Sometimes, when you try to solve one problem, you create another. A famous example is the introduction of the cane toad into Australia from Hawaii in 1935. The toads were introduced as a means of eliminating a beetle species that ravaged sugar cane crops; but now, almost a century later, Western Australia is inundated with these venomous, eco-system-meddling creatures.

In a similar spirit, disposable face masks could help tackle one urgent problem while creating another. According to researchers at Swansea University, nanoplastics and other potentially harmful pollutants have been found in many disposable face masks, including the ones some use to ward off Covid-19.

After submerging various types of common disposable face masks in water, the scientists observed the release of high levels of pollutants including lead, antimony, copper, and plastic fibres. Worryingly, they found significant levels of pollutants from all the masks tested.

Microscope image of microfibres released from children's mask: the colourful fibres are from the cartoon patterns | Credit: Swansea University

Obviously, millions have been wearing single-use masks around the world to protect against the Covid-19 pandemic, but the release of potentially harmful substances into the natural environment and water supply could have far-reaching consequences for all of us.

‘The production of disposable plastic face masks (DPFs) in China alone has reached approximately 200 million a day in a global effort to tackle the spread of the new SARS-CoV-2 virus,’ says project lead Dr Sarper Sarp, whose team’s work has been published on Science Direct. ‘However, improper and unregulated disposal of these DPFs is a plastic pollution problem we are already facing and will only continue to intensify.

The presence of potentially toxic pollutants in some face masks could pose health and environmental risks.

‘There is a concerning amount of evidence that suggests that DPFs waste can potentially have a substantial environmental impact by releasing pollutants simply by exposing them to water. Many of the toxic pollutants found in our research have bio-accumulative properties when released into the environment and our findings show that DPFs could be one of the main sources of these environmental contaminants during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.’

The Swansea scientists say stricter regulations must be enforced during manufacturing and disposal of single-use masks, and more work must be done to understand the effect of particle leaching on public health and on the environment. Another area they believe warrants investigation is the amount of particles inhaled by those wearing these masks.

‘This is a significant concern,’ adds Sarp, ‘especially for health care professionals, key workers, and children who are required to wear masks for large proportions of the working or school day.’

Many of us have contemplated buying a reconditioned phone. It might be that bit older but it has a new screen and works as well as those in the shop-front. I’m not sure, however, that any of us have thought of investing in a reconditioned liver – but it could be coming to a body near you.

Researchers based in São Paulo’s Institute of Biosciences have been developing a technique to create and repair transplantable livers. The proof-of-concept study published in Materials Science and Engineering by the Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Centre (HUG-CELL) is based on tissue bioengineering techniques known as decellularisation and recellularisation.

The organs of some donors are sometimes damaged in traffic accidents, but these may soon be transplantable if the HUG-CELL team realises its goal.

The decellularisation and recellularisation approach involves taking an organ from a deceased donor and treating it with detergents and enzymes to remove all the cells from the tissue. What remains is the organ’s extracellular matrix, containing its original structure and shape.

This extracellular matrix is then seeded with cells from the transplant patient. The theoretical advantage of this method is that the body’s immune system won’t rile against the new organ as it already contains cells from the patient’s own body, thereby boosting the chance of long-term acceptance.

However, the problem with the decellularisation process is that it removes the very molecules that tell cells to form new blood vessels. This weakens cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix. To get around this, the researchers have introduced a stage between decellularisation and recellularisation. After decellularising rat livers, the scientists injected a solution that was rich in the proteins produced by lab-grown liver cells back into the extracellular matrix. These proteins then told the liver cells to multiply and form blood vessels.

These cells then grew for five weeks in an incubator that mimicked the conditions inside the human body. According to the researchers, the results showed significantly improved recellularisation.

“It’s comparable to transplanting a ‘reconditioned’ liver, said Mayana Zatz, HUG-CELL’s principal investigator and co-author of the article. “It won't be rejected because it uses the patient’s own cells, and there’s no need to administer immunosuppressants.”

Extracellular matrix of a decellularised liver | Image Credit: HUG-CELL/USP

Obviously, there is a yawning gap between proof of concept and the operating theatre, but the goal is to scale up the process to create human-sized livers, lungs, hearts, and skin for transplant patients.

“The plan is to produce human livers in the laboratory to scale,” said lead author Luiz Carlos de Caires-Júnior to Agência FAPESP. “This will avoid having to wait a long time for a compatible donor and reduce the risk of rejection of the transplanted organ."

This technique could also be used to repair livers given by organ donors that are considered borderline or non-transplantable. “Many organs available for transplantation can’t actually be used because the donor has died in a traffic accident,” Caires-Júnior added. “The technique can be used to repair them, depending on their status.”

Even if we are at the early stages of this approach, it bodes well for future research. And for those on the organ transplant list, a reconditioned liver would be as good as a new one – complete with their very own factory settings.

Read the paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0928493120337814

Every day, there are subtle signs that machine learning is making our lives easier. It could be as simple as a Netflix series recommendation or your phone camera automatically adjusting to the light – or it could be something even more profound. In the case of two recent machine-learning developments, these advances could make a tangible difference to both microscopy, cancer treatment, and our health.

The first is an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that improves the information gleaned from microscopic images. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have used this deep machine learning to enhance the accuracy and speed of analysis.

The tool uses deep learning to extract as much information as possible from data-packed images. The neural networks retrieve exactly what a scientist wants by looking through a huge trove of images (known as training data). These networks can process tens of thousands of images an hour whereas some manual methods deliver about a hundred a month.

Machine learning can be used to follow infections in a cell.

In practice, this algorithm makes it easier for researchers to count and classify cells and focus on specific material characteristics. For example, it can be used by companies to reduce emissions by showing workers in real time whether unwanted particles have been filtered out.

“This makes it possible to quickly extract more details from microscope images without needing to create a complicated analysis with traditional methods,” says Benjamin Midtvedt, a doctoral student in physics and the main author of the study. “In addition, the results are reproducible, and customised. Specific information can be retrieved for a specific purpose."

The University of Gothenburg tool could also be used in health care applications. The researchers believe it could be used to follow infections in a cell and map cellular defense mechanisms to aid the development of new medicines and treatments.

Machine learning by colour

On a similar thread, machine learning has been used to detect cancer by researchers from the National University of Singapore. The researchers have used a special dye to colour cells by pH and a machine learning algorithm to detect the changes in colour caused by cancer.

The researchers explain in their APL Bioengineering study that the pH (acidity level) of a cancerous cell is not the same as that of a healthy cell. So, you can tell if a cell is cancerous if you know its pH.

With this in mind, the researchers have treated cells with a pH-sensitive dye called bromothymol blue that changes colour depending on how acidic the solution is. Once dyed, each cell exudes its unique red, green, and blue fingerprint.

By isolating a cell’s pH, researchers can detect the presence of cancer.

The authors have also trained a machine learning algorithm to map combinations of colours to assess the state of cells and detect any worrying shifts. Once a sample of the cells is taken, medical professionals can use this non-invasive method to get a clearer picture of what is going on inside the body. And all they need to do all of this is an inverted microscope and a colour camera.

“Our method allowed us to classify single cells of various human tissues, both normal and cancerous, by focusing solely on the inherent acidity levels that each cell type tends to exhibit, and using simple and inexpensive equipment,” said Chwee Teck Lim, one of the study’s authors.

“One potential application of this technique would be in liquid biopsy, where tumour cells that escaped from the primary tumour can be isolated in a minimally invasive fashion from bodily fluids.”

The encouraging sign for all of us is that these two technologies are but two dots on a broad canvas, and machine learning will enhance analysis. There are certainly troubling elements to machine learning but anything that helps hinder disease is to be welcomed.

Machine Learning-Based Approach to pH Imaging and Classification of Single Cancer Cells:
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0031615

Quantitative Digital Microscopy with Deep Learning:
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0034891

Rising anxiety about air pollution, physical, and mental health, exacerbated by Covid-19 and concerns about public transport, has seen an increase in the popularity of cycling around Europe, leading many cities to transform their infrastructure correspondingly.

These days, Amsterdam is synonymous with cycling culture. Images of thousands of bikes piled up in tailor-made parking facilities continue to amaze and it is routinely held up as an example of greener, cleaner, healthier cities. Because The Netherlands is so flat, people often believe it has always been this way. But, in the 1970s, Amsterdam was a gridlocked city dominated by cars. The shift to cycling primacy took work and great public pressure.

For some cities, however, the pandemic has provided an unexpected opportunity on the roads. Milan's Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Green Areas and Agriculture, Pierfrancesco Maran, has explained that, "We tried to build bike lanes before, but car drivers protested". Now, however, numbers have increased from 1,000 to 7,000 on the main shopping street. "Most people who are cycling used public transport before”, he said. “But now they need an alternative”.

Creating joined up cycling networks is a major challenge for urban planners.

In Paris, the Deputy Mayor David Belliard does not seem concerned that the city’s investment since the start of the pandemic will go to waste. “It's like a revolution," he said. “Some sections of this road are now completely car-free. The more you give space for bicycles, the more they will use it.” They are committed to creating a cycle culture, providing free cycling lessons and subsidising the cost of bike repairs. The city intends to create more than 650km of cycle lanes in the near future.

The success in these two cities has been supported by local government but it has also been fuelled by an understandable (and encouraged) avoidance of public transport and fewer cars on the road generally. Going forward, however, it seems likely that those last two factors won’t be present. So how do you create a cycling culture in your city in the long run?

The answer is both simple and difficult: cyclists (and pedestrians) need to have priority over cars. In Brussels, where 40km of cycle track have been put down in the last year, specific zones have been implemented where this is the case, and speed limits have been reintroduced across the city.

In Copenhagen, in the late 1970s, the Danish Cyclists’ Federation arranged demonstrations demanding more cycle tracks and a return to the first half of the century, when cyclists had dominated the roads. Eventually, public pressure paid off — although there is still high demand for more cycle lanes. A range of measures, including changes made to intersections, make cyclists feel safer and local studies show that, as cyclist numbers increase, safety also increases. In many parts of the city, it is noticeable how little of the wide roads are actually available to cars: bikes, joggers, and pedestrians are all accommodated.

Segregated cycleways, like this one in Cascais, Portugal, make people more likely to cycle.

But, if you were starting from scratch, you might not simply add cycle lanes to existing roads and encourage behavioural changes on the road. Segregated, protected bike lanes like those introduced in Paris are the next level up and the results suggest they work — separated from the roads, more people are inclined to try cycling.

Dutch experts suggest, where possible, going even further. Frans Jan van Rossem, a civil servant specialising in cycling policy in Utrecht, believes the best option is to create solitary paths, separated from the road by grass, trees, or elevated concrete. Consistency is also important. Cities need networks of cycle tracks, not just a few highways. Again, prioritising cyclists is key to the Dutch approach. Many cities have roads where cars are treated as guests, restricted by a speed limit of 30km/hour and not permitted to pass. Signage is also key.

In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan’s target is for 80% of journeys to be made by walking, cycling, and/or public transport by 2041. Since 2018, the city has been using artificial intelligence to better understand road use in the city and plan new cycle routes in the capital. However, the experience of other European capitals suggests that, "if you build it, they will come" might be a better approach than working off current usage.

More people are looking at their nutritional intake, not only to improve wellbeing but also reduce their environmental impact. With this, comes a move to include foods that are not traditionally cultivated or consumed in Europe.

Assessing whether this growing volume of so called ‘novel foods’ are safe for human consumption is the task of the European Food Safety Authority. The EFSA points out, ‘The notion of novel food is not new. Throughout history new types of food and food ingredients have found their way to Europe from all corners of the globe. Bananas, tomatoes, tropical fruit, maize, rice, a wide range of spices – all originally came to Europe as novel foods. Among the most recent arrivals are chia seeds, algae-based foods, baobab fruit and physalis.’

Under EU regulations any food not consumed ‘significantly’ prior to May 1997 is considered to be a ‘novel food’. The category covers new foods, food from new sources, new substances used in food as well as new ways and technologies for producing food. Examples include oils rich in omega-3 fatty acids from krill as a new source of food, phytosterols as a new substance, or nanotechnology as a new way of producing food.

Providing a final assessment on safety and efficacy of a novel food is a time consuming process. At the start of 2021 the EFSA gave its first completed assessment of a proposed insect-derived food product. The panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens concluded that the novel food dried yellow meal worm (Tenebrio molitor larva) is safe for human consumption.

Dried yellow meal worm (Tenebrio molitor larva) is safe for human consumption, according to the EFSA.

Commenting in a press statement, as the opinion on insect novel food was released, Ermolaos Ververis, a chemist and food scientist at EFSA who coordinated the assessment said that evaluating the safety of insects for human consumption has its challenges. ‘Insects are complex organisms which makes characterising the composition of insect-derived products a challenge. Understanding their microbiology is paramount, considering also that the entire insect is consumed,’

Ververis added, ‘Formulations from insects may be high in protein, although the true protein levels can be overestimated when the substance chitin, a major component of insects’ exoskeleton, is present. Critically, many food allergies are linked to proteins so we assess whether the consumption of insects could trigger any allergic reactions. These can be caused by an individual’s sensitivity to insect proteins, cross-reactivity with other allergens or residual allergens from insect feed, e.g. gluten.’

