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Recent news (August, 2022)


Update: on August, 2022


August 22, 2022

How people develop tolerance to pain-relievers over time?

UF Scripps Biomedical Research scientists have a discovered a key gene that is shedding light on how people develop tolerance to pain-relievers over time, a problem that raises risk of addiction and overdose.

They used a forward genetic screen in Caenorhabditis elegans for unbiased identification of genes regulating opioid tolerance which revealed a role for PTR-25/Ptchd1. We found that PTR-25/Ptchd1 controls μ-opioid receptor trafficking and that these effects were mediated by the ability of PTR-25/Ptchd1 to control membrane cholesterol content.

Mice and C. elegans lacking Ptchd1/PTR-25 display similarly augmented responses to opioids. Ptchd1 knockout mice fail to develop analgesic tolerance and have greatly diminished somatic withdrawal. Thus, they propose that Ptchd1 plays an evolutionarily conserved role in protecting the μ-opioid receptor against overstimulation.

Reference:

Maza, N., Wang, D., Kowalski, C. et al. Ptchd1 mediates opioid tolerance via cholesterol-dependent effects on μ-opioid receptor trafficking. Nat Neurosci (2022).


Study reveals environmental impact of 57,000 multi-ingredient processed foods for first time

New analysis provides a first step towards enabling consumers, retailers, and policymakers to make informed decisions on the environmental impacts of multi-ingredient food and drink products.

A study estimating the environmental impact of 57,000 food products in the UK and Ireland has been published by an Oxford university led research team in the journal PNAS.

This study indicate that over half of UK consumers want to make their diets more sustainable, and increasing numbers of food companies are setting ambitious net zero greenhouse gas targets. However, reducing the environmental footprint of foods is hindered by the lack of detailed environmental impact information, particularly for food products containing multiple ingredients.

An estimate of the environmental impact of 57,000 food products in the UK and Ireland provides a first step towards enabling consumers, retailers, and policymakers to make informed decisions on the environmental impacts of food and drink products. This is the first time a transparent and reproducible method has been developed to assess the environmental impacts of multi-ingredient products.

The paper compares the environmental impacts of meat and meat alternative products, such as plant-based sausages or burgers, and finds many meat alternatives had a fifth to less than a tenth of the environmental impact of meat-based equivalents.

Lead author, Dr Michael Clark says, ‘By estimating the environmental impact of food and drink products in a standardised way, we have taken a significant first step towards providing information that could enable informed decision-making. We still need to find how best effectively to communicate this information, in order to shift behaviour towards more sustainable outcomes, but assessing the impact of products is an important step forward.’

A study by the Food Standards Agency* shows more than half of UK consumers want to make more sustainable decisions on the environmental impacts of foods and, at the same time, food corporations are setting ambitious net zero greenhouse gas targets. But there is a lack of detailed environmental impact information on food and drink products – which would allow consumers and corporations to make more sustainable choices.


Study finds ‘forever chemical’ exposure to development of liver cancer

Scientists in a new study have identified a link between “forever chemical” exposure and the development of the most common type of liver cancer.

One specific type of forever chemical, called perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), may have a particularly strong connection to the manifestation of this deadly disease, according to the study. PFOS is one of thousands of humanmade per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and is found widely throughout the environment.

Notorious for their presence in jet fuel firefighting foam and industrial discharge, PFAS are a set of toxic chemicals found in a variety of household products, including nonstick pans, waterproof apparel and cosmetics.

While prior research in animals have suggested that PFAS exposure increases the risk of liver cancer, Monday’s study – published in JHEP Reports – is the first to confirm a connection in human samples.

“Liver cancer is one of the most serious endpoints in liver disease and this is the first study in humans to show that PFAS are associated with this disease,” lead author Jesse Goodrich, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Keck School of Medicine, said in a statement.


Pfizer starting testing of major Lyme disease vaccine

Lyme is a developing issue, with cases rising and warming weather conditions assisting ticks with growing their natural surroundings. While an immunization for canines has for quite some time been accessible, the main Lyme immunization for people was pulled off the U.S. market in 2002 from absence of interest, passing on individuals to depend on bug shower and tick checks.

