You are currently browsing the archives for the drugs category.
Targeting smokers that are suffering outside in the cold under the smoking ban, Liquid Smoke offers an alternative to a nicotine fix in the can. “Fruit flavored”, with the promise of an instant high followed by a ‘euphoric calming feeling, the company hopes to make it as popular as Red Bull is bars.
Link and photo via inventorspot.com.
Scientists at the Medical College of Georgia, claim to have found a method for manipulating certian proteins in the brains of mice that erases specific memories with no damage to the brain, according to this BBC report.
The scientists say that in the long-term it should be possible to develop a pill that wipes out traumatic and fearful memories in humans.
Dr Joe Tsien, of the Brain and Behaviour Discovery Institute in Georgia said: “First of all I should emphasise the methodology is not applicable to the human clinical situation yet.
“However, it does suggest molecular paradigms which we can explore to perhaps achieve the same kind of effects in humans – but those are probably years or decades away.”
From gizmodo.com:
The chip is much more precise than the finger pricking method for monitoring blood, and in diabetes sufferers, can minimize the risk of complications like blindness and kidney failure. The first glucose-monitoring and osteoporosis drug-releasing chips will begin human clinical trials next year. MicroCHIPS is looking into developing more advanced versions that can predict heart or kidney failure, biodegrade in the body, and release multiple vaccine or drug doses over time.
Hello Medical Tag! Ok, a primitive medical one, but it’s a good step in the right direction. I wonder if they have even considered adding any kind of sercurity to this? How easy could it be to hack into the tag and trigger an overdose of meds?
Made of pieces of engineered RNA, which was assembled inside a yeast cell:
A newly developed bio-computer allows scientists to “program” molecules to carry out “commands” inside cells.
Such devices could one day allow humans to manipulate biological systems directly, said the California Institute of Technology’s Christina Smolke, who co-authored the study, which will be published tomorrow in the journal Science.
Bio-computers might eventually serve as brains for producing biofuels from cells, for example, or to control “smart drugs” that medicate only under certain conditions.
From nationalgeographic.com.
Researchers are developing ways to link multiple robotic pills together, with each section of the robotic pill having it’s own function. One might take pictures, or section might take samples. A drug delivery section would add the needed drugs to treat which ever medical conditions the pills might find.
Link and photo via gearlog.com.
See Also:
The nanobialys are an important addition to the stock of diagnostic and disease-fighting nanoparticles developed by researchers in the Consortium for Translational Research in Advanced Imaging and Nanomedicine (C-TRAIN) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. C-TRAIN’s “smart” nanoparticles can deliver drugs and imaging agents directly to the site of tumors and plaques.
The nanobialys weren’t cooked up for their appealing shape — that’s a natural result of the manufacturing process. The particles answered a need for an alternative to the research group’s gadolinium-containing nanoparticles, which were created for their high visibility in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
Gadolinium is a common contrast agent for MRI scans, but recent studies have shown that it can be harmful to some patients with severe kidney disease.
Link and image via sciencedaily.com.
Chinese scientists announced on Monday that they have bred a genetically altered cow capable of producing cancer fighting proteins for humans. The cow, which can produce CD20 antibodies in its milk, was born in Beijing on Aug. 2 and a dozen more are due to be born next month. The human monoclonal (produced from a single cell) antibodies could be purified from the milk of the transgenic cow, and used to treat B cell lymphomas and leukemias and some auto-immune diseases, said research team leader Li Ning, an academician with China Academy of Engineering. The calf weighed 38 kg at birth. In seven to eight months, the research team would induce lactation to test its antibody expression.
The low antibody expression level and high cost of cell culture has been a stumbling block in the industrial production of the antibody drug, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1997. The U.S.-based Business Communication Corp. has estimated the worldwide market for transgenically sourced therapies at more than1 billion U.S. dollars in 2008 and 18.6 billion dollars by 2013.
Link via fareastgizmos.com.
This looks like a very interesting documentary; Bigger, Stronger, Faster an examination of the culture and history of performance enhancing drugs, specifically steroids.
Here is the trailer:
Anyone seen it? I think it is pretty easy to extrapolate this to other areas. Do they do blood tests at the Math Olympics; are nootropics banned there, I wonder?
Next Big Future has a nice roundup of current DARPA supersoldier projects. Some of my favourites are:
A major focus is on helping the soldier’s body to better deal with trauma and damage. One such is the “pain vaccines” coming out of a program at Rinat Neuroscience [Pfizer acquired Rinat Neuroscience in 2006]. Researchers are hopeful these “will block the sense of pain for almost a month,” describes DARPA’s Michael Goldblatt.