EFSA research could lead to increased choice for consumers | Editorial credit: Raf Quintero / Shutterstock.com

The EFSA has an extensive list of novel foods to assess. These include dried crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus), olive leaf extract, and vitamin D2 mushroom powder. With the increasing desire to find alternatives to the many foods that we consume on a regular basis, particularly meat, it is likely that the EFSA will be busy for some time to come.

The fruits of Viburnum tinus, a Mediterranean flowering shrub, have a secret property that gives them a vibrant, metallic blue colour without relying on pigments. Blue fruits are uncommon in nature, due to the rarity of blue pigments, but a recent study, published in Current Biology, investigated the colour properties of the nutritionally valuable fruits of V. tinus and found it originates from unique structural features.

 

Viburnum tinus, a Mediterranean flowering shrub

Usually, pigmentation in fruits arises from the presence of flavonoid compounds, specifically anthocyanins. V. tinus is an important food source for birds, which are attracted to the vibrant colour. In turn for nutrition, the birds disperse the plant’s seeds.

Using microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, researchers investigating the stunning metallic properties of V. tinus fruit uncovered nanostructures of lipids in its cell walls. These structures may act as a double signal to birds, indicating these fruits are full of nutritious fats. These nanostructures differ from regular plant cell walls, which are made of cellulose, and lipids are normally only stored within the cell and used for transport. This distinctive structural property of V. tinus fruit allows it to create the blue colour without containing any pigment.

 

Blue fruits are uncommon in nature

“Structural colour is very common in animals, especially birds, beetles, and butterflies, but only a handful of plant species have ever been found to have structural colour in their fruits,” says co-first author Miranda Sinnott-Armstrong, a researcher at the University of Colorado-Boulder. “This means that V. tinus, in addition to showing a completely novel mechanism of structural colour, is also one of the few known structurally coloured fruits.”

The researchers hope this work can help to understand how birds identify nutritious food, and that the interesting structural colour properties could be exploited to provide safe and sustainable food colourants.

“There are lots of problems connected to food coloration,” says Silvia Vignolini, senior author from the University of Cambridge. “Once this mechanism is better understood, it could potentially be used to create a healthier, more sustainable food colorant.” 

It’s quite likely that most people who end up in the vicinity of a scorpion will more than likely beat a hasty retreat, not least because they can impart a potentially life threatening dose of venom should one get stung.

But scientists are now finding that the venom from these creatures, along with snakes and spiders, could be beneficial in treating heart attacks. Scorpion venom in particular contains a peptide that has been found to have a positive impact on the cardiovascular system of rats with high blood pressure. Reporting their findings in Journal of Proteome Research, scientists from Brazil, Canada and Denmark say that they now have a better understanding of the processes involved.

 

Emperor Scorpion 

Scorpion venom is a complex mixture of molecules including neurotoxins, vasodilators and antimicrobial compounds, among many others. Individual venom compounds, if isolated and administered at the proper dose, could have surprising health benefits, the researchers say.

One promising compound is the tripeptide KPP (Lys-Pro-Pro), which the researchers say is part of a larger scorpion toxin. KPP was shown to cause blood vessels to dilate and blood pressure to decline in hypertensive rats.

 

A blood vessel on organic tissue

To understand how KPP worked, the researchers treated cardiac muscle cells from mice, in a Petri dish, with KPP and measured the levels of proteins expressed by the cells at different times using mass spectrometry. They found that KPP regulated proteins associated with cell death, energy production, muscle contraction and protein turnover. In addition the scorpion peptide triggered the phosphorylation of a mouse protein called AKT, which activated another protein involved in production of nitric oxide, a vasodilator.

Treatment with KPP led to dephosphorylation of a protein called phospholamban, which led to reduced contraction of cardiac muscle cells. Both AKT and phospholamban are already known to protect cardiac tissue from injuries caused by lack of oxygen. The researchers said that these results indicate that KPP should be further studied as a drug lead for heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems.

 

Conceptual image for cardiovascular problems . 

According to two studies published in The BMJ, higher consumption of fruit, vegetables and whole grain foods is linked with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

In the first study, a team of European researchers examined the link between vitamin C, carotenoids and type 2 diabetes.

The findings were based on 9754 participants with type 2 diabetes, compared with a group of  12,622 individuals who were free of diabetes. All of the participants were part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort totalling 340 234 people.

The results revealed that individuals with the highest intake of fruits and vegetables reduced the  risk of developing diabetes by up to 50%.

 

Fresh fruit and vegetables 

The results also showed that increasing intake of fruit and vegetables by 66g per day was linked with a 25% decreased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

In the second study, researchers in the United States examined the association between whole grain food intake and type 2 diabetes.

Their research involved 158,259 women and 36,525 men who were diabetes, heart disease and cancer free and who took part in the Nurses’ Health Study, Nurses’ Health Study II, and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

 

Healthy heart

Those with the highest intake of whole grains had a 29% lower rate of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those who consumed the least amount. With regards to individual whole grain foods, those with an intake of one or more servings a day of whole grain cold breakfast cereal or dark bread, were associated with a 19% or 21% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, compared with the participants consuming less than one serving a month.

 

Fresh bread

Although both studies took into account several well-known lifestyle risk factors and markers of dietary health, both studies are observational, therefore it should be considered that some of the results may be due to unmeasured factors.  

These new research findings provide more evidence that increasing fruit, vegetable and whole grain foods can lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

DOI: https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2194

Generally, food intake measurement relies on an individual’s ability to recall what and how much they ate, which has inherent limitations. This can be overcome using biomarkers, such as urine, which contains high amounts of data, and looks to be a promising new indicator of nutritional status.

Funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Health Data Research UK, the group of scientists analysed levels of 46 different metabolites in the urine of 1,848 people in the U.S, publishing their findings in the journal Nature Food.

The team illustrated the effectiveness of using metabolites in urine as an alternative approach to obtaining information on dietary patterns. Analysing the urinary metabolic profile of the individuals, they found that the 46 metabolites in urine accurately predicted healthy / unhealthy patterns, making the link between 46 metabolites in urine, as well as the types of foods and nutrients in the diet.

 

Urine test sample 

The team believes that this technology could inspire healthy changes as health professionals could be better equipped to provide dietary advice tailored to their individual biological make-up. As Dr Isabel Garcia-Perez, author of the research also from Imperial’s Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction explained: ‘Our technology can provide crucial insights into how foods are processed by individuals in different ways.’

To build on this research, the same Imperial team, in collaboration with Newcastle University, Aberystwyth University, and Murdoch University, developed a five-minute test to measure the health of a person’s diet.

This five-minute test can reveal differences in urinary metabolites, generating a dietary metabotype score for each individual. As part of this research, 19 people were recruited to follow four different diets ranging from very healthy to unhealthy. The experiments indicated that the healthier their diet, the higher the DMS score, associating higher DMS score with lower blood sugar and a higher amount of energy excreted in the urine.

 

Heart in hands

Professor John Mathers, co-author of research and Director of the Human Nutrition Research Centre at Newcastle University said: ‘We show here how different people metabolise the same foods in highly individual ways. This has implications for understanding the development of nutrition-related diseases and for more personalised dietary advice to improve public health.’

Generally, food intake measurement relies on an individual’s ability to recall what and how much they ate, which has inherent limitations. This can be overcome using biomarkers, such as urine, which contains high amounts of data, and looks to be a promising new indicator of nutritional status.

Funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Health Data Research UK, the group of scientists analysed levels of 46 different metabolites in the urine of 1,848 people in the U.S, publishing their findings in the journal Nature Food.

The team illustrated the effectiveness of using metabolites in urine as an alternative approach to obtaining information on dietary patterns. Analysing the urinary metabolic profile of the individuals, they found that the 46 metabolites in urine accurately predicted healthy / unhealthy patterns, making the link between 46 metabolites in urine, as well as the types of foods and nutrients in the diet.

 

Urine test sample 

The team believes that this technology could inspire healthy changes as health professionals could be better equipped to provide dietary advice tailored to their individual biological make-up. As Dr Isabel Garcia-Perez, author of the research also from Imperial’s Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction explained: ‘Our technology can provide crucial insights into how foods are processed by individuals in different ways.’

To build on this research, the same Imperial team, in collaboration with Newcastle University, Aberystwyth University, and Murdoch University, developed a five-minute test to measure the health of a person’s diet.

This five-minute test can reveal differences in urinary metabolites, generating a dietary metabotype score for each individual. As part of this research, 19 people were recruited to follow four different diets ranging from very healthy to unhealthy. The experiments indicated that the healthier their diet, the higher the DMS score, associating higher DMS score with lower blood sugar and a higher amount of energy excreted in the urine.

 

Heart in hands

Professor John Mathers, co-author of research and Director of the Human Nutrition Research Centre at Newcastle University said: ‘We show here how different people metabolise the same foods in highly individual ways. This has implications for understanding the development of nutrition-related diseases and for more personalised dietary advice to improve public health.’

Fan of milk and cheese? Here’s some good news - researchers have associated dairy-rich diets to reduced risk of developing diabetes and high blood pressure.

According to a large international study published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, a research team has found that eating at least two daily servings of dairy is associated with lower risk of diabetes and high blood pressure.

 

Dairy products; milk and cheese

To see if this link exists across a range of countries, researchers drew on people taking part in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, in which involves participants from 21 countries aged 35–70. Information on dietary intake over a period of 12 months was collected using food frequency questionnaires. Dairy products included milk, yoghurt, yoghurt drinks, cheese, and dishes prepared with dairy products. Butter and cream were assessed separately as they are not so commonly eaten.

The results demonstrated that total and full fat dairy were associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome, which was not the case for a diet with no daily dairy intake. Two dairy servings a day was associated with a 24% lower risk of metabolic syndrome, rising to a 28% lower risk for a full fat dairy intake.  

It was also noted that consuming at least two servings of full fat dairy per day was linked to an 11%–12% lower risk of high blood pressure and diabetes, whilst three servings of full fat dairy intake per day decreased the risks by 13% -14%.

 

Heart and stethoscope

The researchers stated that ‘If our findings are confirmed in sufficiently large and long term trials, then increasing dairy consumption may represent a feasible and low cost approach to reducing (metabolic syndrome), hypertension, diabetes, and ultimately cardiovascular disease events worldwide.’

Fan of milk and cheese? Here’s some good news - researchers have associated dairy-rich diets to reduced risk of developing diabetes and high blood pressure.

According to a large international study published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, a research team has found that eating at least two daily servings of dairy is associated with lower risk of diabetes and high blood pressure.

 

Dairy products; milk and cheese

To see if this link exists across a range of countries, researchers drew on people taking part in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, in which involves participants from 21 countries aged 35–70. Information on dietary intake over a period of 12 months was collected using food frequency questionnaires. Dairy products included milk, yoghurt, yoghurt drinks, cheese, and dishes prepared with dairy products. Butter and cream were assessed separately as they are not so commonly eaten.

The results demonstrated that total and full fat dairy were associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome, which was not the case for a diet with no daily dairy intake. Two dairy servings a day was associated with a 24% lower risk of metabolic syndrome, rising to a 28% lower risk for a full fat dairy intake.  

It was also noted that consuming at least two servings of full fat dairy per day was linked to an 11%–12% lower risk of high blood pressure and diabetes, whilst three servings of full fat dairy intake per day decreased the risks by 13% -14%.

 

Heart and stethoscope

The researchers stated that ‘If our findings are confirmed in sufficiently large and long term trials, then increasing dairy consumption may represent a feasible and low cost approach to reducing (metabolic syndrome), hypertension, diabetes, and ultimately cardiovascular disease events worldwide.’

Another month starts in the SCIence Garden with no visitors to appreciate the burgeoning growth of fresh new leaves and spring flowers, but that doesn’t mean we should forget about it!

Hopefully in our absence the Laburnum tree in the garden, Laburnum x watereri ‘Vossii’ will be flowering beautifully, its long racemes of golden yellow flowers looking stunning in the spring sunshine!

 

Laburnum x watereri ‘Vossii’ in the SCIence Garden

This particular cultivar originated in the late 19th century in the Netherlands, selected from the hybrid species which itself is a cross between Laburnum alpinum and L. anagyroides. This hybrid species was named for the Waterers nursery in Knaphill, Surrey and was formally named in a German publication of 1893 (Handbuch der Laubholzkunde, Berlin 3:673 (1893)

 

The laburnum tree is found very commonly in gardens in the UK, and is noticeable at this time of year for its long chains of golden yellow flowers. However, the beautiful flowers hide a dark side to this plant. The seeds (and indeed all parts) of the tree are poisonous to humans and many animals. They are poisonous due to the presence of a very toxic alkaloid called cytisine (not to be confused with cytosine, a component of DNA). Cytisine has a similar structure to nicotine (another plant natural product), and has similar pharmacological effects. It has been used as a smoking cessation therapy, as has varenicline, which has a structure based on that of cytisine. These molecules are partial agonists at the nicotinic receptor (compared to nicotine which is a full agonist) and reduce the cravings and “pleasurable” effects associated with nicotine. 

 

Cytisine is found in several other plants in the legume family, including Thermopsis lanceolata, which also looks stunning in early summer and Baptisia species, also growing in the SCIence Garden and flowering later in the year.

