Archives: 2021-11-06

Oxford University researchers uncover gene that doubles risk of death from COVID-19

Scientists at Oxford University have identified the gene responsible for doubling the risk of respiratory failure from COVID-19. Sixty percent of people with South Asian ancestry carry the high-risk genetic signal, partly explaining the excess deaths seen in some UK communities, and the impact of COVID-19 in the Indian subcontinent. Previous work has already identified

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SP-101, an investigational inhaled gene therapy for cystic fibrosis, shows potential in animal study

Treatment with SP-101, an investigational gene therapy that Spirovant Sciences is developing for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) who are unable to benefit from current treatments, effectively increased CFTR gene activity in a ferret model of the disease, the company reported. Katherine Excoffon, PhD, Spirovant’s vice president of research, presented the data at the 2021 North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference (NACFC). Her

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Breakthrough Infection Study Compares Decline in Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness and Consequences for Mortality

A new study in the leading journal Science reviewed COVID-19 breakthrough infections among 780,225 Veterans, finding that vaccine protection declined from 87.9% to 48.1% during the 2021 Delta surge in the U.S. The researchers from PHI, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center found a dramatic decline in effectiveness

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The American stem cell sell in 2021: U.S. businesses selling unlicensed and unproven stem cell interventions. Ethical issues and misinformation linked to overhyped science.

In March 2021, 1,480 U.S. businesses operating 2,754 clinics were found selling purported stem cell treatments for various indications. More than four times as many businesses than were identified 5 years ago are selling stem cell products that are not FDA-approved and lack convincing evidence of safety and efficacy following a new paper published in Cell

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Children Hospital of Philadelphia Researchers Develop a New Class of CAR-T Cells that Target Previously Untargetable Cancer Drivers

In a breakthrough for the treatment of aggressive solid cancers, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have developed a novel cancer therapy that targets proteins inside cancer cells that are essential for tumor growth and survival but have been historically impossible to reach. Using the power of large data sets and advanced computational approaches,

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A review on Mesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomes for drug delivery

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multi-functional stem cells that are present in multiple human tissues and can be found in the spinal cord, umbilical cord blood, umbilical cord tissue, placenta tissue, adipose tissue, etc.. With low immunogenicity, multi-directional diferentiation ability, in particular homing ability, MSCs have signifcant research potential in cardiovascular diseases, nervous diseases, and

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Stem cell treatment failed to reduce inflammation in Multiple Sclerosis

Treatment with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has failed to significantly reduce inflammation in the brain of adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) in a phase 2 clinical trial. The into-the-vein treatment also failed to improve other clinical aspects of the condition. The results were shared in a study titled “Safety, tolerability, and activity of mesenchymal stem cells versus placebo

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New Knee Replacement device with “Smart Knee” Implant Enables Remote Patient Monitoring

Imagine knee replacement surgery with a “smart” implant that collects and transmits data enabling an orthopedic surgeon to monitor a patient’s recovery from afar. It became a reality this week when Peter Sculco, MD, and Fred Cushner, MD, orthopedic surgeons at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) performed the first knee replacement containing a smart sensor capable of

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Serine protease inhibitor Nafamostat may be beneficial in the treatment of high-risk COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen treatment: results of a randomised Phase II clinical trial published in EClinical Medicine.

Nafamostat, a serine protease inhibitor, has been used for the treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation and pancreatitis. In vitro studies and clinical reports suggest its beneficial effect in the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia. This phase 2 open-label, randomised, multicentre, controlled trial evaluated nafamostat (4.8 mg/kg/day) plus standard-of-care (SOC) in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 pneumonia (i.e.,

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