Day: December 14, 2021

Categories : Ageing ExerciseTags :

A ‘Sweet Spot’ for Exercise to Reverse Cognitive Decline

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels

Researchers at the University of Queensland have identified an exercise ‘sweet spot’ that reverses the cognitive decline in ageing mice, paving the way for human studies.

After more than a decade of research, the team led by Professor Perry Bartlett and Dr Dan Blackmore, the team found 35 days of voluntary physical exercise improved learning and memory. The findings were published in iScience.

“We tested the cognitive ability of elderly mice following defined periods of exercise and found an optimal period or ‘sweet spot’ that greatly improved their spatial learning,” Dr Blackmore said.

Additionally, the researchers also discovered how exercise improved learning – down to growth hormones.

“We found that growth hormone (GH) levels peaked during this time, and we’ve been able to demonstrate that artificially raising GH in sedentary mice also was also effective in improving their cognitive skills,” Dr Blackmore said

“We discovered GH stimulates the production of new neurons in the hippocampus – the region of the brain critically important to learning and memory.

“This is an important discovery for the thousands of Australians diagnosed with dementia every year.”

Dementia is the second leading cause of death of all Australians, and with no medical breakthrough the number of people with dementia is expected to increase to around 1.1 million by 2058.

Professor Bartlett said the findings add to the body of evidence showing that loss of cognitive function in old age is directly related to the diminished production of new neurons.

“It underlines the importance of being able to activate the neurogenic stem cells in the brain that we first identified 20 years ago,” Professor Bartlett said.

The team were able to explore how the production of new neurons changed the circuitry in the brain using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

“Using MRI, we were able to study the brain following exercise, and for the first time identify the critical changes in the structure and functional circuitry of the hippocampus required for improved spatial learning,” Dr. Blackmore said.

Source: University of Queensland

Categories : Injury & Trauma Regenerative MedicineTags :

Astronauts Will Test A Portable Bioprinter for Wounds

On By ModernMedia
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is shown during preflight training for the BioPrint First Aid investigation, which tests a bioprinted tissue patch for enhanced wound healing.
Credit: ESA

A suitably advanced piece of wound care technology will be sent into orbit to the space station in the next few days: a prototype for portable bioprinter that can cover a wound area on the skin by applying a tissue-forming bio-ink that acts like a patch, and accelerates the healing process.

While the aim is to provide a effective wound treatment for astronauts millions of kilometres from the nearest hospital, such a personalised wound healing patch would also have a great benefit on Earth. Since the cultured cells are taken from the patient, immune system rejection is unlikely, allowing a safe regenerative and personalised therapy. Other advantages are the possibilities of treatment and greater flexibility regarding wound size and position. In addition, due to its small size and portability, physicians could take the device anywhere to an immobile patient if their cells were cultivated in advance.

“On human space exploration missions, skin injuries need to be treated quickly and effectively,” said project manager Michael Becker from the German Space Agency. “Mobile bioprinting could significantly accelerate the healing process. The personalised and individual bioprinting-based wound treatment could have a great benefit and is an important step for further personalised medicine in space and on Earth.”

The use of bioprinting for skin reconstruction following burns is one growing application for the technology. However, it presently requires large bioprinters that first print the tissue, allow it to mature, before it is implanted onto the patient. By testing it in the gravity-free environment of space, Bioprint FirstAid will help optimise of bioprinting materials and processes. Microgravity-based 3D tissue models are important for greater understanding of the bioengineering and bio-fabrication requirements that are essential to achieve highly viable and functional tissues. Under microgravity conditions, the pressure of different layers containing cells is absent, as well as the potential sedimentation effect of living cell simulants. The stability of the 3D printed tissue patch, and the potentially gravity-dependent (electrolyte to membrane interface) crosslinking process, can be analysed for future applications.

The Bioprint FirstAid prototype contains no cells at this point. The surprisingly simple prototype is a robust, purely mechanical handheld bioprinter consisting of a dosing device in the handle, a print head, support wheels, and an ink cartridge. The cartridge contains a substitution (in total two different substitutions, both without skin cells) and a crosslinker, which serves as a stabilising matrix. To test it out, the simulant will be applied to the arm or leg of a crew member wrapped in foil, or alternatively at any other surface wrapped in foil. On Earth, a printed sample with human cells will be tested, and the distribution pattern will be compared to the cell-free sample that was printed in space.

Source: NASA

Categories : COVID HIVTags :

Vaccine Trial Will Determine Moderna Efficacy in People with HIV

On By ModernMedia
Image by Sergey Mikheev on Unsplash

A highly anticipated clinical trial in eight sub-Saharan countries is the first to specifically evaluate the efficacy of a COVID vaccine in people living with HIV, including those with poorly controlled infections. It also is the first study to evaluate the efficacy of vaccines – in this case, Moderna mRNA-1273 – against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

In addition to examining the efficacy of COVID mRNA vaccines in people living with HIV, the study investigators seek to identify the optimal regimen for this population and how it might vary based on whether an individual has previously had COVID-19 or not.