 

In 2018 there were 9.6 million deaths from cancer and 33% of these were linked to exposure to tobacco smoke.*  Since the link between smoking and lung cancer was established in 1950, the market for smoking cessation therapies has increased enormously. In 2018 it was worth over 18 billion dollars annually worldwide and is projected to increase to 64 billion dollars by 2026.** Staggering! Varenicline, sold under the brand names Champix and Chantix, is one of the most significant smoking cessation therapies apart from nicotine replacement products.

If you see a laburnum tree whilst out on your daily allowed exercise this month, have a thought for its use as a smoking cessation therapy!

* Data from the Cancer Research UK website https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/worldwide-cancer#heading-Zero accessed May 2020.

** https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200319005381/en/Global-Smoking-Cessation-Market—Expected-Reach

Seed is one of Nature’s tiny miracles upon which the human race relies for its food and pleasure.

 

Cabbage seed

Each grain contains the genetic information for growth, development, flowering and fruiting for the preponderant plant life living on this planet. And when provided with adequate oxygen, moisture, warmth, light, physical support and nutrients germination will result in a new generation of a species. These vary from tiny short-lived alpines to the monumental redwood trees growing for centuries on the Pacific west coast of America.   

Humankind has tamed and selected a few plant species for food and decorative purposes. 

 

Seed head of beetroot, the seeds are in clusters.

Seed of these, especially food plants, is an internationally traded commodity. Strict criteria governed by legal treaties apply for the quality and health of agricultural and many horticultural seeds. This ensures that resultant crops are true to type and capable of producing high grade products as claimed by the companies who sell the seed. 

Companies involved in the seed industry place considerable emphasis on ensuring that their products are capable of growing into profitable crops for farmers and growers. Parental seed crops are grown in isolation from farm crops thereby avoiding the potential for genetic cross-contamination. With some very high value seed the parent plants may be grown under protection and pollinated by hand.

Samples of seed are tested under laboratory conditions by qualified seed analysts. Quality tests identify levels of physical contamination, damage which may have resulted in harvesting and cleaning the seed and the proportion of capable of satisfactory germination. There may also be molecular tests which can identify trueness to type. Identifying the healthiness of seed is especially important. The seed coat can carry fungal and bacterial spores which could result in diseased crops. Similarly, some pathogens, including viruses, may be carried internally within seed.

 

  Septoria apicola – seed borne pathogen causing late blight of celery 

Pests, especially insects, find seed attractive food sources and may be carried with it. Careful analytical testing will identify the presence of these problems in batches of seed. 

The capabilities of seed for producing vigorous plants is particularly important with very high value vegetable and salad crops. Vigour testing is a refined analytical process which tracks the uniformity and speed of germination supplemented with chemical tests determining the robustness of plant cells.  Producers rely on the quality, uniformity and maturity rates of crops such as lettuce, green broccoli or cauliflower so they meet the strict delivery schedules set by supermarkets. Financial penalties are imposed for failures in the supply chain. 

Biology’s seemingly inert tiny seed grains are essential ingredients of humankind’s existence!

 

March in the SCIence Garden

Narcissus was the classical Greek name of a beautiful youth who became so entranced with his own reflection that he killed himself and all that was left was a flower – a Narcissus. The word is possibly derived from an ancient Iranian language. But the floral narcissi are not so self-obsessed. As a member of the Amaryllidaceae, a family known for containing biologically active alkaloids, it is no surprise to learn that they contain a potent medicinal agent. 

Narcissus (and in particular this cultivar) are an excellent source of galanthamine, a drug more commonly associated with snowdrops (Galanthus spp.). Galanthamine is currently recommended for the treatment of moderate Alzheimer’s disease by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) but is very effective in earlier stages of the disease too. 

 

Galanthamine

Today, part of the commercial supply of this molecule comes from chemical synthesis, itself an amazing chemical achievement due to the structural complexity of the molecule, and partly from the natural product isolated from different sources across the globe. In China, Lycoris radiata is grown as a crop, in Bulgaria, Leucojum aestivum is farmed and in the UK the humble daffodil, Narcissus ‘Carlton’ is the provider.

 

Narcissus ‘Carlton’ growing on large scale

Agroceutical Products, was established in 2012 to commercialise the research of Trevor Walker and colleagues who developed a cost effective, reliable and scalable method for producing galanthamine by extraction from Narcissus. They discovered the “Black Mountains Effect” – the increased production of galanthamine in the narcissus when they are grown under stress conditions at 1,200 feet. With support from Innovate UK and other organisations, the process is still being developed. Whilst not a full scale commercial production process just yet, the work is ongoing. As well as providing a supply of the much needed drug, this company may be showing the Welsh farming community how to secure additional income from their land. They continue to look for partners who have suitable land over 1000 ft in elevation. 

The estimated global patient population for Alzheimer’s in 2010 was 30 million. It is expected to reach 120 million by 2050.  The global market for Alzheimer’s disease drugs for 2019 was US$ 2870 million. 

One of the most beloved flowers in China (and elsewhere) this small tree was planted here in the SCIence garden to represent the Chinese UK group. It is in bloom from late winter and the bright pink flowers have a strong perfume. It is growing in the centre at the back of the main area of the garden.

There are 309 accepted species in the genus Prunus listed on the Plants of the World Online database (plantsoftheworldonline.org). The genus is distributed mainly across the Northern temperate zones but there are some tropical species.

 

The genus Prunus is generally defined based on a combination of characteristics which include: a solitary carpel (the structure enclosing the ovules – a combination of the ovary, style and stigma) with a terminal style, a fleshy drupe (fruit), five sepals and five petals and solid branch pith. The drupe contains a single, relatively large, hard coated seed (stone) – familiar to us in cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches etc

This particular species, Prunus mume, originates from southern China in the area around the Yangtze River. The ‘Beni-chidori’ cultivar has been given an Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.

 

Over 300 different cultivars of this species have been recorded in China, perhaps not surprisingly for a plant that has been domesticated for thousands of years due to its floral beauty. A recent study on the genetic architecture of floral traits across the cultivars of this species was published in Nature Communications.1

Prunus mume was introduced from China into Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam and it is now fully integrated into the cuisines of all these countries. In addition to its uses in many foodstuffs and drinks, extracts from the fruit are also widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and in the traditional medicines in Korea and Japan. Anti-bacterial, anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties have all been ascribed to the extract which has been used to treat tiredness, headaches, constipation and stomach disorders amongst other things. A recent review published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology2 gathers together information from literature reports on the anti-cancer activity of Prunus mume fruit extract.

One standardised extract in particular (MK615) has shown antitumour activity against most common cancer types.

The anti-cancer activity has not been ascribed to a particular component. Compounds isolated from the extract include ursolic acid, amygdalin, prunasin, chlorogenic acid, mumefural and syringaresinol.

 

Like all the plants in the SCIence garden – there’s a lot more to this one than just its ornamental beauty.

References

1.  Zhang, Q., Zhang, H., Sun, L. et al. The genetic architecture of floral traits in the woody plant Prunus mume. Nat Commun 9, 1702 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04093-z

2.  Bailly, C. Anti-cancer properties of Prunus mume extracts. J Ethnopharmacology 246, 2020, 112215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2019.112215

Growing in just about the most challenging of locations in the SCIence Garden are a small group of Helleborus niger. They are planted in a very dry and shady location underneath a large tree sized Escallonia and although they struggled to establish when they were first planted (in May 2017) they are now flowering and growing well.

This plant was first featured as a Horticulture Group Medicinal Plant of the Month in December 2011 and as it is now in the SCIence garden I thought a reprise was in order.

 

Helleborus is a genus of 15 species of evergreen perennials in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. In common with most members of the family, the flowers are radially symmetric, bisexual and have numerous stamen.

Helleborus is the Latin name for the lent hellebore, and niger means black – referring in this species to the roots.

This species is native to the Alps and Appenines. Helleborus niger has pure white flowers, with the showy white parts being sepals (the calyx) and the petals (corolla) reduced to nectaries. As with other hellebores, the sepals persist long after the nectaries (petals) have dropped.

 

All members of the Ranunculaceae contain ranunculin, an unstable glucoside, which when the plant is wounded is enzymatically broken down into glucose and protoanemonin. This unsaturated lactone is toxic to both humans and animals, causing skin irritation and nausea, vomiting, dizziness and worse if ingested.

Protoanemonin dimerises to form anemonin when it comes into contact with air and this is then hydrolysed, with a concomitant ring-opening to give a non-toxic dicarboxylic acid.

 

Many hellebores have been found to contain hellebrin, a cardiac glycoside. The early chemical literature suggests that this species also contains the substance but later studies did not find it suggesting that either mis-identified or adulterated material was used in the early studies.

It is reported to contain many other specialized metabolites including steroidal saponins.

This plant has long been used in traditional medicine – in European, Ayurvedic and Unani systems and recent research has been aimed at elucidating what constituents are responsible for the medicinal benefit.

 

Extract of black hellebore is used sometimes in Germany as an adjuvant treatment for some types of tumour.

A recent paper* reports the results of a safety and efficacy investigation. The Helleborus niger extract tested was shown to exhibit neither genotoxic nor haemolytic effects but it was shown to have anti-angiogenetic effects on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), anti-proliferative effects and migration-inhibiting properties on tumour cells thus supporting its use in cancer treatment.

 

* Felenda, J.E., Turek, C., Mörbt, N. et al. Preclinical evaluation of safety and potential of black hellebore extracts for cancer treatment. BMC Complement Altern Med 19, 105 (2019) doi:10.1186/s12906-019-2517-5

2019 has been declared by UNESCO as the Year of the Periodic Table. To celebrate, we are releasing a series of blogs about our favourite elements and their importance to the chemical industry. Today’s blog focuses on iron and its importance for human health.

 

Iron’s biological role

Iron is an important component of hemoglobin, a protein in the red blood cells which transports oxygen throughout the body. If there is a low level of iron in your body, your body will be unable to carry healthy oxygen-carrying red blood cells and a lack of these red blood cells can result in iron deficiency anemia.

During the 17th century, iron had early medicinal uses by Egyptians, Greeks, Hindus and Romanians, and around 1932, it became established that iron was essential for haemoglobin synthesis.

 

Red blood cells 

Figures

The World Health Organisation (WHO) released figures suggesting that iron deficiency is incredibly common in humans and therefore happens to be a primary cause of anaemia. 

According to their statistics, around 1.62 bn cases of anaemia are caused by iron deficiency and according to WHO’s 2008 reports, anaemia can be caused by excessive blood loss, poor iron absorption, and low dietary intake of iron.

Bioavailability

Iron bioavailability in food is low among populations consuming plant-based diets. Iron requirement is very important, and when low levels of iron deficiency are prominent among populations in developing countries, subsequent behavioural and health consequences follow. 

These include reduced fertility rates, fatigue, decreased productivity and impaired school performance among children.

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, iron utilisation is increased as it is essential nourishment for the developing fetus. In 1997, a study proved that pregnant women needed the increase in iron, as 51% of pregnant women suffered from anaemia, which is twice as many non-pregnant women.

 

As iron is a redox-active transitional metal, it can form free radicals and in excessive amounts. This is dangerous as it can cause oxidative stress which could lead to tissue damage. Epidemiological studies provide evidence to show that excessive iron can be a potent risk factor associated with chronic conditions like cardiovascular and developing metabolic abnormalities.

Food sources:

Dietary iron is found in two basic forms. It is found from animal sources (as haem iron) or in the form of plant sources (as non-haem iron). The most bioavailable form of iron is from animal sources, and iron from plant sources are predominantly found in cereals, vegetables, pulses, beans, nuts and fruit. 

However, this form of iron is affected by various factors, as the phytate and calcium can bind iron in the intestine, unfortunately reducing absorption. Vitamin C which is present in fruit and vegetables can aid the absorption of non-haem iron when it is eaten with meat.

 

‘The global burden of iron deficiency anaemia hasn’t changed in the past 20 years, particularly in children and women of reproductive age,’ says researcher, Dora Pereira. Although iron is an important nutrient to keeping healthy, it is imperative that iron levels are not too high.

The banana colour scheme distinguishes seven stages from ‘All green’ to ‘All yellow with brown flecks’. The green, unripe banana peel contains leucocyanidin, a flavonoid that induces cell proliferation, accelerating the healing of skin wounds. But once it is yellowish and ready to eat, the chlorophyll breaks down, leaving the recognisable yellow colour of carotenoids.

 

Unripe (green) and ready-to-eat (yellow) bananas.

The fruits are cut from the plant whilst green and on average, 10-30 % of the bananas do not meet quality standards at harvest. Then they are packaged and kept in cold temperatures to reduce enzymatic processes, such as respiration and ethylene production.

However, below 14°C bananas experience ‘chilling injury’ which changes fruit ripening physiology and can lead to the brown speckles on the skin. Above 24°C, bananas also stop developing fully yellow colour as they retain high levels of chlorophyll.

Once the green bananas arrive at the ripening facility, the fruits are kept in ripening rooms where the temperature and humidity are kept constant while the amount of oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethene are controlled.

 

The gas itself triggers the ripening process, leads to cell walls breakdown and the conversion of starches to sugars. Certain fruits around bananas can ripen quicker because of their ethene production.

By day five, bananas should be in stage 2½ (’Green with trace of yellow’ to ‘More green than yellow’) according to the colour scale and are shipped to the shops. From stage 5 (’All yellow with green tip’), the fruits are ready to be eaten and have a three-day shelf-life.

