O Mundo do Biomédico

Two new studies of patients with difficult-to-control asthma show that the eczema drug dupilumab alleviates asthma symptoms and improves patients’ ability to breathe better than standard therapies. Dupilumab, an injectable anti-inflammatory drug, was approved in 2017 by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for eczema, a chronic skin disease. The more than 2,000 patients enrolled in the studies suffered from moderate to severe asthma. All used standard asthma inhalers, and some also took oral steroids to control their severe asthma symptoms. In one study, the rate of asthma exacerbations was almost cut in half for those taking dupilumab compared with those taking a placebo. On average, patients taking a placebo had close to one exacerbation per day during the year of the study. Exacerbations are periods of sudden worsening of asthma symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest. Although the drug significantly reduced asthma symptom...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a condition that affects roughly one in five women – and now, scientists think they know why. (Just in time for National Women's Health Week.) A study published in  Nature Medicine  found a link between hormonal imbalance in the womb and PCOS, specifically prenatal exposure to a growth factor called anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH).  The team, led by Paolo Giacobini at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, realized levels of AMH were 30 percent higher in pregnant women with PCOS than those without. Because there is a hereditary component to the condition, they decided to test whether or not women with this hormonal imbalance give birth to daughters with PCOS.  “It’s a radical new way of thinking about polycystic ovary syndrome and opens up a whole range of opportunities for further investigation,” explained Robert Norman from the University of Adelaide, Australia, ...

A new test could tell if you have esophageal or stomach cancer just by a whiff of your breath, offering a revolutionary and easy way to reach an early diagnosis of these hard-to-diagnose cancers. Scientists at Imperial College London have developed a “blow in a bag” test that can diagnosis esophageal and gastric cancer in a single breath with over 85 percent accuracy. Typically, these cancers are diagnosed using an endoscopy, a fairly unpleasant procedure where a long, thin camera is put down your throat. They are also relatively expensive. However, this new tool is easy, totally non-invasive, and low cost. As reported in  JAMA Oncology , over 335 patients took part in a clinical trial, including 163 patients already diagnosed with cancer. The researchers are pleased with the results but say they need to do further investigations to improve the accuracy of the test. So, how does it all work? Your breath contains thousands of things called volatile organic compounds (VOC). ...

A luz artificial não traz felicidade aos seres humanos, cujos corpos estão desenhados para funcionar melhor expostos à luz natural, arredada de espaços como escritórios ou centros comerciais, alerta Miguel Meira e Silva, especialista em Cronobiologia e Medicina do Sono. Os seres humanos são animais diurnos para os quais a luz é fundamental para sobreviver e serem felizes, diz Miguel Meira e Silva, da Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa. "Num corpo humano, as células, tecidos e órgãos também são influenciados pela luz natural, por exemplo, com as células fotossensíveis na retina, que regulam o tempo interno de cada pessoa", garante o especialista. Nisto, os seres humanos podem aprender com outros modelos animais, como o da 'Gonyaulax', um protozoário unicelular para quem a luz serve para controlar a aquisição de nutrientes e a "estabilidade social" que precisa para a sua sobrevivência. "É a luz do sol que estimula estas células e desencadeia ao lo...

Pancreatic cancer is expected to become the second deadliest cancer in the United States by 2030. It is tough to cure because it is usually not discovered until it has reached an advanced stage. But a new diagnostic test developed by researchers at UC San Diego shows promise for detecting the disease earlier. The test, which is at the proof-of-concept stage, can rapidly screen a drop of blood for biomarkers of pancreatic cancer. It can provide results in less than an hour. The findings were published in the journal  ACS Nano . “An important step towards being able to cure diseases that come out of nowhere, like pancreatic cancer, is early detection,” said first author Jean Lewis, an assistant project scientist in the Department of Nanoengineering at UC San Diego. “We envision that in the future, physicians might perform this type of test using a quick finger stick to diagnose patients who may not know they have the disease yet.” But because exosomes are so tiny and fragile, ...

Estudo publicado na revista “Nature Chemistry” apresenta uma molécula capaz de combater o vírus da constipação comum, evitando que este se apodere das células humanas. Investigadores do Imperial College London, no Reino Unido, criaram uma molécula testada em células humanas que se mostrou eficaz a bloquear várias estirpes do vírus da constipação. https://lifestyle.sapo.pt/saude/noticias-saude/artigos/cientistas-mais-perto-da-cura-para-a-constipacao A novidade é que esta molécula em vez de atacar os vírus em si – que têm centenas de variações e estão em constante mutação – têm como alvo o hospedeiro infetado, ou seja, os seres humanos. A constipação comum é causada por uma família de vírus com centenas de variantes, o que torna praticamente impossível desenvolver imunidade ou uma vacina eficaz. Esta tarefa é ainda dificultada pela rápida evolução dos vírus que facilmente ganham resistência aos fármacos. Como funciona a nova molécula? O fármaco agora de...