The trial will be conducted in East and Southern Africa – regions of the world that have been highly impacted by HIV. It is expected to enrol about 14,000 volunteers at 54 clinical research sites in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda and Kenya, where adult HIV prevalence ranges from 4.5% to 27%.

“Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit hard by the COVID pandemic, but access to effective vaccines, especially mRNA technology, has been very limited,” said Dr. Nigel Garrett, co-chair of the study and head of Vaccine and HIV Pathogenesis Research at the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). “The Ubuntu trial will provide safety data to regulators and assess correlates of protection from COVID-19, and it will answer important questions on mRNA vaccine dosage regimens among people living with HIV.”

About 12 600 people living with HIV and about 1400 who are HIV-negative are expected to be enrolled in the study. About 5000 will have previously had COVID, confirmed by an antibody blood test done at initial enrollment. All participants will receive the Moderna vaccine, but dosages and schedules will vary depending on previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. Participants living with HIV will get access to optimal HIV treatment throughout the trial.

“This region faces a huge HIV burden,” said Dr Glenda Gray, Ubuntu study protocol lead adviser and president of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC). “Although safe and effective vaccines have been developed for COVID-, HIV and COVID are on a collision course,” she added. “The impact of COVID-19 on people living with HIV is a concern for the continent, particularly in light of the recently-sequenced omicron variant set to drive South Africa’s fourth wave and further infections globally.”

Dr Philip Kotzé, one of the lead study investigators, said the Ubuntu study would not be possible without the crucial participation of rural communities across Southern and East Africa. “These communities have been disproportionately impacted by the twin pandemics of HIV and COVID-19, and they now have an unprecedented opportunity to help advance science and improve our understanding of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in the context of HIV.”

Dr Larry Corey, principal investigator of both the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN), and co-leader of the network’s vaccine testing pipeline, said this study seeks to address the knowledge gap around HIV status and COVID vaccination.

“Vaccination and treatment are critical for those who face the dual threat of HIV and COVID, as they remain at high risk of acquisition and transmission and potentially can be the origin of future variants,” Dr Corey said. “It is imperative that we as scientists and as society double-down on global efforts to find and make available effective vaccines and treatments. This study represents an important step forward in our efforts to reduce the burden of COVID among HIV-infected persons and understand whether current dosage regimens are adequate.”

Source: HIV Vaccine Trials Network

Categories : General InterestTags :

Brain Surgeons versus Rocket Scientists: Who’s Brainier?

On By ModernMedia
Source: Sammy Williams on Unsplash

A light-hearted research article published in the Christmas edition of the BMJ sought to see once for all who is ‘brainier’: brain surgeons versus rocket scientists.

Brain surgeons and rocket scientists are often put on a pedestal as the exemplars of intellectual endeavour. But which of them is smarter and deserves the accolade more? Or at all? A group of neurosurgeons – who were, of course, totally unbiased – decided to resolve this conundrum.

Delving into the background of the phrases, they wrote that, “The phrase ‘It’s not rocket science’ is thought to have originated in America in the 1950s when German rocket scientists were brought over to support the developing space program and design of military rockets,” a research team led by University College London neuroscientist Inga Usher explained in their new paper.

“The origin of ‘It’s not brain surgery’ is less clear. It is tempting to speculate that the pioneering techniques of the polymath and neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing captured the attention of the public and promulgated the phrase.”

Their study aimed to settle the debate once and for all, and to “provide rocket scientists and brain surgeons with evidence to support their self-assuredness in the company of the other party.” The researchers tested participants across cognitive domains such as emotional discrimination and motor control. Eschewing an overall winner, they assessed the cognitive characteristics of each specialty using a validated online test, the Great British Intelligence Test (GBIT). This test had been used to measure distinct aspects of human cognition, spanning planning and reasoning, working memory, attention, and emotion processing abilities in more than 250 000 members of the British public. Rather than being an IQ test, it is intended to more finely discriminate aspects of cognitive ability. The dataset also let the researchers benchmark both specialties against the general population.

The neurosurgeons showed significantly higher scores than the aerospace engineers in semantic problem solving (possibly attributable to their familiarity with Latin and Greek scientific terminology). Aerospace engineers showed significantly higher scores in mental manipulation and attention. Domain scores for memory, spatial problem solving, problem solving speed, and memory recall speed were similar for both groups. When each group’s scores for the six domains were compared with those in the general population, only two differences were significant: the neurosurgeons’ problem solving speed was quicker and their memory recall speed was slower. No significant difference was found between aerospace engineers and the control population in any of the domains. 

The researchers observed that, “despite the stereotypes depicted by the phrases ‘It’s not rocket science’ and ‘It’s not brain surgery’, all three groups showed a wide range of cognitive abilities. In the original GBIT, 90% of Britons scored above average on at least one aspect of intelligence, illustrating the importance of studying multiple domains that make up a concept of intelligence rather than a single measure.”