 

A fruit market. Image: Gidon Pico

The very short shelf-life of the fruit makes it a very wasteful system. By day five, the sugar content and pH value are ideal for yeasts and moulds. Bananas not only start turning brown and mouldy, but they also go through a 1.5-4 mm ‘weight loss’ as the water is lost from the peel.

While scientists have been trying out different chemical and natural lipid ‘dips’ for bananas to extend their shelf-life, such methods remain one of the greatest challenges to the industry.

In fruit salads, to stop the banana slices go brown, the cut fruits are sprayed with a mixture of citric acid and amino acid to keep them yellow and firm without affecting the taste.

 

Bananas are a good source of potassium and vitamins.

The high starch concentration – over 70% of dry weight – banana processing into flour and starch is now also getting the attention of the industry. There are a great many pharmaceutical properties of bananas as well, such as high dopamine levels in the peel and high amounts of beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A.

Whilst the ‘seven shades of yellow’ underpin the marketability of bananas, these plants are also now threatened by the fungal Panama disease. This vascular wilt disease led to the collapse of the banana industry in the 1950’s which was overcome by a new variety of bananas.

 

However, the uncontrollable disease has evolved to infect Cavendish bananas and has been rapidly spreading from Australia, China to India, the Middle East and Africa.

The future of the banana industry relies on strict quarantine procedures to limit further spread of the disease to Latin America, integrated crop management and continuous development of banana ‘dips’ for extending shelf-life.

In honour of World Chocolate Day on 7 July, we delve into the health benefits of chocolate. You can thank us later!

Chocolate – one of the most consumed foods in the world – contains flavonoids, an antioxidant compound present in cocoa pulp, which can cause negative effects on human vascular health. 

However, new studies have explored the benefits of adding nutritional oils to food products, and found that adding high oleic peanut oil can increase the bioactive property of dark chocolate, leading to significant health benefits!

 High oleic peanut oil

 

Adding microcapsules of high oleic peanut oil reduces the lipid content of dark chocolate and influences the nutritional composition, thus increasing the content of unsaturated fatty acids in the lipid fraction of chocolate. 

Studies have demonstrated that by adding microcapsules to the chocolate mass, the fat content would not rise, which means dark chocolate containing microcapsules has a lower amount of free fat. Therefore, the use of microcapsules can act as an alternative to protecting the fatty acids.

 

Phenolic compounds

Natural antioxidants are highly valued because they are protective agents and highly sought out to replace synthetic ones in plant products. A broad range of plant foods including cocoa have been sources of phenolic compounds. 

Trans-resveratrol, a phenolic compound is frequently associated with prevention of cancer, ischemias, diabetes, inflammations and viral infections. During chocolate production, the content of phenolic compounds naturally present in cocoa beans becomes lost or reduced. Therefore, it is important to minimise the loss of phenolic compounds. 

 

Although, phenolic compounds are essential to obtaining good quality coca beans, they also have a potentially negative influence on flavour conferring to bitterness. Understanding the factors that influence the losses of phenolic compounds is important in obtaining the final product with the desirable sensory attributes.

There is considerable evidence that cocoa with high oleic peanut oil and cocoa with high content of phenolic compounds can provide powerful health benefits, especially against heart disease. 

2019 has been declared by UNESCO as the Year of the Periodic Table. To celebrate, we are releasing a series of blogs about our favourite elements and their importance to the chemical industry. Today’s blog focuses on silicon’s positive effects on the body.

Silicon was not originally regarded as an important element for human health, as it was seen to have a larger presence in (other) animal and plant tissue. It was not until a 2002 ‘The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition’ paper that surmised that accumulating research found that silicon plays an important role in bone formation in humans.  

Silicon was first known to ‘wash’ through biology with no toxological or biological properties. However, in the 1970s, animal studies provided evidence to suggest that silicon deficiency in diets produced defects in connective and skeletal tissues. Ongoing research has added to these findings, demonstrating the link between dietary silicon and bone health.

Silicon plays an important role in protecting humans against many diseases.  Silicon is an important trace mineral essential for strengthening joints. Additionally, silicon is thought to help heal and repair fractures.

The most important source of exposure to silicon is your diet. According to two epidemiological studies (Int J Endocrinol. 2013: 316783 ; J Nutr Health Aging. 2007 Mar-Apr; 11(2): 99–110) conducted, dietary silicon intake has been linked to higher bone mineral density.

Silicon is needed to repair tissue, as it is important for collagen synthesis – the most abundant protein in connective tissue in the body – which is needed for the strengthening of bones. 

However, silicon is very common in the body and therefore it is difficult to prove how essential it is to this process when symptoms of deficiency vary among patients. 

There has also been a plausible link between Alzheimer’s disease and human exposure to aluminium. Research has been underway to test whether silicon-rich mineral waters can be used to reduce the body burden of aluminium in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. 

However, longer term study is needed to prove the aluminium hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease.

2019 has been declared by UNESCO as the Year of the Periodic Table. To celebrate, we are releasing a series of blogs about our favourite elements and their importance to the chemical industry. Today’s blog is about the importance of potassium in human health.

Potassium plays an essential role to health, being the third most important mineral in the body. The human body requires at least 1000mg of potassium a day in order to support key bodily processes. 

Potassium regulates fluid balance in the body, controls the electrical activity of the heart, muscles, and helps in activating nerve impulses throughout the nervous system. 

According to an article from Medical News Today Knowledge Center, the possible health benefits to a regular diet intake of potassium include maintaining the balance of acids and bases in the body, supporting blood pressure, improving cardiovascular health, and helping with bone and muscle strength.

These powerful health benefits are linked to a potassium rich diet. Potassium is present in all fruits, vegetables, meat and fish.

 

Receptors on a cell membrane.

Can it go wrong?

The body maintains the potassium level in the blood. If the potassium level is too high in the body (hyperkalemia) or if it is too low (hypokalemia) then this can cause serious health consequences, including an abnormal heart rhythm or even a cardiac arrest. 

Fortunately, cells in the body store a large reservoir of potassium which can be released to maintain a constant level of potassium in blood.

What is hyperkalemia? Video: Osmosis

Potassium deficiency leads to fatigue, weakness and constipation. Within muscle cells, potassium would normally send signals from the brain that stimulate contractions. However, if potassium levels steep too low, the brain is not able to relay these signals from the brain to the muscles, the results end in more prolonged contractions which includes muscle cramping.

As potassium is an essential mineral carrying out wide ranging roles in the body, the low intakes can lead to an increase in illness. The FDA has made a health claim, stating that ‘diets containing foods that are a good source of potassium and that are low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.’

This suggests that consuming more potassium might reduce the risks of high blood pressure and the possibility of strokes. However, more research on dietary and supplemental potassium is required before drawing towards a set conclusion.

Clean and fresh water is essential for human life, and water is a necessity to agricultural and other industries. However, global population growth and pollution from industrial waste has put a strain in local fresh water resources.

 

A hydrogel is made up of polymer chains that are hydrophilic (attracted to water) and are known for being highly absorbent.

Current clean-up costs can be extremely expensive, leaving poorer and more remote populations at risk to exposure of metal pollutants such as lead, mercury, cadmium and copper, which can lead to severe effects on the neurological, reproductive and immune systems.

Now, a group of scientists at the University of Texas at Dallas, US, have developed a 3D printable hydrogel that is capable of 95% metal removal within 30 minutes.

Clean water is also needed for one’s hygiene, including brushing your teeth and bathing.

The hydrogel is made from a cheap, abundant biopolymer chitosan and diacrylated pluronic, which forms cDAP. The cDAP mixture is then loaded into the printer as a liquid and allowed to cool to <4⁰C, before rising again to room temperature to form a gel that can be used to produce various 3D printed shapes.

The Dallas team also tested the reusability of their hydrogel and found that it had a recovery rate of 98% after five cycles of use, proving it to be a potentially reliable resource to communities with limited fresh water supply.

.

Life without clean water. Video: charitywater

‘This novel and cost-effective approach to remove health and environmental hazards could be useful for fabricating cheap and safe water filtration devices on site in polluted areas without the need for industrial scale manufacturing tools,’ the paper reads.

In honour of World Health Day, held on 7 April 2019 annually, we have collated the five most innovative healthcare projects we have featured on SCI’s website over the past year. 

New cardiac MRI scan improves diagnostic accuracy

Using 2D imaging techniques to diagnose problems with the heart can be challenging due to the constant movement of the cardiac system. Currently, when a patient undergoes a cardiac MRI scan they have to hold their breath while the scan takes snapshots in time with their heartbeat.

Still images are difficult to obtain with this traditional technique as a beating heart and blood flow can blur the picture. This method becomes trickier if the individual has existing breathing problems or an irregular heartbeat.

3D cell aggregates could improve accuracy of drug screening

 

An innovative new screening method using cell aggregates shaped like spheres may lead to the discovery of smarter cancer drugs, a team from the Scripps Research Institute, California, US, has reported.

The 3D aggregates, called spheroids, can be used to obtain data from potentially thousands of compounds using high throughput screening (HTS). HTS can quickly identify active compounds and genes in a specific biomolecular pathway using robotics and data processing.

Antibiotic combinations could slow resistance

 

Several thousand antibiotic combinations have been found to be more effective in treating bacterial infections than first thought.

Antibiotic combination therapies are usually avoided when treating bacterial infections, with scientists believing combinations are likely to reduce the efficacy of the drugs used. Now, a group at UCLA, USA, have identified over 8,000 antibiotic combinations that work more effectively than predicted.

Mechanism that delays and repairs cancerous DNA damage discovered

 

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, have identified a mechanism that prevents natural DNA errors in our cells. These errors can lead to permanent damage to our genetic code and potentially diseases such as cancer.

Mutations occurring in human DNA can lead to fatal diseases like cancer. It is well documented that DNA-damaging processes, such as smoking tobacco or being exposed to high levels of ultraviolet (UV) light through sunburn, can lead to increased risk of developing certain forms of cancer.

Alzheimer’s drugs made from Welsh daffodils

Treatments for Alzheimer’s disease can be expensive to produce, but by using novel cultivation of daffodils one small Welsh company has managed to find a cost-effective production method of one pharmaceutical drug, galanthamine.

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease with a range of symptoms, including language problems, memory loss, disorientation and mood swings. Despite this, the cause of Alzheimer’s is very understood. The Alzheimer’s disease drug market is currently worth an estimated US$8bn.

 

Almost half of world’s adults aged 85 and over have Alzheimer’s Disease.

The amyloid-B precursor protein (APP) plays a key role in the development of the amyloid plaques that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Now, researchers claim to have identified thousands of genetic variants of the APP gene that codes for the protein in the brains of patients with the most common form of Alzheimer’s disease, known as late-onset or sporadic AD (SAD). 

The study reveals for the first time how this genetic variation occurs – by a mechanism involving the enzyme reverse transcriptase, the same type of enzyme used by HIV to infect cells.

 

APP forms plaques in the brain, as shown above in a light micrograph.

Our findings provide a scientific rationale for immediate clinical evaluations of HIV antiretroviral therapies in people with AD,’ says Jerold Chun, senior VP of Neuroscience Drug Discovery at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Unit (SBP), an idea that the researchers say is supported by the relative absence of proven AD in ageing HIV patients on antiretroviral medication.

The APP gene variants were created by reverse transcription, the researchers note, when RNA acts as a template to form complementary DNA sequences that are then reinserted back into the original genome.

Discovery of possible Alzheimer’s treatment. Video: Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

This process of gene recombination – which occurs each time cells divide to make new ones – has not previously been reported in nerve cells (neurons) in the brain but could also help to explain the complexity and diverse functions of our brain cells.

Coeliac disease is caused by an autoimmune response to gluten and affects approximately 1 in 100 people worldwide. Those affected must eat a gluten-free diet, or they may experience uncomfortable digestive symptoms, mouth ulcers, fatigue and anaemia.

What’s the big deal with gluten? Video: TED-Ed

Problems occur for coeliac disease patients when they are exposed to gluten – a protein found in wheat and other grains – and the immune system is triggered to attack the body. This results in inflammation, mainly in the intestines, and causes the subsequent acute symptoms related to the condition.

Over 90% of coeliac disease patients carry immune recognition genes known as HLA-DQ2.5. These genes are human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes, which usually relate to specific diseases.

 

ImmusanT, a leader in the development of therapies for autoimmune disorders, has developed a vaccine that targets patients carrying the HLA-DQ2.5 genes. This novel therapeutic vaccine, known as Nexvax2, works by reprogramming specific T cells that are responsible for triggering an inflammatory response when gluten is consumed.

Using 2D imaging techniques to diagnose problems with the heart can be challenging due to the constant movement of the cardiac system. Currently, when a patient undergoes a cardiac MRI scan they have to hold their breath while the scan takes snapshots in time with their heartbeat.

Still images are difficult to obtain with this traditional technique as a beating heart and blood flow can blur the picture. This method becomes trickier if the individual has existing breathing problems or an irregular heartbeat.

These problems can lead to trouble in acquiring accurate diagnostics.  

 

Now, a team based at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California, US, have detailed a new technique – MR Multitasking – that can resolve these issues by improving patient comfort and shortening testing time.

‘It is challenging to obtain good cardiac magnetic resonance images because the heart is beating incessantly, and the patient is breathing, so the motion makes the test vulnerable to errors,’ said Shlomo Melmed, Dean of the Cedars-Sinai Center faculty.

