Medical Horizens

[Zeedox]

Scientists in Japan Develop Experimental Alzheimer's Vaccine That Shows Promise in Mice

The vaccine not only reduced brain inflammation in mice with Alzheimer-like illness, but improved their behavior for the better, the authors say.

gizmodo.com

“Earlier studies using different vaccines to treat Alzheimer’s disease in mouse models have been successful in reducing amyloid plaque deposits and inflammatory factors, however, what makes our study different is that our SAGP vaccine also altered the behavior of these mice for the better,” said lead author Chieh-Lun Hsiao, a post-doctoral fellow in the department of cardiovascular biology and medicine at Juntendo University, in a statement released by the American Heart Association.

Of course, mice studies are only the beginning of showing that an experimental drug or vaccine can possibly work as intended. It will take further studies to validate these results and to test the vaccine’s safety in humans before large-scale trials even enter the picture.

 

[Zeedox]

'Cancer-killing pill' that appears to 'annihilate' solid tumours is now being tested on humans

"Our cancer-killing pill is like a snowstorm that closes a key airline hub, shutting down all flights in and out only in planes carrying cancer cells," says the professor who has been developing the new drug over the past 20 years.

news.sky.com

While initial results are promising, the research so far has only concluded that AOH1996 can suppress tumour growth in cell and animal models - with the first phase of a clinical trial in humans now under way.

The pill has been shown to be effective in treating cells derived from breast, prostate, brain, ovarian, cervical, skin and lung cancers.

 

[Gomez Adams]

As exciting as this all sounds, I have grown HIGHLY skeptical of drug companies. They've already pushed through several medications lately, one of them an Alzheimers drug that claimed similar results, that doesn't work at all.

But they made $50,000.00 PER DOSE on it.

 

[Zeedox]

Surgeons say pig kidney functional in human for over a month

The latest experimental procedure is part of a growing field of research aimed at advancing cross-species transplants.

www.japantimes.co.jp

"We have a genetically edited pig kidney surviving for over a month in a human," Robert Montgomery, director of the New York University Langone Transplant Institute, told reporters. "I think there's a very compelling story that exists at this point that I think should give further assurances about starting some initial studies ... in living humans."

While previous transplants have involved body parts with up to 10 genetic modifications, the latest had just one: within the gene involved in so-called "hyperacute rejection," which would otherwise occur within minutes of an animal organ being connected to a human circulatory system.

By "knocking out" the gene responsible for a biomolecule called alpha-gal — a prime target for roving human antibodies — the NYU Langone team was able to stop immediate rejection.

"We've now gathered more evidence to show that, at least in kidneys, just eliminating the gene that triggers a hyperacute rejection may be enough along with clinically approved immunosuppressive drugs to successfully manage the transplant in a human for optimal performance — potentially in the long-term," said Montgomery.

 

[Gomez Adams]

Wow.

That looks like an option that can be working soon vs the "growing" option they've been working on.

 

[Zeedox]

Further down it says

The donor pig in these experiments came from a herd from Virginia-based biotech company Revivicor. The herd was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a source of meat for people with hypersensitivity to the alpha-gal molecule, an allergy caused by tick bites.

These pigs are bred, not cloned, meaning the process can be more easily scaled.

I've heard about this as a reaction to the Lone Star(?) tick. Not just pork either, beef and lamb as well. Red Meats.

 

[Gomez Adams]

I've never heard of that. Wow. That's got to suck. You eat a pork chop and it screws you up? Damnit man...

 

[Zeedox]

Including derived products like milk and gels.

 

[Zeedox]

Woman with paralysis speaks through an avatar 18 years after a stroke, thanks to a brain implant

A pair of new experiments helped people with paralysis communicate audibly in close to real time.

www.nbcnews.com

The implant, which Johnson received in an operation last year, contains 253 electrodes that intercept brain signals from thousands of neurons. During the surgery, doctors also installed a port in Johnson's head that connects to a cable, which carries her brain signals to a computer bank.

The computers use artificial intelligence algorithms to translate the brain signals into sentences that get spoken through a digitally animated figure. So when Johnson tried to say a sentence like “Great to see you again,” the avatar on a nearby screen uttered those words out loud.

 

[Gomez Adams]

Now where have I heard of something like that before? Oh yeah!

 

[Zeedox]

I tend to think of it more as finally being able to ask for someone to scratch an itch...

 

[Zeedox]

Potential rabies treatment with monoconal antibody.

https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/emmm.202216394

Infections with rabies virus (RABV) and related lyssaviruses are uniformly fatal once virus accesses the central nervous system (CNS) and causes disease signs. Current immunotherapies are thus focused on the early, pre-symptomatic stage of disease, with the goal of peripheral neutralization of virus to prevent CNS infection.

Here, we evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of F11, an anti-lyssavirus human monoclonal antibody (mAb), on established lyssavirus infections. We show that a single dose of F11 limits viral load in the brain and reverses disease signs following infection with a lethal dose of lyssavirus, even when administered after initiation of robust virus replication in the CNS. Importantly, we found that F11-dependent neutralization is not sufficient to protect animals from mortality, and a CD4 T cell-dependent adaptive immune response is required for successful control of infection.

Virus persists chronically at a low level in the brains of F11-treated animals, but animals remain free of disease signs.

So you're still infected but at a managablely level. Stil a win if it works to help.