat infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Spain. It was a 4-year-old cat called Negrito, who lived with a family affected by COVID-19, with one case of death.

Coinciding with these facts, the animal presented severe respiratory difficulties and was taken to a veterinary hospital in Badalona (Barcelona), where it was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Due to a terminal condition the hospital decided to do a humanitarian euthanasia.

The necropsy, performed at the High Biosafety Level Laboratories of the Animal Health Research Center (CReSA) at IRTA, confirmed that Negrito suffered from feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and had no other lesions or symptoms compatible with a coronavirus infection.

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At the University of Chicago, scientists have developed an absolutely innovative, promising treatment for COVID-19 in the form of nanoparticles with the ability to trap SARS-CoV-2 viruses inside the body and use the body’s own immune system to kill them.

The “nanotraps” lure the virus by imitating the target cells infected by the virus. When the virus gets trapped by the nanotraps, it is then sequestered from other cells and targeted for destruction by the immune system.

Theoretically, these nanotraps could be used on different variants of the virus, resulting in a promising new way to suppress the virus in the future. The therapy is still in the early stages of testing, but the researchers believe that it could be administered through a nasal spray as a treatment for COVID-19.

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The known total of global coronavirus infections surpassed 200 million on Wednesday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, a daunting figure that also fails to capture howdeeply the virus has embedded itself within humanity.

The official tally stands at more than 614000 deaths in the United States. More than 550000 in Brazil. More than 425000 in India. Mexico has recorded more than 240000 fatalities, and Peru nearly 200000. Britain, Colombia, France, Italy, and Russia have all recorded well north of 100000 deaths. The global toll as of Wednesday was 4.2 million, itself a rough estimate given the discrepancies in the way nations record Covid-19 deaths.

As the coronavirus continues to find new hosts across the planet, the emergence of the Delta variant — thought to be twice as infectious as the initial form of the virus — is adding fuel to a fire that has never stopped raging. Fully vaccinated people are protected against the worst outcomes of Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant.

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Summary: An experimental small molecule helped restore the removal of mitochondria from dopamine-producing neurons in the brain. The findings may help in the development of new therapies for Parkinson’s disease.

Source: Life.

Treating mice that have a Parkinson’s disease-causing mutation with a small molecule compound restores the removal of damaged mitochondria from their brain cells, shows a study published today in eLife.

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Summary: A new hydrogel that acts as a gateway to transfer stem cells into the brain and facilitate repair to damaged tissue may effectively treat neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease and stroke.

Source: Australian National University

Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU), in collaboration with The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, have developed a new type of hydrogel that could radically transform how we treat Parkinson’s disease.

The gel also offers hope for patients who have suffered from other neurological conditions such as strokes.

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Summary: Blood tests revealed specific epigenetic biomarkers for schizophrenia. Researchers applied machine learning to analyze the CoRSIVs region of the human genome to identify the schizophrenia biomarkers. Testing the model with an independent data set revealed the AI technology can detect schizophrenia with 80% accuracy.

Source: Baylor College of Medicine.

An innovative strategy that analyzes a region of the genome offers the possibility of early diagnosis of schizophrenia, reports a team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine. The strategy applied a machine learning algorithm called SPLS-DA to analyze specific regions of the human genome called CoRSIVs, hoping to reveal epigenetic markers for the condition.

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