Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical

For the first time ever, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine discovered that phages — tiny viruses that attack bacteria — are key to initiating rapid bacterial evolution leading to the emergence of treatment-resistant “superbugs.” The findings were published today in Science Advances.

The researchers showed that, contrary to a dominant theory in the field of evolutionary microbiology, the process of adaptation and diversification in bacterial colonies doesn’t start from a homogenous clonal population. They were shocked to discover that the cause of much of the early adaptation wasn’t random point mutations. Instead, they found that phages, which we normally think of as bacterial parasites, are what gave the winning strains the evolutionary advantage early on.

“Essentially, a parasite became a weapon,” said senior author Vaughn Cooper, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Pitt. “Phages endowed the victors with the means of winning. What killed off more sensitive bugs gave the advantage to others.”

Read more | >

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. In fact, when it comes to the rise of new variants, the worst may still be yet to come.

That’s according to World Health Organization (WHO), who spelled out a strong warning this week to countries hoping to loosen their social distancing measures amidst rising COVID-19 cases and deaths.

“The Committee has expressed concern that the pandemic is being mischaracterized as coming to an end when it is nowhere near finished,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said at a media briefing on July 15.

Read more | >

Scientists on the hunt for an unconventional kind of superconductor have produced the most compelling evidence to date that they’ve found one. In a pair of papers, researchers at the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Quantum Materials Center (QMC) and colleagues have shown that uranium ditelluride (or UTe2 for short) displays many of the hallmarks of a topological superconductor—a material that may unlock new ways to build quantum computers and other futuristic devices.

“Nature can be wicked,” says Johnpierre Paglione, a professor of physics at UMD, the director of QMC and senior author on one of the papers. “There could be other reasons we’re seeing all this wacky stuff, but honestly, in my career, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

All superconductors carry electrical currents without any resistance. It’s kind of their thing. The wiring behind your walls can’t rival this feat, which is one of many reasons that large coils of superconducting wires and not normal copper wires have been used in MRI machines and other scientific equipment for decades.

Read more | >

Universe Today.

Space may be pretty, but it’s dangerous. Astronauts face a much higher dose of ionizing radiation than us Earth-bound folks, and a new report says that NASA’s current guidelines and risk assessment methods are in serious need of an update.

On the surface of the Earth, protected by our extensive magnetic field and layers of thick atmosphere, we experience about 2–3 milliSieverts (mSv) of radiation exposure every year. Even that background level is enough to trigger the occasional cancer growth.

But astronauts, especially those hoping to go on upcoming long-term missions to the Moon and Mars, face a much greater risk due to the high-energy, ionizing radiation constantly soaking every cubic centimeter of space. To mitigate that risk, NASA currently implements a system based on “risk of exposure-induced death” (REID). The space agency estimates the exposure for each astronaut based on their sex, and if the REID exceeds 3%, their spacefaring careers are over.

Read more | >

Interested in living longer? You are probably going to get TPE at some point. The Conboys are looking for funding for human trials to produce a product in 3–4 years. Here we have infor on what it is and how it works plus actual human results to date (starting at 10 minutes).

In Part III, Dr Kiprov, discusses the history of moving from the Conboy’s experiments in the lab to the process used in the clinic and reasons for the choices made. He also covers the benefits that he has seen with plasma exchange in the clinic.

Part I Video Link https://youtu.be/jpJlgSzRdyo.
Part II Video Link https://youtu.be/P0j96lU9_-g.

Dr Dobri Kiprov is internationally recognized as a pioneer and a leading expert in the field of Therapeutic Apheresis. He is Chief of the Division of Immunotherapy at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, California and Medical Director of Apheresis Care Group (ACG).

Dr Kiprov has been working with the Drs Conboy for many years on plasma exchange and recently they published a joint paper based on their experience in the clinic and the laboratory.

Dobri Kiprov, M.D., H.P. (ASCP) — Home page.
https://dobrikiprov.com/

Some examples papers from Dr Kiprov.
Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) and blood products — Implications for longevity and disease.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34074614/
Attenuation of age-elevated blood factors by repositioning plasmapheresis: A novel perspective and approach.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34083162/
A randomized, controlled clinical trial of plasma exchange with albumin replacement for Alzheimer’s disease: Primary results of the AMBAR Study.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32715623/

************************************************************
Health claims Disclosure: Information provided on this video is not a substitute for direct, individual medical treatment or advice. Please consult with your doctor first. Products or services mentioned in this video are not a recommendation.

Read more | >

Fluorescent sensors glow brightly under UV light if infection starts to set in. Researchers have developed smart wound dressings with built-in nanosensors that glow to alert patients when a wound is not healing properly.

The multifunctional, antimicrobial dressings feature fluorescent sensors that glow brightly under UV light if infection starts to set in and can be used to monitor healing progress.

The smart dressings, developed by a team of scientists and engineers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, harness the powerful antibacterial and antifungal properties of magnesium hydroxide.

Read more | >

A potentially life-saving treatment for heart attack victims has been discovered from a very unlikely source — the venom of one of the world’s deadliest spiders.

A drug candidate developed from a molecule found in the venom of the Fraser Island (K’gari) funnel web spider can prevent damage caused by a heart attack and extend the life of donor hearts used for organ transplants. The discovery was made by a team led by Dr Nathan Palpant and Professor Glenn King from The University of Queensland (UQ) and Professor Peter Macdonald from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.

Dr Palpant, from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), said the drug candidate worked by stopping a ‘death signal’ sent from the heart in the wake of an attack.

Read more | >

Scientists have waited months for access to highly accurate protein structure prediction since DeepMind presented remarkable progress in this area at the 2020 Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction, or CASP14, conference. The wait is now over.

Researchers at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle have largely recreated the performance achieved by DeepMind on this important task. These results will be published online by the journal Science on Thursday, July 15.

Unlike DeepMind, the UW Medicine team’s method, which they dubbed RoseTTAFold, is freely available. Scientists from around the world are now using it to build models to accelerate their own research. Since July, the program has been downloaded from GitHub by over 140 independent research teams.

Read more | >