 

An MRI Scanner. Image: Wikimedia Commons

‘By novel approaches to this longstanding problem, this research team has found a unique solution to improve cardiac care for patients around the world for years to come.’

By developing what the team consider a six-dimensional imaging technique, the Center has embraced the motion of a heartbeat by capturing image data continuously – creating a product similar to a video.

‘MR Multitasking continuously acquires image data and then, when the test is completed, the program separates out the overlapping sources of motion and other changes into multiple time dimensions,’ said Anthony Christodoulou, first author and PhD researcher at the Center’s Biomedical Imaging Research Institute.

‘If a picture is 2D, then a video is 3D because it adds the passage of time,’ said Christodoulou. ‘Our videos are 6D because we can play them back four different ways: We can playback cardiac motion, respiratory motion, and two different tissue processes that reveal cardiac health.’

Your guide to a cardiac MRI. Video: British Heart Foundation

Testing ten healthy volunteers and ten cardiac patients, the team said the group found that the method was more comfortable for patients and took just 90 seconds – significantly quicker than the conventional MRI scan used in hospitals. For each of the participants, the scan produced accurate results.

The team are now looking to extend its work into MR Multitasking by focusing on other disease areas, such as cancer.

Around 700,000 people worldwide die every year from bacteria that have developed resistance to antibiotics. In the UK alone, that figure is at least 12,000 – more deaths than from breast cancer. And those numbers look set to rise even higher.

‘It’s not just the fact that resistance is increasing – that’s inevitable,’ says Nick Brown, Director of advocacy group, Antibiotic Action. ‘The issue is more the rate of increase in resistance, which appears to be accelerating.’

The Infectious Diseases Society of America recently reported resistance to drugs within six months of antibiotics coming onto the market, and in some cases, even before the drug goes on the market. Many bacterial strains are increasingly displaying resistance to combinations of commonly used and last-resort antibiotics.

 

Of 33 antibiotics in development targeting priority pathogens, just nine belong to five new antibiotic classes. Image: Public Domain Pictures

‘The end of the antibiotic era isn’t on the horizon just yet,’ Brown says. ‘But we can see it wouldn’t take much to get that way.’

Failure to tackle antibiotic-resistant superbugs could result in 10m deaths a year by 2050, according to the UK government-commissioned Review on Antimicrobial Resistance. The UN and G20 have both made political commitments to combat the problem. Nevertheless, time is running out.

‘This is an urgent and rapidly rising global health problem,’ says Ghada Zoubiane, science lead for the Wellcome Trusts’ drug-resistant infections team. ‘We need greater investment in developing new ways to treat and protect people from these deadly infections and we need better understanding of how resistance spreads.’

What causes antibiotic resistance? Video: TED-Ed

Despite calls for increased R&D, no new classes of antibiotics have been approved since the early 1980s, apart from the approval of linezolid in 2000, and the last new class to treat Gram-negative bacteria was discovered in 1962, Zoubiane says.

Big pharma withdrew en masse from the antibiotic space in the 1990s, due to the low returns on the high level of investment required in antibiotic R&D. Recognising the urgency of the problem, however, in January 2016 more than 90 pharma and biotech companies committed to enhancing antibiotic discovery.

The move has been accompanied by more research into understanding resistance mechanisms, as well as a shift to more outside-of-the-box thinking about alternative treatments.

 

In 2016, over $500m was invested into research into antibiotic resistance. Image: PxHere

In February 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its list of 12 antibiotic-resistant ‘priority pathogens’ that pose the greatest threat to human health. Most notable are the Gram-negative bacteria, which possess an additional outer cell membrane and are harder to treat with antibiotics than Gram-positive bacteria.

‘These bacteria have been assessed as the most critical priority for antibiotic R&D, as strains are emerging worldwide that cannot be treated with any of the antibiotics currently on the market,’ WHO says.

Despite the increased commitment to R&D, however, a WHO report in September 2017 lamented the ‘serious lack of new antibiotics under development’. Among the 33 new chemical entity antibiotics in development targeting priority pathogens, just nine belong to five new antibiotic classes.

There are 16 products, both antibiotics and biologics, with activity against one or more Gram-positive priority pathogens – although mostly targeting methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) – including two new antibiotic classes.

Meanwhile, ‘the situation is worse for Gram-negative bacterial infections’, says WHO. Of ten products in Phase 1 trials, ‘almost all the agents are modifications of existing antibiotic classes […] active only against specific pathogens or a limited subset of resistant strains’.

The 2016 Lister Memorial Lecture: Dame Sally Davies on Global antiiotic resistance. Video: SCI

WHO warns that ‘more investment is needed in basic science, drug discovery and clinical development, especially for the critical priority Gram-negative carbapenem-resistant pathogens P. aeruginosa, A. baumannii, and Enterobacteriaceae.’

‘We need to find a strategy not to overcome resistance, but to be able to live with and manage it,’ Brown reflects. ‘I’m more optimistic than some. It’s important to remember that before antibiotics were discovered, the human race didn’t die out.’

Antimicrobial drug discovery

 

Register now!

Combatting malnutrition in all its forms – overweight and obesity as well as undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies – is a global problem.

The European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) recently published a report calling for urgent action on food and nutrition security: this action will need to include consideration of the options for changing European diets to mitigate climate change, conferring co-benefits for health.

 

The European Commission estimates 51.6% of the EU’s population is overweight. Image: Tony Alter/Flickr

EASAC brings together EU member states’ national science academies with the aim of offering evidence-based advice to European policy makers. EASAC provides a means for the collective voice of European science to be heard and its recent report is part of a global project led by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP).

The analysis and recommendations for Europe are accompanied by parallel activities focusing on Africa, Asia and the Americas. The IAP report will be published later in 2018.

 

EASAC recommendations will incorporate global challenges and needs, not just those in Europe. Image: Pixabay

In the EASAC report we emphasise that research and innovation are central to finding solutions. We recommend being more ambitious in identifying and using scientific opportunities: How can the current evidence base shape understanding of both supply- and demand-side challenges? And how should the research agenda be defined, including basic research, to fill knowledge gaps?

Climate change will have negative impacts on food systems, necessitating the introduction of climate-smart agriculture such as the adoption of plant breeding innovations to cope with drought.

Climate-Smart Agriculture in Action. Video: Farming First 

Agriculture and current diets also contribute significantly to climate change. Mitigating this contribution depends on land-sparing and agronomic management practices together with efforts to influence consumer behaviours associated with excessive greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, including the over-consumption of calories and meat.

Among the core findings in our report is that food consumption will need to change to improve consumer health. It is important to explore individual responsiveness to nutrition and the links to health, and to consider the particular needs of vulnerable groups.

 

High meat production has been linked to increasing carbon emissions. Image: Pixabay

As part of the changes to food consumption patterns, a decrease in the consumption of animal protein could be important for both health and the environment but, globally, more research is needed to clarify these relationships and to measure sustainability related to consumption of healthy diets. We also call for policy makers to introduce incentives for affordable nutrition.

Agriculture has significant impacts on the environment. We call for the revamp of the Common Agricultural Policy to focus on innovation rather than subsidies, in order to play a key role in European competitiveness and the bioeconomy.

Originally posted by sunbursts-and-marblehalls

Alternatives to traditional forms of animal protein include food from the oceans, laboratory-grown meat and insects. Research is needed to understand and inform consumer attitudes to innovative food and diets.

Also, research objectives for the next generation of biofuels should include examining the potential of cellulosic raw materials. Further ahead, energy research must continue to explore how to engineer systems with improved photosynthesis.

 

Biofuels are derived from common crops, including wheat, corn and sugar. Image: Public Domain Pictures

Europe should not stall on opportunities for innovation coming within range. Breakthroughs in genome editing and other genetic research are crucial to the future of agriculture. European policy makers must capitalise on these scientific advances.

For improved plant and animal breeding, it is important to protect and characterise wild gene pools and to continue sequencing and functional assessment to unveil the potential of genetic resources. Precision agriculture offers many opportunities to improve productivity with reduced environmental impact. Large data sets are vital to support innovation and prepare for risk and uncertainty.

Open-source automated precision farming | Rory Aronson | TEDxUCLA. Video: TEDx Talks

Underpinning all our recommendations is the recognition that research and innovation must be better integrated, across disciplines and the public and private sectors, in order to better understand the interfaces between health, nutrition, food and other ecosystem services.

EASAC emphasises that efforts to increase food systems’ efficiency should not focus on increasing agricultural productivity by ignoring environmental costs.

Tweaking the chemical structure of the antibiotic vancomycin may offer a new route to tackle the burgeoning problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, researchers in Australia have discovered.

Vancomycin has been used since the late 1950s to treat life-threatening infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The antibiotic works by binding to a precursor of the cell wall component, peptidoglycan, Lipid II, thus inhibiting bacterial growth.

Lipid II is present in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. However, in Gram-negative bacteria it is protected by an outer membrane. In Gram-positive bacteria, Lipid II is embedded in the cell membrane but part of the molecule – a pentapeptide component – sticks out, which is what vancomycin binds to.

The researchers at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Biology (IMB), led by director of superbug solutions Matt Cooper, reasoned that if they could increase the ability of vancomycin to bind to the bacterial membrane, this would make it more difficult for bacteria to develop resistance to it.

‘Our strategy was to add components to vancomycin so that the new derivatives – which we call “vancapticins” – could target more widely the membrane surface,’ explains Mark Blaskovich, senior research chemist at IMB. ‘By providing two binding sites – the membrane surface and the membrane-embedded Lipid II - this allows binding to resistant strains in which the Lipid II has mutated to reduce interactions with vancomycin.’ 

In addition, the researchers say that the vancapticins have been designed to take advantage of compositional differences between mammalian and bacteria cell membranes – ie bacterial cells have a greater negative charge. The vancapticins have greater selectivity for bacterial cells over mammalian cells, potentially reducing off-target effects and giving a better safety profile. A series of structure–activity studies showed that some of the vancapticins were more than 100 times more active than vancomycin.

 

Hospital-Associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Bacteria. Image: NIAID

This membrane-targeting strategy, the researchers say, has the potential to ‘revitalise’ antibiotics that have lost their effectiveness against recalcitrant bacteria as well as enhance the activity of other intravenous-administered drugs that target membrane associated receptors.

John Mann, emeritus professor of chemistry at Queen’s University Belfast, UK, comments: ‘Bacteria have developed numerous strategies to modify the binding, uptake and expulsion of antibiotics, and thus develop resistance. So, it is especially exciting to see the development of these new vancomycin derivatives that enhance the membrane binding properties of the antibiotic, thus enhancing its efficacy and beating the bacteria at their own game.’

Antibiotics are often given to hospital patients, even following the most routine operations, to counter the risk of bacterial infections and viruses.

Now, materials scientists at the University of Manchester have developed a ‘durable and washable, concrete-link’ composite material that boasts antibacterial properties, with the aim of binding the material to doctors’, nurses’ and healthcare professionals’ uniforms.

Bacterial infection is a major issue in hospitals across the UK, and is known to spread via surfaces and clothing. E. coli infections alone killed more than 5,500 NHS patients in 2015, and the UK government estimates the cost of such infections to the NHS at £2.3 billion this year alone.

But doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals could soon be wearing uniforms brushed with tiny copper nanoparticles to reduce the spread of bacterial infections and viruses. Working in collaboration with universities in China, the Manchester team created the composite material using antibacterial copper nanoparticles.

They have also developed a way to bind the composite to wearable materials such as cotton and polyester - a stumbling block for scientists in the past.

Precious metals, such as gold and silver, have excellent antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, but their commercial use in textiles is prohibitive due to extremely high costs. That means copper is the material of choice for researchers, as it has very similar antibacterial properties to gold and silver but is much cheaper.

Using a process called polymer surface grafting, the research team tethered copper nanoparticles to cotton and polyester using a polymer brush, creating a strong chemical bond. The researchers claim this bond creates excellent washable properties and , and could see copper-covered uniforms and textiles commercialised in the future.

'Now that our composite materials present excellent antibacterial properties and durability, it has huge potential for modern medical and healthcare applications,’ Lead author, Dr Xuqing Liu, said.

The researchers tested their copper nanoparticles on cotton as it is used more widely than any other natural fibre and polyester as it is a typical polymeric, manmade material. Each material was brushed with the tiny copper nanoparticles, which measure between 1-100 nanometres (nm). 100nm is the equivalent to just 0.0001 millimetres (mm) - a human hair is approximately 90,000nm wide.

The team found their cotton and polyester coated-copper fabrics showed excellent antibacterial resistance against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and E. coli, even after being washed 30 times.

A new type of wheat, chock full of healthy fibre, has been launched by an international team of plant geneticists. The first crop of this super wheat was recently harvested on farms in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington state in the US, ready for testing by various food companies.

Food products are expected to hit the US market in 2019. They will be marketed for their high content of ‘resistant starch’, known to improve digestive health, be protective against the genetic damage that precedes bowel cancer, and help protect against Type 2 diabetes. 

How do carbohydrates impact your health? Video: TED-Ed

‘The wheat plant and the grain look like any other wheat. The main difference is the grain composition: the GM Arista wheat contains more than ten times the level of resistant starch and three to four times the level of total dietary fibre, so it is much better for your health, compared with regular wheat,’ says Ahmed Regina, plant scientist at Australian science agency CSIRO.  

