FDA Clears Gel-Based Device That Instantly Stops Severe Bleeding: What To Know About Traumagel
"Traumagel is a new plant-based gel that quickly stops heavy bleeding from serious injuries like gunshots or cuts. It just got approved by the FDA for its life-saving power. When put on the wound, it forms a quick barrier that helps the blood clot in seconds, without needing pressure or bandages. Made by Cresilon, this gel can be used easily in tough situations like on the battlefield or in emergencies, and it could save many lives during critical times"
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2024/08/15/fda-clears-gel-based-device-that-instantly-stops-severe-bleeding-what-to-know-about-traumagel/
https://cresilon.com/traumagel/
A New Atlas for Cellular Rejuvenation
Potential targets have already been highlighted.
"In Aging, researchers from Spain and Luxegrowing luscious tomato plants in an English gardenmbourg have described the creation of Single-cell RNA-seq Investigation of Rejuvenation Agents and Longevity (SINGULAR), an atlas for cellular rejuvenation that describes how interventions affect individual cells.
The researchers found signaling cascades that had not been previously documented in heterochronic parabiosis and in exercise, finding that parabiosis upregulates macrophage responsiveness (in addition to neutrophil inflammation) and that exercise’s downstream effects appear to upregulate a known factor in neuroprotection.
Only 17 of the master regulators, however, were considered to be druggable targets according to the DrugBank database. Cross-referencing them with the DrugAge database, which documents drugs known to have rejuvenative effects in model organisms [9], revealed that some of these drugs also have effects on the genes identified by SINGULAR."
https://www.lifespan.io/news/a-new-atlas-for-cellular-rejuvenation/
No Time to Age: Uncoupling Aging from Chronological Time
"Multicellular life evolved from simple unicellular organisms that could replicate indefinitely, being essentially ageless. At this point, life split into two fundamentally different cell types: the immortal germline representing an unbroken lineage of cell division with no intrinsic endpoint and the mortal soma, which ages and dies. In this review, we describe the germline as clock-free and the soma as clock-bound and discuss aging with respect to three DNA-based cellular clocks (telomeric, DNA methylation, and transposable element). The ticking of these clocks corresponds to the stepwise progressive limitation of growth and regeneration of somatic cells that we term somatic restriction. Somatic restriction acts in opposition to strategies that ensure continued germline replication and regeneration. We thus consider the plasticity of aging as a process not fixed to the pace of chronological time but one that can speed up or slow down depending on the rate of intrinsic cellular clocks. We further describe how germline factor reprogramming might be used to slow the rate of aging and potentially reverse it by causing the clocks to tick backward. Therefore, reprogramming may eventually lead to therapeutic strategies to treat degenerative diseases by altering aging itself, the one condition common to us all."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8143125/
Research: How the Immune System Fails as Cancer Arises
"Cancer has been described as “a wound that does not heal,” implying that the immune system is unable to wipe out invading tumor cells. A new discovery confirms that a key molecule can reprogram immune cells that normally protect against infection and cancer, turning them into bad guys that promote cancer growth.
...
They found that PAF (platelet-activating factor) is the key molecule that controls the destiny of the immune cells. PAF not only recruits cancer-promoting cells, but it also suppresses the immune system’s ability to fight back. In addition, they found that multiple cancers rely on the same PAF signals."
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/research-how-the-immune-system-fails-as-cancer-arises
HAPLN1 in Skin Aging
"A groundbreaking study utilizing heterochronic parabiosis in mice has unveiled a potential key player in skin aging: hyaluronan and proteoglycan link protein 1 (HAPLN1). This protein, which naturally decreases in mouse sera with age, demonstrated remarkable abilities to restore collagen and hyaluronic acid levels in aging skin."
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2024/09/hapln1-in-skin-aging/
Trinity team’s gene therapy offers promise for treating glaucoma – as well as AMD
"Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a gene therapy that has shown high effectiveness in preclinical studies. Treatment is aimed at increasing mitochondrial activity and reducing oxidative stress. These two factors are hallmarks of many neurodegenerative diseases and, as has recently become known, age-related eye diseases such as glaucoma. The researchers tested the treatment on laboratory animal models and retinal cells from glaucoma patients. In both cases, the therapy improved visual function, as well as increased oxygen consumption and production of ATP molecules, indicating restoration of cellular function. Similar promising results were also obtained during the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration."