Presently Pfizer and French biotech Valneva are planning to keep away from past traps in fostering another antibody to safeguard the two grown-ups and kids as youthful as 5 from the most widely recognized Lyme burdens on two landmasses.

“There wasn’t such an acknowledgment, I think, of the seriousness of Lyme sickness” and the number of individuals it that influences the last time around, Pfizer immunization boss Annaliesa Anderson told The Associated Press.

Robert Terwilliger, a devoted tracker and climber, was preferred choice Friday when the review opened in focal Pennsylvania. He’s seen loads of companions get Lyme and is fed up with contemplating whether his next tick nibble will make him wiped out.

“It’s generally a concern, you know? Particularly while you’re sitting in a tree stand hunting and you feel something slithering on you,” said Terwilliger, 60, of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. “You must be incredibly, careful.”

Precisely how frequently Lyme illness strikes isn’t clear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refers to protection records recommending 476,000 individuals are treated for Lyme in the U.S. every year. Pfizer’s Anderson put Europe’s yearly diseases at around 130,000.

Dark legged ticks, likewise called deer ticks, convey Lyme-causing microbes. The disease at first causes exhaustion, fever and joint agony. Frequently – – yet not generally – – the main sign is a red, round pinpoint center rash.

Early anti-infection treatment is critical, yet it tends to be difficult for individuals to let know if they were nibbled by ticks, some as little as a pin. Untreated Lyme can cause serious joint pain and harm the heart and sensory system. Certain individuals have waiting side effects even after treatment.

Most immunizations against different infections work after individuals are presented to a microorganism. The Lyme immunization offers an alternate procedure – working a stage prior to impede a tick chomp from communicating the disease, said Dr. Gary Wormser, a Lyme master at New York Medical College who isn’t engaged with the new exploration.


Oxford Professor wins £30 million research award to cure heart diseases

An injectable cure for inherited heart muscle conditions that can kill young people in the prime of their lives could be available within a few years, after an international team of researchers, led by Oxford University’s Professor Hugh Watkins and Harvard University’s Professor Christine Seideman, were announced as the winners of the British Heart Foundation’s Big Beat Challenge.

The global award, at £30m, is one of the largest non-commercial grants ever given and presents a “once in a generation opportunity” to provide hope for families struck by these killer diseases. The winning team, CureHeart, will seek to develop the first cures for inherited heart muscle diseases by pioneering revolutionary and ultra-precise gene therapy technologies that could edit or silence the faulty genes that cause these deadly conditions.

‘The £30 million from the BHF’s Big Beat Challenge will give us the platform to turbo-charge our progress in finding a cure so the next generation of children diagnosed with genetic cardiomyopathies can live long, happy and productive lives,’ said Professor Watkins, who is the British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Oxford University Radcliffe Department of Medicine.

Professor Keith Channon, Head of the Radcliffe Department of Medicine, said: ‘I am delighted that the BHF have chosen the CureHeart team to deliver on this world-leading challenge. The Radcliffe Department of Medicine looks forward to supporting and fostering the collaborations between scientists and researchers from many disciplines who will be key to the success of the Cure Heart programme.’

More about CureHeart


Cardiology research that makes the pulse quicken

Physician-scientists at Atlantic Health System are continually looking for ways to improve cardiac care through pioneering studies aimed at saving hearts and lives. News source


Mapping the perfect wine and cheese pairings – using data scienceFirst genomics-driven model for personalized radiation therapy developedFatal French clinical trial failed to check data before raising drug doseStudy unmasks the genetic complexity of cancer cells within the same tumor


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Nearly 500 New lncRNAs Identified

Hearing loss prevalence declining in U.S. adults aged 20 to 69 years

Two major groups of rabies virus display distinct evolutionary trends


Posted: on December 16, 2016

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Scientists sequence the genome of the Iberian lynx, the most endangered feline

Microprotein important for maintaining human cell health discovered

Researchers sequence entire genome of seahorse, investigate essential mechanisms of evolution


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