Starch is made up of two types of polymers of glucose – amylopectin and amylose. Amylopectin, the main starch type in cereals, is easily digested because it has a highly branched chemical structure, whereas amylose has a mainly linear structure and is more resistant. 

 

Bread and potatoes are foods also high in starch. Image: Pixabay

Breeders drastically reduced easily digested amylopectin starch by downregulating the activity of two enzymes, so increasing the amount of amylose in the grain from 20 to 30% to an impressive 85%.  

The non-GM breeding approach works because the building blocks for both amylopectin and amylose starch synthesis are the same. With the enzymes involved in making amylopectin not working, more blocks are then available for amylose synthesis.  

‘Resistant starch is starch that is not digested and reaches the large intestines where it can be fermented by bacteria. Usually amylose is what is resistant to digestion,’ comments Mike Keenan, food and nutrition scientist at Louisiana State University, US. ‘Most people consume far too little fibre, so consuming products higher in resistant starch would be beneficial.’

He notes that fermentation of starch in the gut causes the production of short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate that ‘have effects throughout the body, even the mental health of humans’.  

 

The GM wheat will hit US supermarkets in 2019. Image: Pxhere

The super-fibre wheat stems from a collaboration begun in 2006 between French firm Limagrain Céréales Ingrédients, Australian science agency CSIRO, and the Grains Research and Development Corporation, an Australian government agency.

This resulted in a spin out company, Arista Cereal Technologies. After the US, Arista reports that the next markets will be in Australia and Japan.

 

Psilocybin mushrooms have psychedelic properties. Image: Wikimedia Commons 

The psychoactive compound in psychedelic ‘magic mushrooms’ could pave the way for new drugs to treat depression, according to a new study. Patients in the study reported that their mood had lifted, they felt less depressed and were less stressed immediately after taking psilocybin. Nearly half (47%) were still benefiting five weeks after discontinuing treatment.

Robin Carhart-Harris and his team at Imperial College London, UK – the Psychedelic Research Group – gave psilocybin to 19 patients suffering from ‘treatment resistant’ depression, who had failed to benefit from other depression therapies. They were given 10mg initially and 25mg one week later.

 

The Psychedelic Research Group is the first in 40 years to use LSD in research in the UK since the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Image: Pixabay

‘Several of our patients described feeling “reset” after the treatment and often used computer analogies,’ said Carhart-Harris. ’Psilocybin may be giving these individuals the temporary kick start they need to break out of their depressive states.’

Functional MRI scans measuring activity and blood flow in the brain showed marked differences after the treatment. There was reduced blood flow to areas of the brain, including the amygdala, which processes emotional responses, such as stress and fear. Another brain network appeared to ‘stabilise’ after treatment.

‘fMRI scans indicate that the communication within a certain prefronto-limbic circuit known to regulate affective responsiveness, is normalised one day after psilocybin treatment,’ said Imperial College psychologist Tobias Buchborn. ‘This normalisation seems specifically related to the feeling of unity experienced during the psilocybin session.’

The trial didn’t include a control/placebo group for comparison. However, the team plans to compare the effects of psilocybin against a leading antidepressant in a six-week trial in 2018.

 

Scientists used neuroimaging to track the effectiveness of the treatment.

‘These are exciting, but preliminary findings,’ said Mitul Mehta, professor of neuroimaging & psychopharmacology at King’s College London. ‘It is only a single dose of psilocybin, but this was able to reduce symptoms and produce changes in the same brain networks we know are involved in depression. This impressive study provides a clear rationale for longer-term, controlled studies.’

‘Some of the next challenges are to see if the therapeutic effects hold up in larger groups,’ commented Anil Seth, professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at Sussex University, UK: ‘And to understand more about how the changes in brain activity elicited by psilocybin underpin both the transient changes in conscious experience the drug produces, as well as the more long-lasting effects on depression.’

Psychedelics: Lifting the veil | Robin Carhart-Harris | TEDxWarwick Video: TEDx Talks

The trial also backs up the results of an earlier study by Robin Carhart-Harris and coworkers in 2016, which found that psilocybin reduced symptoms in 12 treatment resistant patients, five of whom were no longer classed as depressed three months later. Also in 2016, a trial by other researchers in the US demonstrated that a single dose could alleviate the anxiety and depression of people with advanced cancer for six months or longer.

The US is in the midst of a healthcare epidemic. Tens of thousands of people are dying each year from opioid drugs, including overdoses from prescription painkillers such as OxiContin (oxycodone) and the illicit street drug heroin, and each year the numbers rise.

The opioid epidemic is currently killing almost twice as many people as shootings or motor vehicle accidents, with overdoses quadrupling since 1999. According to Gary Franklin, medical director of the Washington State Department of Labour and Industries and a professor of health at the University of Washington, the opioid epidemic is ‘the worst man-made epidemic in modern medical history in the US’.

 

Montgomery, Ohio, is at the centre of the epidemic, with the most opioid-related deaths per capita this year. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Incredibly, an influx of synthetic opioids is making the problem worse. Fentanyl, a licensed drug to treat severe pain, is increasingly turning up on the street as illicit fentanyl, often mixed with heroin. According to the NCHS, fentanyl and synthetic opioids are blamed for 20,145 of the 64,070 overdose deaths in 2016. Heroin contributed to 15,446 deaths, while prescription opioids caused 14,427.

Potent opioid

Fentanyl (C22H28N20), a lipophilic phenylpiperidine opioid agonist, is generally formulated as a transdermal patch, lollipop and dissolving tablet. Like the opioids derived from opium poppies, such as morphine, fentanyl binds to opioid receptors in the brain and other organs of the body, specifically the mu-receptor.

 

Heroin and other opioids come from the opium poppy.  Image: Max Pixel

Such binding mimics the effects of endogenous opiates (endorphins), creating an analgesic effect, as well as a sense of well-being when the chemical binds to receptors in the rewards region in the brain. Drowsiness and respiratory depression are other effects, which can lead to death from an overdose.

Rise of illicit fentanyl

The opioid epidemic can be traced back to the 1990s when pharmaceutical companies began producing a new range of opioid painkillers, including oxycodone, touting them as less prone to abuse. In addition, prescribing rules were relaxed, while advocates championed the right to freedom from pain. Soon, opioids were being prescribed at alarming rates and increasing numbers of patients were becoming hooked.

Why is there an opioid crisis? Video: SciShow

Franklin, who was the first person to report in 2006 on the growing death rate from prescribed opioids, says: ‘OxyContin is only a few atoms different to heroin – I call it pharmaceutical heroin.’

A crackdown on prescribing was inevitable. But then, with a shortage of prescription opioids, addicts turned to illicit – and cheaper – heroin. According to Franklin, 60% of heroin users became addicted via a prescribed opioid. ‘You don’t have to take these drugs for very long before it’s very hard to get off,’ he says: ‘Just days to weeks.’ Heroin use soared and with it increased tolerance, leading users to seek out more potent highs. By 2013, there were almost 2m Americans struggling with an opioid-use disorder.

Drugs to fight drugs

 

President Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in October. Image: Pixabay 

Attention is finally being given to the epidemic. US president Donald Trump recently declared a public health emergency, although no new funds will be assigned to deal with the crisis.

There is particular interest around research into a vaccine against fentanyl. Developed by Kim Janda at The Scripps Research Institute, California, US, the vaccine, which has only been tested in rodents, can protect against six different fentanyl analogues, even at lethal doses. ‘What we see with the epidemic, is the need to find alternatives that can work in conjunction with what is used right now,’ he says.

This vaccine could treat heroin addiction. Video: Seeker

The vaccine works by taking advantage of the body’s immune system to block fentanyl from reaching the brain. Its magic ingredient is a molecule that mimics fentanyl’s core structure, meaning the vaccine trains the immune system to recognise the drug and produce antibodies in its presence. These antibodies bind to fentanyl when someone takes the drug, which stops it from reaching the brain and creating the ‘high’.

It has been a year since Prime Minister Theresa May announced the launch of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund at CBI’s annual conference. At the time, May said the fund would ‘help to address Britain’s historic weakness on commercialisation and turning our world-leading research into long-term success’.

Since then, Innovate UK has worked closely with the government and research councils to identify the great innovation challenges the UK faces.

‘Innovate UK have been in this right from the very beginning,’ said Ruth McKernan, Chief Executive of Innovate UK, speaking at Innovate 2017. McKernan explained that the organisation has held several engagement events to find out what ‘industry and researchers see as the challenges of the future and where economic growth can be developed in the UK’.

The first three challenges sponsored by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund were announced in April this year: The Faraday challenge, medicines manufacturing, and robotics and autonomous systems.

Andrew Tyrer, Interim Director of Robotics and Autonomous Systems is now responsible for the £69m investment into research on AI in extreme conditions.

Research projects in this cohort include robotics in deep mining, space exploration, and off-shore energy. ‘One of the challenges is that you cannot put people in these environments,’ he said.

 

Space is just one of the dangerous environments being researched in robotics projects. Image: NASA

However, the UK does not currently have the research capacity to access the global market, Tyrer explained. For example, he said ‘the nuclear decommissioning market in five years will be at £150bn a year in Europe alone’ – a market the UK is currently struggling to make an impact.

‘The programme is about taking academic and business excellence, linking those value chains together, and building those industries,’ Tyrer said.

On the other end of the spectrum, is the Faraday Challenge – a ‘commitment’ to research into the battery development of driverless cars and an area of research the UK has already seen success in – headed by Jacqui Murray and Kathryn Magnay.

 

The UK have pledged to have all petrol and diesel vehicles off roads by 2040. Image: Wikimedia Commons

‘Automotive has been a real success story in the UK in the last 10 years,’ said Murray, with the UK reaching ‘world-class’ in productivity levels.

However, there are ways the UK needs to improve, said Magnay. ‘In the UK we have a huge gap between the research that we do and how you scale that up in the manufacturing process,’ she said.

This is the inspiration for the upcoming £65m Faraday Battery Institute, which will serve as a hub for universities, as well as other academic institutions and industry partners, to further their science. Magnay said that Innovate UK wants to ‘provide a facility that companies and researchers can go to and take their ideas to trial them at scale’.

Will smart energy solutions be the next challenge?

Further challenges under the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund are currently unknown, although there are rumours of an early 2018 announcement. Which challenge will be next?

Some could argue the greatest threat to life as we know it is the slow, invisible war being fought against antibiotic resistant bacteria. The accidental discovery of penicillin by Fleming in the late 1920s revolutionised modern medicine, beginning with their use in the Second World War.

Over-prescription of these wonder drugs has allowed bacteria, which multiply exponentially, the ability to pick up on deadly cues in their environment at a phenomenal rate. They’re adapting their defence mechanisms so they’re less susceptible to attack. In theory, with an endless supply of different drugs, this would be no big deal.

 

Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Unfortunately, the drug pipeline seems to have run dry, whilst the incidence of resistance continues to climb. For the gnarliest of infections, there’s a list of ‘drugs of last resort’, but resistance even to some of these has recently been observed. A report published by the World Health Organisation echoes these warnings – of the 51 new drugs in clinical development, almost 85% can be considered an ‘upgraded’ version of ones on the market right now. These drugs are a band aid on a snowballing problem.

Are viruses the answer?

Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that infect only bacteria, wreaking havoc by hijacking cellular machinery for their growth and development.

 

A bacteriophage. Image: Vimeo

Phages can find themselves in one of two different life cycles: virulent and temperate. The first involves constant viral replication, killing bacteria by turning them inside out (a process known as lysis). The second life cycle allows the phage in question to hitch a ride in the cell it infects, integrating its genetic material into the host’s and in doing so, propagating without causing immediate destruction. It’s the former that is of value in phage therapy.

Long before Fleming’s discovery, phages were employed successfully to treat bacterial infections. In areas of Eastern Europe, phages have been in continuous clinical use since the early part of the 20th century. 

Why did their use not take off like that of penicillin’s in the West? ‘Bad science’ that couldn’t be validated in the early days proved to be disheartening, and phages were pushed to the wayside. Renewed interest in the field has come about due to an improvement in our understanding of molecular genetics and cell biology.

Originally posted by futuristech-info

Phages are highly specific and, unlike antibiotics, they don’t tamper with the colonies of bacteria that line our airways and make up a healthy gut microbiome. As they exploit an entirely different mode of action, phages can be used as a treatment against multiple drug-resistant bacteria. 

Repeated dosing may not even be necessary – following initial treatment and replication of the phage within infected cells, cell lysis releases ever more phages. Once the infection is cleared, they’re excreted from the body with other waste products.

What is holding it back?

A number of key issues must be ironed out if phage therapy is to be adopted to fight infection as antibiotics have. High phage specificity means different phage concoctions might be needed to treat the same illness in two different people. Vast libraries must be created, updated and maintained. Internationally, who will be responsible for maintenance, and will there be implications for access?  

Scientists are looking at new ways to tackle antibiotic resistance. Video: TEDx Talks

Despite proving a promising avenue for (re)exploration, under-investment in the field has hindered progress. Bacteriophage products prove hard to patent, impacting the willingness of pharmaceutical companies investing capital. AmpliPhi Biosciences, a San Diego-based biotech company that focuses on the ‘development and commercialization of novel bacteriophage-based antibacterial therapeutic,’ was granted a number of patents in 2016, showing it is possible. This holds some promise – viruses might not save us yet, but they could be well on their way to.