The substance does is block intense pain in less than 10 seconds. Its effects last for 30 days. It doesn’t stifle your reactions. If you touch a hot stove, you still have the initial shock; your hand will still automatically jerk away. But after that, the torment is gone. The product works on the inflammatory response that is responsible for the majority of subacute pain. If you get shot, you feel the bullet, but after that, the inflammation and swelling that trigger agony are substantially reduced.
And…
The plan is for new body armor that, instead of Kevlar, is filled with nano-materials that are connected to a computer. [Computer controlled liquid armor] It would normally be as flexible as regular uniform made of fabric. But, like how a crash-bag works inside a car, it would activate whenever the system detects a bullet strike and turn as hard as steel in an instant.
Gloves could turn into real-life brass knuckles.
The fabric could even be woven in with “nanomuscle fibers” that simulate real muscles, giving soldiers more an estimated “25 to 35 percent better lifting capability.” So myostatin strength boost to get to olympic athlete strength levels and then 25-35% boost from a soft suit. Use better exoskeletons for more strength enhancement.
From deflecting bullets to powers of invisibility, as military analyst Max Boot writes, such a suit truly “would give ordinary mortals many of the attributes of comic book superheroes.
Head back to Next Big Future for a lot more links and current military enhancement projects.
Korean research has come up with the potential of tomato as carrier of an edible vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease.
Kim and colleagues’ aim was to develop a plant-derived vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease, since beta-amyloid is toxic to animal cells. Tomatoes are an attractive candidate as a vaccine carrier because they can be eaten without heat treatment, which reduces the risk of destroying the immune stimulation potential of the foreign protein. The researchers inserted the beta-amyloid gene into the tomato genome and measured the immune responses to the tomato-derived toxic protein in a group of 15-month-old mice.
They immunized the mice orally with the transgenic tomato plants once a week for three weeks, and also gave the mice a booster seven weeks after the first tomato feed. Blood analyses showed a strong immune response after the booster, with the production of antibodies to the human foreign protein.
Still on initial stages, but interestingly promising line of research.
Link and photo via biotech-weblog.com
Promising is an understatement, if it works well.
From Technology Review:
Drugs that encourage the growth of new neurons in the brain are now headed for clinical trials. The drugs, which have already shown success in alleviating symptoms of depression and boosting memory in animal models, are being developed by BrainCells, a San Diego-based start-up that screens drugs for their brain-growing power.
…
In the last ten years, scientists have discovered that new neurons are born in the adult brain and that increases or decreases in this cell growth, known as neurogenesis, may be involved in myriad brain diseases, including depression, schizophrenia and stroke. Subsequent research has shown that existing drugs, including Prozac and other antidepressants, boost neurogenesis. In fact, that property may be an integral component of the drugs’ effectiveness–for example; some experiments suggest that new cell growth in the hippocampus is necessary for antidepressants to work.
…
Clinical trials of the company’s lead candidate, known as BCI-540, began earlier this year. The drug, originally developed for Alzheimer’s disease, boosts brain cell growth by 20 percent.
…
Drugs that boost brain cell growth may also aid cognition. Previous research has shown that neurogenesis in the hippocampus, a brain area integral to learning and memory, is important for maintaining plasticity in that part of the brain, which in turn is linked to memory function. “With aging, there’s a decrease in neurogenesis,” says Kriegstein. “The hypothesis is that if you could boost neurogenesis to compensate for that age-related decline, you might maintain functional levels.”
BrainCells is also testing a compound, known as BCI-632, for its cognitive enhancing properties. “It’s the most neurogenic compound we’ve seen,” says Schoeneck. While the compound hasn’t yet been tested in humans, it appears to boost at least one type of memory in rodents. The company aims to begin clinical trials next year.
Novel drug combinations may also have neurogenesis-boosting power. For example, researchers at Brain cells have found that a respiratory drug and a cardiovascular drug, both already on the market, seem to dramatically boost brain cell growth in cellular tests.
I really want to know that last part – which pre-existing medz do I combo up to keep my brain young? The rest I can wait for – clinical trials being there for a reason and all.
thanks for the tip-off Wolven!
From BBC NEWS:
Nicknamed the “cuddle chemical”, oxytocin is a naturally produced hormone, which has been shown to play a role in social relations, maternal bonding, and also in sex.
…
In a second game, where the human trustees were replaced by a computer which gave random returns, the hormone made no difference to the players’ investment behaviour.
“It appears that oxytocin affects social responses specifically related to trust,” Dr Baumgartner said.
…
During the games, the players’ brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
The researchers found that oxytocin reduced activity in two regions which act as natural “defence barriers”.
They are the amygdala, which processes fear and danger, and an area of the striatum, which helps to guide future behaviour, based on reward feedback.
The amygdala has been found to be extremely active in the brains of sufferers of social phobia.
How long until this is used in car-jackings and home-invasions? The plus side being that with more pliant victims, the violence in these crimes may be reduced.