Summary: Researchers say schizophrenia should not be considered to be just a disorder of the mind, as schizophrenia can also impact other organs. A new study reveals people with schizophrenia often have an over active immune system and other physical disorders. Source: The Conversation. Schizophrenia is considered a disorder of the mind, influencing the way a person thinks, feels and behaves. But  our latest research  shows that organs, other than the brain, also change at the onset of the disease. Scientists have known for a long time that people with schizophrenia have much  higher rates of physical illness  compared with the general population, and this contributes to startlingly high rates of premature death. People with the disorder die 15 to 20 years earlier than the average person. This poor physical health has often been seen as a secondary effect of illness. Antipsychotic drugs, for example, are associated with an increased risk of weight gain and...

While foraging through the undergrowth in search of delicious fungi not far from the Mississippi River, a mushroom picker in Minnesota came across something unusual: a two-headed fawn. Other conjoined fawns have been seen before, but only in utero. This is believed to be the  first known conjoined twin fawns  that have reached full term and were delivered by the mother. While they are thought to have been stillborn, the mushroom picker reported he found them in near-perfect condition, indicating they were only recently deceased. “Their anatomy indicates the fawns would never have been viable,” explains Gino D’Angelo, who co-authored a paper on the fawns in the journal  The American Midland Naturalist , in a  statement . “Yet, they were found groomed and in a natural position, suggesting that the doe tried to care for them after delivery. The maternal instinct is very strong.” The impeccable condition of the fawns meant that a full nec...

Look alive people, as in a couple of months we’re going to see the longest total lunar eclipse so far this century, when the Moon will turn a deep red. A total lunar eclipse is caused when the Moon passes through Earth’s shadow, known as the umbra. This occurs when the Sun, Earth, and the Moon are lined up. It’s like a total solar eclipse, but this time we’re the ones eclipsing the Sun, and we’re much bigger, so the whole Moon is draped in shadow. And on July 27, 2018, we’ll be treated to a  total lunar eclipse  that lasts a whopping one hour and 43 minutes, peaking at 8.22pm UTC. It’ll be visible in most of Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia, and parts of Europe too. This total lunar eclipse is especially long because the Moon will pass almost through the center of the umbra. If it’s more to the side, it doesn’t last quite as long. If it misses the umbra entirely then we may get a partial lunar eclipse, when it passes through the surrounding penumbra...

Costa Rica’s green credentials already put the Central American nation near the top of the list when it comes to battling climate change, but if their newly elected President is to be believed, then it’s going to climb higher still. In his inaugural speech, which he turned up to riding a hydrogen-fueled bus, Carlos Alvarado Quesada announced that he wants to lead Costa Rica to become the first decarbonized country in the world. This will include scrapping the use  of all fossil fuels  – even those used for transport.   “Decarbonization is the great task of our generation and Costa Rica must be one of the first countries in the world to accomplish it, if not the first,” President Alvarado  told the crowd . “We have the titanic and beautiful task of abolishing the use of fossil fuels in our economy to make way for the use of clean and renewable energies.” There is no doubt that this is an ambitious goal. Even though Costa Rica is widely reported to be genera...

Scientists working with NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft ( MMS ) have uncovered a new type of space magnetism near Earth, and its trippy simulation will really make you appreciate the safety of our gravitational bubble. Earth is essentially a giant magnet and the area around the rocky planet is dominated by its magnetic field called a  magnetosphere . Other rocky planets have them too, but Earth’s magnetosphere is the strongest, and the protection it provides gives us the cushy terrestrial lifestyle we are so accustomed to. One of the most fundamental processes that occur in this area is called  magnetic reconnection , which contributes to space’s dynamic weather system by dissipating magnetic energy and propelling charged particles called plasma .  Gravity helps things move on Earth, and this magnetic reconnection is key to how charged particles move through space. “In the plasma universe, there are two important phenomena: magnetic reconnecti...

Despite massive government, medical and individual efforts to win the war on obesity,  71 percent of Americans are overweight . The average adult is  24 pounds heavier today  than in 1960. Our growing girth adds some  US$200 billion per year  to our health care expenditure, amounting to a severe health crisis. Drug research has not yielded a pill that helps people  lose weight and keep it off . Traditional approaches such as diet and exercise can work short-term, but people almost inevitably  regain the weight . Randomized controlled trials of weight loss surgery have shown some improvements in diabetes but not in  mortality, cancer and cardiovascular disease . If there is ever to be a “pill” – a solution to weight – it will be changing the brain, particularly the primitive areas of the brain, the “emotional brain” or mammalian and reptilian brain. These areas house circuits that control stress and our stress-fueled emotions, thoughts an...