 

The US’ environment agency and Clean Water Act is in trouble. Image: Public Domain Pictures

Budget proposals will slash the US Environmental Protection Agency’s funding by almost a third, and its workforce by 20%, quite apart from a major refocusing of its agenda. The new EPA administrator Scott Pruitt – whose time as attorney general in Oklahoma was notable for its opposition to environmental measures and the filing of multiple lawsuits against EPA – has certainly hit the ground running.

In contrast to Trump, Pruitt is actually getting stuff done, often going over the heads of his own staff. Planned regulations such as the chemical accident safety rule and a rule covering methane leaks from oil and gas wells have been delayed. Others have been reversed, including a ban on the neurotoxic pesticide chlorpyrifos, flying in the face of scientific advice from his own agency.

 

Trump faced harsh criticism from several nations after pulling out of the Paris Agreement. Image: Gage Skidmore@Flickr

Other moves come in response to executive orders from the president. Trump’s earlier criticism of Obama’s use of executive orders hasn’t stopped him from throwing them around like confetti – in his first 100 days, he signed almost as many as Obama averaged in a year.

For example, at the end of February, he signed one requiring a review of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which defines what constitutes navigable waters. This might sound obscure, but it led to the EPA announcing at the end of June that it will rescind the 2015 Clean Water Rule.

‘WOTUS provided clarity on what bodies of water are subject to protections under the Clean Water Act,’ said Massachusetts congressman Mike Capuano. Essentially, the 2015 definition extended its scope to bring small waterways such as wetlands and streams under federal environmental rules, and not just big rivers and lakes.

‘The federal government won’t have the authority to regulate pollution in certain waterways because they don’t qualify under the EPA’s new definition,’ Capuano continued. ‘This will surely impact drinking water in many communities all across the country, since 117m Americans currently get their drinking water from small streams.’

EPA even published a press release that featured multiple quotes from Republican governors, senators and representatives across the country supporting the move. Quotes from those like Capuano – who believe it is a step backwards in water safety – were notable by their absence.

 

Seven US scientific societies wrote to Trump condemning his actions. Image: Max Pixel

So is mention of any scientific rationale. A letter from US scientists, drafted by conservation group American Rivers, states that the Clean Water Rule was developed using the best available, peer-reviewed science to clarify which bodies of water are, and are not, protected under the act. Importantly, it says that tributaries, intermittent streams and waters adjacent to them such as wetlands, are protected because of their physical, chemical and biological connections to navigable waterways. ‘We are disappointed that the current Administration has proposed dismantling the Rule with minimal consultation and without scientific justification,’ it says.

Much has been made of Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, but that’s not the only signal that the air in the US is set to get dirtier. An executive order on energy independence signed by Trump at the end of March 2017 led to an instant response from EPA that it would review the Clean Power Plan. The order asked the various agencies to submit plans to revise or rescind regulatory barriers that impede progress towards energy independence, as well as wiping out several of Obama’s executive orders and policies in the field of climate change.

 

Experts are worried that US air and water will become dirtier. The country is already the second biggest contributor to climate change in the world. Image: Pixabay

Top of the list for a potential resurgence: dirty energy. EPA has been directed to review, revise and rescind regulations that ‘may place unnecessary, costly burdens on coal-fired electric utilities, coal miners, and oil and gas producers’.

‘Our EPA puts America first,’ claimed Pruitt. ‘President Trump has a clear vision to create jobs, and his vision is completely compatible with a clean and healthy environment. By taking these actions today, the EPA is returning the agency to its core mission of protecting public health, while also being pro-energy independence.’

Many others beg to differ, including New Jersey senator Cory Booker. ‘It’s simply shameful that President Trump continues to put the interests of corporate polluters ahead of the health and safety of New Jersey families,’ he said. ‘The Administration’s repeated denial of clear science and proposed gutting of the EPA jeopardises the welfare of all Americans. 

‘Under no circumstance should we allow the fundamental right of each and every American to live in a safe and healthy environment be undermined by such destructive and irresponsible policies.’

Large-scale industrial mining of asbestos began towards the end of the 19th Century; predominantly in Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Brazil. 

This relatively cheap material with excellent fire and heat resistance, good electrical insulating properties, and high-tensile strength was used widely in the construction industry and in many other products, including brake pads, hair dryers, and industrial filters for wine, beer and pharmaceuticals. Worldwide, an estimated two million tons of asbestos is used annually.

Health risks

But asbestos exposure can be deadly. Anyone who handles the material or breathes in its fibres puts themselves at risk of lung diseases, such as asbestosis or cancer. The World Health Organization estimates that in a single year over 100,000 deaths are due to asbestos-related diseases.

 

Lung asbestos bodies after chemical digestion of lung tissue. Image: Wikimedia Commons

‘The truth is that it is a nasty, hazardous, toxic, carcinogenic material that has made millions and millions of people sick,’ says Arthur Frank, Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at Drexel University, Philadelphia, US. Frank is a longtime advocate for banning the mineral.

To date, around 60 countries have banned the use of asbestos, including the UK. Russia, India, and China, however, still use asbestos in a range of products. The US is the last among developed countries not to ban asbestos entirely. More significant for Western countries are the millions of tonnes of asbestos left in buildings – asbestos becomes a problem if disturbed, especially if the fibres go undetected.

 

Asbestos is a health risk to construction workers. Image: Pixabay

Traditionally, those who work in the building trade are most at risk, though workers can bring home fibres on their clothes, which poses a risk to anyone they come into contact with.

‘There is a significant amount of data that points to as little as one day of exposure being sufficient to give rise to malignancy in humans and animals,’ says Frank. It’s unclear precisely the cellular mechanism, he says, but health experts agree that asbestos poses a severe public health risk. In the UK, asbestos is responsible for half of work-related cancer deaths.

 

The European Parliament was one of the first to ban all future asbestos use. Image: European Parliament@Flickr

The European Parliament has pushed for the removal of asbestos from all public buildings by 2028. The asbestos industry, however, argues that it is wrong to say that any exposure to asbestos can kill and believes there is a permissible level of exposure.

Rising litigation

In the US, asbestos-related litigation is increasingly common. ‘The companies put up a fight in most cases, delaying settlement until practically the eve of trial and disputing everything they can as to medical diagnosis and causation, and evidence of the plaintiffs’ exposure histories,’ says Barry Castleman, an environmental consultant who has spent 40 years working on asbestos as a public health problem.

However, man-made substitutes for asbestos-based construction materials are available. For over 50 years, asbestos was combined with cement in Europe because its fibres are mechanically strong and durable, says Eshmaeil Ganjian, Professor of Civil Engineering Materials at Coventry University, UK.

 

PVA is also widely used in glue. Image: Pixabay

These boards were used for internal and external walls as well as for roofs. Europe now uses polyvinyl alcohol – widely known as PVA - in its cement boards, Ganjian says, but this is more expensive than asbestos, which has come down in price over the past 20 years.  

Waste not, want not

Ganjian is currently working on a project aimed at replacing asbestos in cement boards in Iran with waste plant fibres, such as Kraft pulp, and polymeric fibres such as acrylic and polypropylene fibres. ‘The idea is to use locally available fibres, so we use cheap acrylic fibres available from petrochemical companies in the region. The strength of cellulose fibres is lower than asbestos fibres, but when we add polypropylene or acrylic or other synthetic fibres then this increases the mechanical strength,’ he explains.

 

Shiraz, Iran. Image: Wikimedia Commons

The Iranian government subsequently stopped importing asbestos from Russia and banned its use in cement board factories, switching to local alternatives. ‘This was a win-win situation. It saves lives and uses a waste material,’ says Ganjian.  

What is paralysis? Video: Doctors’ Circle

Patients suffering from paralysis can at last look forward to a time when their condition is cured, and they can walk, run or move their damaged limbs again, as recent advancements show the possibility of reversal.    

‘The environment has never been better for exploring ways to restore neurological function, including paralysis – in fact, there has been a dramatic escalation of the entire research spectrum aimed at functional neurorestoration,’ says Charles Liu, Director of the University of Southern California Neurorestoration Center.

Paralysis comes in many forms: the paralysis of one limb (monoplegia), one side of the body (hemiplegia), below the waist (paraplegia), and all four limbs below the neck (tetraplegia, or also referred to as quadriplegia).

 

There are many classifications of paralysis. It can be localised or generalised, and can affect most areas of the body. Image: Pixabay

In an able-bodied person, the brain sends a signal as an electrical impulse, known as an action potential, down the spinal cord to the peripheral nerves, which instruct the muscles to contract and move, whereupon sensors in the muscles and skin send signals back to the brain.

In most paralysis cases, the condition occurs as a result of damage to nerves rather than an injury to the affected area. Strokes are the most common cause of paralysis, followed by spinal cord injuries. Multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, polio, head injuries and several other rare diseases can also cause paralysis.  

Regenerating neurons

‘Long term, we hope to cure paralysis and make the injured walk,’ explains William Sikkema, a graduate student at Rice University, Houston. The challenge is not only to repair cells but to restore connectivity, too. In collaboration with researchers at Konkuk University in South Korea, the team has already made a paralysed rat walk again.

The addition of graphene nanoribbons restored motor and sensory neuronal signals across the previous nerve gap after 24 hours, with almost perfect motor control recovery after a period of healing. ‘Two weeks later, the rat could walk without losing balance, stand up on his hind limbs and use his forelimbs to feed himself with pellets. No recovery was observed in controls,’ the team reported.

‘After a neuron is cut, it doesn’t know where to grow. So, it either doesn’t grow, or grows in the wrong direction,’ says Sikkema. ‘Our graphene nanoribbons act as a scaffolding track, and it tells the neurons where to grow.’

 

Rats are a common animal model in paralysis studies, as they share similar structure and functions with humans. Image: Pexels

Spinal cord stimulation

Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord could also provide a big breakthrough, says Chet Moritz, Co-Director of the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering at the University of Washington, US.

‘We’re seeing some really impressive results with spinal cord stimulation where people with complete paralysis, who have been unable to function, have regained control of their limbs. We didn’t expect this. It’s the most exciting thing we’ve seen in the last 20 years,’ he says.

Last year, a team led by Grégoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology inserted an implant in the brains of paralysed monkeys and another over the spinal cord below the injury. The brain-spine interface worked by capturing leg-moving brain signals, decoded by a computer and sent – bypassing the damaged region – to the second implant, which delivered the signals as electrical impulses to the nerves, causing the leg to move.

Grégoire Courtine talks about his pioneering work on paralysis using electrical stimulation. Video: TED

Within six days, the monkeys had regained the use of their lower limbs and improved even more over time. The success of the experiment has led Courtine to launch a human trial of a spinal implant system.

We may be a long way still from restoring full function, as prior to paralysis, but Moritz is optimistic. Even a modest change, such as the movement of a single finger, can have a dramatic effect on quality of life and independence. ‘In five years, we’ve had dramatic improvement in function,’ he says. ‘It’s an exciting trajectory with tremendous potential.’  

What is paralysis? Video: Doctors’ Circle

Patients suffering from paralysis can at last look forward to a time when their condition is cured, and they can walk, run or move their damaged limbs again, as recent advancements show the possibility of reversal.    

‘The environment has never been better for exploring ways to restore neurological function, including paralysis – in fact, there has been a dramatic escalation of the entire research spectrum aimed at functional neurorestoration,’ says Charles Liu, Director of the University of Southern California Neurorestoration Center.

Paralysis comes in many forms: the paralysis of one limb (monoplegia), one side of the body (hemiplegia), below the waist (paraplegia), and all four limbs below the neck (tetraplegia, or also referred to as quadriplegia).

There are many classifications of paralysis. It can be localised or generalised, and can affect most areas of the body. Image: Pixabay

In an able-bodied person, the brain sends a signal as an electrical impulse, known as an action potential, down the spinal cord to the peripheral nerves, which instruct the muscles to contract and move, whereupon sensors in the muscles and skin send signals back to the brain.

In most paralysis cases, the condition occurs as a result of damage to nerves rather than an injury to the affected area. Strokes are the most common cause of paralysis, followed by spinal cord injuries. Multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, polio, head injuries and several other rare diseases can also cause paralysis.  

Originally posted by palerlotus

---

Regenerating neurons

‘Long term, we hope to cure paralysis and make the injured walk,’ explains William Sikkema, a graduate student at Rice University, Houston. The challenge is not only to repair cells but to restore connectivity, too. In collaboration with researchers at Konkuk University in South Korea, the team has already made a paralysed rat walk again.

The addition of graphene nanoribbons restored motor and sensory neuronal signals across the previous nerve gap after 24 hours, with almost perfect motor control recovery after a period of healing. ‘Two weeks later, the rat could walk without losing balance, stand up on his hind limbs and use his forelimbs to feed himself with pellets. No recovery was observed in controls,’ the team reported.

‘After a neuron is cut, it doesn’t know where to grow. So, it either doesn’t grow, or grows in the wrong direction,’ says Sikkema. ‘Our graphene nanoribbons act as a scaffolding track, and it tells the neurons where to grow.’

Rats are a common animal model in paralysis studies, as they share similar structure and functions with humans. Image: Pexels

---

Spinal cord stimulation

Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord could also provide a big breakthrough, says Chet Moritz, Co-Director of the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering at the University of Washington, US.

