michael

Newly published research details how a team of scientists from the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah and Spain’s Miguel Hernandez University has successfully created a form of artificial vision for a blind woman using a prosthesis hardwired into her brain. Publishing the open-access article “Visual Percepts Evoked with an Intracortical 96-Channel Microelectrode Array Inserted in Human Occipital Cortex” online on October 13, 2021 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Moran researcher Richard A. Normann, PhD, and Spanish collaborator Eduardo Fernández, MD, PhD, and collaborators detail how the Moran|Cortivis Prosthesis produced a simple form of vision for 60-year old Berna Gómez.

Read more

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that manifests as red, scaly skin patches. There is no causal treatment for the disease, but the symptoms can be significantly alleviated with modern therapies. Complex changes in the networks of immune cells and the messengers they use to communicate with each other are responsible for the development of the skin disease. Clinical trials revealed that newly developed drugs blocking only the messenger interleukin-23 are more effective than previous treatments targeting both interleukin-23 and interleukin-12 in psoriasis patients. The responsible mechanism has so far remained unknown. Now, researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) have uncovered the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Read more

A new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation, provides robust evidence that COVID-19 is a seasonal infection linked to low temperatures and humidity, much like seasonal influenza. The results, published online on October 21, 2021 in Nature Computational Science, also support the considerable contribution of airborne SARS-CoV-2 transmission and the need to shift to measures that promote “air hygiene.” The open-access article is titled “Climatic Signatures in the Different COVID-19 Pandemic Waves Across Both Hemispheres.”

Read more

Rutgers researchers have linked the genetic disorders Fragile X and SHANK3 deletion syndrome–both associated with autism and health problems–to walking patterns by examining the microscopic movements of those wearing motion-sensored sneakers. The method, published online on October 22, 2021 in Scientific Reports, detects gait problems 15 to 20 years before their clinical diagnosis and could help advance intervention models to preserve brain structure and function. The open-access article is titled “Optimal Time Lags from Causal Prediction Model Help Stratify and Forecast Nervous System Pathology.”

Read more

In evolutionary biology, the “Life History Theory,” first proposed in the 1950s, postulates that when the environment is favorable, the resources used by any organism are devoted for growth and reproduction. Conversely, in a hostile environment, resources are transferred to so-called maintenance programs, such as energy conservation and defense against external attacks. Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) developed this idea to a specific field of medicine: the erroneous activation of the immune system that causes autoimmune diseases. By studying mice suffering from a model of multiple sclerosis, the research team succeeded in deciphering how exposure to cold pushed the organism to divert its resources from the immune system towards maintaining body heat. Indeed, during cold, the immune system decreased its harmful activity which considerably attenuated the course of the autoimmune disease. These results, highlighted on the cover of the journal Cell Metabolism, pave the way for a fundamental biological concept on the allocation of energy resources. The research article was published online on October 22, 2021 and is titled “Cold Exposure Protects from Neuroinflammation Through Immunologic Reprogramming.”

Read more

Intense ivory poaching during the Mozambican Civil War (1977-1992) resulted in the rapid evolution of tusklessness in female African elephants amid a precipitous population decline, researchers report, resulting in a phenotype far more likely to survive in the face of poaching. The findings shed new light on the powerful selective forces human harvesting can exert on wild animal populations. The selective killing of species–whether for food, safety, or profit–has only become more common and intense as human populations and technology have grown. So much so, it’s suggested that wildlife exploitation by humans has become a powerful selective driver in the evolution of targeted species. However, the resulting evolutionary signatures remain unclear.

Read more

The first investigational transplant of a genetically engineered, nonhuman kidney to a human body was recently completed at New York University (NYU) Langone Health—marking a major step forward in potentially utilizing an alternative supply of organs for people facing life-threatening disease. Known as xenotransplantation, the surgery was performed on Saturday, September 25, 2021, at NYU Langone’s Kimmel Pavilion. Robert Montgomery, MD, DPhil, the H. Leon Pachter, MD, Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Surgery at NYU Langone and Director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, led a surgical team during the two-hour operation. The kidney was obtained from a genetically engineered pig hundreds of miles away and transplanted into a brain-dead donor. The donor was maintained on a ventilator, with the consent of the family, for 54 hours while doctors studied the kidney’s function and watched for signs of rejection.

Read more

New research has revealed that red blood cells (RBCs) function as critical immune sensors by binding cell-free DNA present in the body’s circulation during sepsis and COVID-19, and that this DNA-binding capability triggers removal of these RBCs from circulation, driving inflammation and anemia during severe illness and playing a much larger role in the immune system than previously thought. Scientists have long known that RBCs, which are essential in delivering oxygen throughout the body, also interacted with the immune system, but didn’t know whether they directly altered inflammation, until now. The study, led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), was published online on October 20, 2021 in Science Translational Medicine. The open-access article is titled “DNA Binding to TLR9 Expressed by Red Blood Cells Promotes Innate Immune Activation and Anemia.”

Read more

On October 20, 2021, the University of California (UC), Berkeley and the UC San Francisco (UCSF) jointly launched a new, one-of-a-kind program in computational precision health, a significant step toward advancing this new field and, ultimately, improving the quality and equity of health care. The partnership positions the two world-renowned universities at the forefront in creating a new field at the intersection of medicine, statistics, and computation. By creating a joint faculty group between UC Berkeley and UCSF, the two universities will simultaneously advance computing and data science with biomedicine and health, enabling solutions that would not have been imagined by either discipline alone. 

Read more

A longitudinal national study led by Virginia Commonwealth University researcher Arun Sanyal, MD, shows that people with advanced liver scarring caused by obesity, diabetes, and related disorders are dying of liver disease. Published in the October 21, 2021 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the research brings new urgency to tests for liver disease, particularly in populations with Type 2 diabetes, and creates a road map for future treatments of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease–treatments that could prevent the need for liver transplants for those with advanced disease. The NEJM article is titled “Prospective Study of Outcomes in Adults with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.”

Read more