The researchers came to the conclusion that, based on the findings, in situations that do not require rapid problem solving, it might be more correct to use the phrase “It’s not brain surgery”. It is possible that both neurosurgeons and aerospace engineers are unnecessarily placed on a pedestal and that “It’s a walk in the park” or another phrase unrelated to careers might be more appropriate. Other specialties might deserve to be on that pedestal, and future work should aim to determine the most deserving profession.

On a more serious note, they also considered that fewer young people are choosing surgery or engineering as a career path, and that such pursuits are commonly seen as ‘masculine’, deterring many females at an early stage. Their results however, showed that neither field differed significantly in cognitive aspects from the general public, which should help reassure future candidates that there is no ‘requirement’ for any type of personality trait.

Source: The British Medical Journal

Categories : COVID Healthcare Politics and RegulationsTags :

Vaccine Patent Waivers are No Silver Bullet, Experts Argue

On By ModernMedia
Image by Ivan Diaz on Unsplash

Rather than a World Trade Organization (WTO) patent waiver, COVID vaccine equity requires improvements to manufacturing and distribution of vaccines in the Global South and compulsory licensing mechanisms, according to a statement by ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities. 

They state that the low level of COVID vaccination in the Global South is ethically unacceptable and risks prolonging the pandemic. At the end of 2021, access to Covid-19 vaccines is still a priority. Only 5.9 % of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose (on 29 November 2021, compared with 0.3% on 14 April), with numbers in Africa remaining very low, save for Morocco. The patent waiver being discussed within the WTO since 2020 will not solve these vaccination bottlenecks in the short-term. For instance, the waiver as proposed by South Africa and India would in practice require unanimity between the 164 WTO Members to be adopted – to achieve this in practice would simply delay the waiver until after the pandemic.

Rather, measures should be undertaken to accelerate local manufacturing and distribution of vaccines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), ramp up investment in vaccination campaigns, and facilitate the compulsory licensing of patents and knowledge transfer.

In particular, the statement advocates for (i) practical measures that could accelerate the production, export, distribution, and administration of vaccines worldwide and ii) an international mechanism affording additional scrutiny of the manufacturing bottlenecks combined with new measures in the intellectual property (IP) framework such as flexibility for the compulsory licensing of patents.

According to the experts, the current co-sponsored waiver proposal at the WTO is “not well-tailored to the urgent vaccine problem” and needs additional national legislation to have any practical effect. A WTO waiver would only remove the obligation for WTO Member States to grant IP protection, but would not ensure that stakeholders can effectively benefit from the invention and related know-how.

“A waiver (in the sense of the co-sponsored proposal at the WTO) of IP protection, including of trade secrets, would never make this know how publicly accessible, but only remove the possibility for companies enjoying confidentiality protection to sue for trade secret infringement”, the experts argued.

Other IPR measures need to be considered instead, with the WTO waiver debate raising other IP fixes that are needed in the field of health. The WTO rules on compulsory licensing of health-related patents should be amended. Important adjustments to patents and trade secret protections should also be adopted by the EU, its Member States, and other countries. In particular, improved procedures and institutional design should help to streamline the process for compulsory licensing on pharmaceutical products, including vaccines.

Source: ALLEA

Categories : COVIDTags :

Alcohol Curbs may Return while UK Red List may be Scrapped

On By ModernMedia
Image by Quicknews

With the COVID test positivity rate climbing above 30%, President Cyril Ramaphosa is widely expected to address the nation in the coming days. Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said on Friday that the National Coronavirus Command Council would be meeting on Tuesday or Wednesday to discuss new restrictions in the face of surging infections.

The main concern is centred around the large number of gatherings that will take place over the festive period: under Level 1 lockdown rules, gatherings of up to 750 individuals are permitted indoors. The Bureau for Economic Research issued a report saying that data so far indicates that there are fewer hospitalisations and less severe disease with the Omicron variant, in line with observations made since the start of the variant’s outbreak.

A partial ban on alcohol sales seems likely, according to a source cited by City Press: “He is considering proposing to the NCCC and cabinet a few adjustments, which include banning the sale of alcohol on weekends and public holidays until mid-January. Don’t be surprised when we have a family meeting before Thursday. He is serious about protecting the country.”

He initially had no plans to address the nation, sources said, but was motivated to change his view in light of the increasing rate of transmission.

Meanwhile, the UK appears set to scrap its controversial red list, which had been widely viewed as unfairly targeting South Africa. The red list amounted to a virtual travel ban, with travellers forced to pay £2285 (R48 400) per person for a ten day stay in often substandard quarantine accommodation. However, it will come too late for many people who have cancelled travel plans.

In a windfall for South Africans, the cost of PCR testing has been revised downward to R500 from R850 as of Sunday following a complaint lodged with the Council for Medical Schemes against private pathology laboratories, alleging the pricing for COVID PCR tests was unfairly inflated. Pricing for rapid antigen tests is said to be next on the list for the Competition Commission. 

On Sunday, a technical glitch caused the National Health Laboratory Service to delay release of a large portion of test results. The glitch meant that initially 18 035 cases were released initially, which rose to over 37 000 after the correction.

The cause was put down to IT difficulties with various laboratories.