‘We’re seeing some really impressive results with spinal cord stimulation where people with complete paralysis, who have been unable to function, have regained control of their limbs. We didn’t expect this. It’s the most exciting thing we’ve seen in the last 20 years,’ he says.

Last year, a team led by Grégoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology inserted an implant in the brains of paralysed monkeys and another over the spinal cord below the injury. The brain-spine interface worked by capturing leg-moving brain signals, decoded by a computer and sent – bypassing the damaged region – to the second implant, which delivered the signals as electrical impulses to the nerves, causing the leg to move.

Grégoire Courtine talks about his pioneering work on paralysis using electrical stimulation. Video: TED

Within six days, the monkeys had regained the use of their lower limbs and improved even more over time. The success of the experiment has led Courtine to launch a human trial of a spinal implant system.

We may be a long way still from restoring full function, as prior to paralysis, but Moritz is optimistic. Even a modest change, such as the movement of a single finger, can have a dramatic effect on quality of life and independence. ‘In five years, we’ve had dramatic improvement in function,’ he says. ‘It’s an exciting trajectory with tremendous potential.’  

What is paralysis? Video: Doctors’ Circle

Patients suffering from paralysis can at last look forward to a time when their condition is cured, and they can walk, run or move their damaged limbs again, as recent advancements show the possibility of reversal.    

‘The environment has never been better for exploring ways to restore neurological function, including paralysis – in fact, there has been a dramatic escalation of the entire research spectrum aimed at functional neurorestoration,’ says Charles Liu, Director of the University of Southern California Neurorestoration Center.

Paralysis comes in many forms: the paralysis of one limb (monoplegia), one side of the body (hemiplegia), below the waist (paraplegia), and all four limbs below the neck (tetraplegia, or also referred to as quadriplegia).

There are many classifications of paralysis. It can be localised or generalised, and can affect most areas of the body. Image: Pixabay

In an able-bodied person, the brain sends a signal as an electrical impulse, known as an action potential, down the spinal cord to the peripheral nerves, which instruct the muscles to contract and move, whereupon sensors in the muscles and skin send signals back to the brain.

In most paralysis cases, the condition occurs as a result of damage to nerves rather than an injury to the affected area. Strokes are the most common cause of paralysis, followed by spinal cord injuries. Multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, polio, head injuries and several other rare diseases can also cause paralysis.  

Originally posted by palerlotus

---

Regenerating neurons

‘Long term, we hope to cure paralysis and make the injured walk,’ explains William Sikkema, a graduate student at Rice University, Houston. The challenge is not only to repair cells but to restore connectivity, too. In collaboration with researchers at Konkuk University in South Korea, the team has already made a paralysed rat walk again.

The addition of graphene nanoribbons restored motor and sensory neuronal signals across the previous nerve gap after 24 hours, with almost perfect motor control recovery after a period of healing. ‘Two weeks later, the rat could walk without losing balance, stand up on his hind limbs and use his forelimbs to feed himself with pellets. No recovery was observed in controls,’ the team reported.

‘After a neuron is cut, it doesn’t know where to grow. So, it either doesn’t grow, or grows in the wrong direction,’ says Sikkema. ‘Our graphene nanoribbons act as a scaffolding track, and it tells the neurons where to grow.’

Rats are a common animal model in paralysis studies, as they share similar structure and functions with humans. Image: Pexels

---

Spinal cord stimulation

Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord could also provide a big breakthrough, says Chet Moritz, Co-Director of the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering at the University of Washington, US.

‘We’re seeing some really impressive results with spinal cord stimulation where people with complete paralysis, who have been unable to function, have regained control of their limbs. We didn’t expect this. It’s the most exciting thing we’ve seen in the last 20 years,’ he says.

Last year, a team led by Grégoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology inserted an implant in the brains of paralysed monkeys and another over the spinal cord below the injury. The brain-spine interface worked by capturing leg-moving brain signals, decoded by a computer and sent – bypassing the damaged region – to the second implant, which delivered the signals as electrical impulses to the nerves, causing the leg to move.

Grégoire Courtine talks about his pioneering work on paralysis using electrical stimulation. Video: TED

Within six days, the monkeys had regained the use of their lower limbs and improved even more over time. The success of the experiment has led Courtine to launch a human trial of a spinal implant system.

We may be a long way still from restoring full function, as prior to paralysis, but Moritz is optimistic. Even a modest change, such as the movement of a single finger, can have a dramatic effect on quality of life and independence. ‘In five years, we’ve had dramatic improvement in function,’ he says. ‘It’s an exciting trajectory with tremendous potential.’  

In recent years, novel innovation in healthcare and pharmaceuticals have hit the headlines with increasing regularity. Each story promises a better quality of life for patients and a product that will ‘revolutionise’ healthcare as we know it. 

However, many of these innovations fail to materialise due to the complexity of the system. Problems with regulation, intellectual property agreements, and manufacturing are just some of the many issues that industry faces when integrating a new product into hospitals and treatment centres.

 

Stephen Dorrell. Image: NHS Confederation@Flickr

So, do we need rethink our expectations of innovation? Speaking at New Scientist Live in September, Stephen Dorrell, Chair of NHS Confederation and a former Health Secretary, said that as an innate characteristic of humans, innovation will not stop. However, we should be more concerned about the difficulty of making good innovation available everywhere and rethinking what we consider the most efficient way of treating patients, he said.

As the most common type of dementia – affecting one in six over the age of 80 – Alzheimer’s disease needs good innovation. With no known cure, current efforts rely heavily on having a care plan once symptoms appear and medications can only slightly improve symptoms for a time as well as slow down the progression of the disease.

Progress in pharmaceuticals 

The Alzheimer’s research community are well versed in the known causes of the disease, with amyloid plaques and tau tangles the most widely accepted causes of the neurodegeneration that leads to Alzheimer’s. As a result, the majority of research and investment in the field is centred around this theory.

Neuro-Bio is a biotechnology start-up that is taking a different approach to making medicines for Alzheimer’s patients. The company is focused on a ‘previously unidentified mechanism’ of the disease that is linked to the development stages of the brain and cell death, and is working on new drug candidates that can stop the peptide involved in this mechanism from functioning improperly in adults.

After a series of setbacks in Alzheimer’s drug development, Prof Margaret Esiri, a neuropathologist at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Sciences, Oxford, said: ‘Neuro-Bio’s approach to the problem of Alzheimer’s disease is novel and scientifically well-founded. It is a good example of the new thinking that is urgently needed in this field’.

Timing it right 

However, with an uncertainty for future success in Alzheimer’s pharmaceuticals, researchers interested in the genetic make-up of neurodegenerative diseases are focusing on how early diagnosis can be beneficial to patients.

 

Alzheimer’s can cause a significant loss of brain matter (right) compared to a healthy brain (left). Image: National Institutes of Health

According to UCL geneticist John Hardy, a loss in brain matter and amyloid build-up begins 15 to 20 years before symptoms start to appear, highlighting the need for preventative measures. This need is not consistent with what is currently available to patients in the UK however, as to qualify for a clinical trial, patients must be in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s – often exhibiting severe symptoms that can, quite drastically, negatively affect quality of life for the individual.

Scientists at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, US, may have solved this issue of early diagnosis after developing a machine learning program that outperforms other methods for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. The program integrates known disease indicators and symptoms to predict the likelihood of Alzheimer’s onset. Multiple stage comparisons, which includes associated symptoms that are not always present in Alzheimer’s, allow the program to make a more accurate prediction of who is most vulnerable.

Development of such programs could help initiatives such as the 100,000 Genomes Project which aims to provide the NHS with a new genomic medicine service that can offer better diagnosis and more personalised treatments.  

 

Baroness Susan Greenfield. Image: National Assembly for Wales

Interested in Alzheimer’s disease?

SCI is running a Public Evening Lecture in London on Wednesday 28 February – The 21st Century mind: Blowing it, expanding it, losing it. The talk will be given by Baroness Susan Greenfield, neuroscientist and CEO of Neuro-bio. It is free to attend, but spaces are limited. Don’t miss out – booking opening soon.

The next five years will be the most promising in the fight against cancer with immunotherapies – such as CAR-T and moderating T-Cell approaches, and innate immunity therapies – delivering far better patient outcomes.

In the last five years, the industry has rapidly advanced its understanding of the body’s immune response and genetic markers. As a result, combination therapies – chemotherapies will continue to play an important role – are forecast to become an increasingly standardised treatment, with pharma keen to invest.

These newer options are bringing in transformative remission rates, and check-point inhibitors have already been seen to elicit long-term cures in patients, with success rates two-to-three times higher than standard chemotherapy approaches. 

Over the next ten years, we will see significant breakthroughs as the industry’s understanding of the immune system improves. There are currently more than 130 biotechs – in addition to 20 big pharma companies – working on new therapies and it is believed the smaller companies are more aggressively bringing newer innovations to market. In the long run, pharma will undoubtedly absorb the most promising players in an effort to become leaders in combination therapy approaches, which many argue will deliver the best outcomes.

The current investor frenzy is comparable to that of the genomics industry at the turn of the century. Experts argue that a more complete understanding of the genome and promise of clinical data of these transformative modalities will create a golden age for cancer therapy over the next few years.

There are, however, a number of immediate challenges. For example, CAR-T, although demonstrating good efficacy in blood cancers, has yet to show enough efficacy in solid tumours. Another challenge is how far towards cures for all patients we can get, particularly for patients with late stage metastatic cancer.

Immunotherapies are moving cancer from treatment options that simply extend life or improve experience to more effective cures. The cost of newer therapies is also coming into focus; however, this is a positive pressure on companies to produce significant, not just incremental, outcomes for patients.

CRISPR/Cas9 is a gene editing tool that is swiftly becoming a revolutionary new technology. It allows researchers to edit the genome of a species by removing, adding or modifying parts of the DNA sequence.

To alter DNA using CRISPR, a pre-designed sequence is added to the DNA using a RNA scaffold (gRNA) that guides the enzyme Cas9 to the section of DNA that scientists want to alter. Cas9 ‘snips’ the selected sequence.

At this point, the cell identifies the DNA as damage and tries to repair it. Using this information, researchers can use repair technology to introduce changes to the genes of the cell, which will lead to a change in a genetic trait, such as the colour of your eyes or the size of a plants leaf.

 

Cas9 unzips the selected DNA sequence as the latter forms bonds to a new genetic code. Adapted from: McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT

Public approval of genetic modification is at an all-time high, with a recent YouGov survey finding only 7% of people in the UK oppose gene editing, although there is still a way to go. Lighter regulation in recent years has allowed smaller companies and academic institutions to undertake research.

The future of farming

One of the industries that has benefited from CRISPR is agriculture. The ongoing GM debate is an example of controversial use of transgenesis, the process of inserting DNA from one species into another, spawning fears of ‘Frankenstein foods’.

Instead of creating mega-crops that out-compete all conventional plants, gene editing provides resistance to harsh environments and infections; particularly significant in the context of global food security.

Disease breakthroughs

Although gene-editing has been a staple of new agriculture technology for many years now, it is only recently that CRISPR has seen successful use in human disease research and resulting clinical trials.

Scientists at the Salk Institute, California, successfully removed the MYBPC3 gene, linked to a common form of heart disease, from a human embryo. The correction was made at the earliest stage of human development, meaning that the condition could not be passed to future generations.

CRISPR is also being used to study embryo development. Recently, scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, London, discovered that the gene OCT4 was vital in these early stages, although its purpose is still not fully understood. Researchers involved believe that more research into OCT4 could help us improve success rates of IVF and understand why some women miscarry.

 

A human embryo at day four, taken by a Scanning Electron Microscope. Image: Yorgos Nikas, Wellcome Images

CRISPR is still in the early stages and we are far from editing embryos that can be implanted for pregnancy. Many more safety tests are required before proceeding with any clinical trials, with the next step perhaps replicating the experiment on other mutations such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, the genes responsible for an increased risk of breast cancer.

Experts are confident, however, that this technique could be applied to thousands of other diseases caused by a single mutation, such as cystic fibrosis and ovarian cancers.

The benefits of gene editing are abundant. For example, we may be able to turn the tables on antibiotic-resistant bacteria or ‘super-bugs’ by engineering bacteriophages - viruses that infect bacteria - to target antibiotic resistance genes, knocking them out and allowing conventional antibiotics to work once again. Elsewhere, CRISPR could be used to modify metabolic pathways within algae or corn to produce sustainable and cost-effective ethanol for the biofuel market.

Originally posted by urbaneway

Is CRISPR ethical?

CRISPR and gene editing will revolutionise many industries, but the fear remains in many that we will slip into a society where ‘designer babies’ become the norm, and individuality will be lost. 

Marcy Darnovsky, Executive Director of the Centre for Genetics and Society, said in a statement: ‘We could all too easily find ourselves in a world where some people’s children are considered biologically superior to the rest of us.’

 

Could CRISPR lead to a new generation of superheros? Image: Cia Gould

Dr Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute, disagrees. ‘I personally feel we are duty bound to explore what the technology can do in a safe, reliable manner to help people. If you have a way to help families not have a diseased child, then it would be unethical not to do it,’ he said.

Genetic engineering does not have to have an all-or-nothing approach. There is a middle ground that will benefit everyone with correct regulation and oversight. With its globally renowned research base, the UK government has a great opportunity to encourage genetic experiments and further cement Britain’s place as the genetic research hub of the future.