Aging is the inflation of life. An emerging crop of longevity biotech companies needs investment to beat it
"Fast forward to today, and a new generation of longevity biotechnology companies with a more conservative approach than their predecessors has emerged. Companies like BioAge Labs and Insilico Medicine are using artificial intelligence (AI) to discover drugs that target specific chronic diseases or biological processes closely associated with aging. Instead of trying to develop therapies for aging directly, these companies focus on conditions that are closely linked to the aging process like obesity, muscle wasting, fibrosis, anemia, and even cancer.. The strategy is to develop drugs for these diseases that could later be repurposed to address aging more broadly. And while in the technology industry we try to focus on moving very fast to win, here we prepare to play a very long game and focus on resilience and novelty rather than putting all eggs in one basket and failing miserably like dozens of companies in the past three decades."
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/aging-inflation-life-emerging-crop-174417779.html
Outdoor nighttime light exposure (light pollution) is associated with Alzheimer’s disease
"Higher outdoor nighttime light was associated with higher prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease. While atrial fibrillation, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and stroke were associated more strongly with AD prevalence than nighttime light intensity, nighttime light was more strongly associated with AD prevalence than alcohol abuse, chronic kidney disease, depression, heart failure, and obesity. Startlingly, nighttime light exposure more strongly associated with AD prevalence in those under the age of 65 than any other disease factor examined."
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2024.1378498/full
TERN-601 Phase 1 Trial Top-Line Results
"The drugs Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound have made a real revolution in the fight against excess weight, so manufacturers have long been working on adapting drugs from injectable to oral form. One of these drugs, from the Californian company Terns Pharmaceuticals, recently completed a pilot phase of clinical trials, confirming the tablets' potential in the fight against obesity. Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Viking Therapeutics and Structure Therapeutics are also working on an oral form of GLP-1.
Their drugs are at various stages of clinical trials. Scientists are confident that the oral form of the drug will significantly expand access to treatment for many patients, but it is not yet clear which manufacturer was the first to receive regulatory approval. It is now known that drugs of the GLP-1 class have shown effectiveness against many other diseases. For example, against Alzheimer's disease, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and brai"
https://ir.ternspharma.com/static-files/e4af859a-de65-4e2d-a1ce-1d4725e0b096
Nanoarchitectonic Engineering of Thermal-Responsive Magnetic Nanorobot Collectives for Intracranial Aneurysm Therapy
"Stent-assisted coiling is a main treatment modality for intracranial aneurysms (IAs) in clinics, but critical challenges remain to be overcome, such as exogenous implant-induced stenosis and reliance on antiplatelet agents. Herein, an endovascular approach is reported for IA therapy without stent grafting or microcatheter shaping, enabled by active delivery of thrombin (Th) to target aneurysms using innovative phase-change material (PCM)-coated magnetite-thrombin (Fe3O4-Th@PCM) FTP nanorobots. The nanorobots are controlled by an integrated actuation system of dynamic torque-force hybrid magnetic fields. With robust intravascular navigation guided by real-time ultrasound imaging, nanorobotic collectives can effectively accumulate and retain in model aneurysms constructed in vivo, followed by controlled release of the encapsulated Th for rapid occlusion of the aneurysm upon melting the protective PCM (thermally responsive in a tunable manner) through focused magnetic hyperthermia. Complete and stable aneurysm embolization is confirmed by postoperative examination and 2-week postembolization follow-up using digital subtraction angiography (DSA), contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and histological analysis. The safety of the embolization therapy is assessed through biocompatibility evaluation and histopathology assays. This strategy, seamlessly integrating secure drug packaging, agile magnetic actuation, and clinical interventional imaging, avoids possible exogenous implant rejection, circumvents cumbersome microcatheter shaping, and offers a promising option for IA therapy."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.202400408
Mitigation of aging-related plasticity decline through taurine supplementation and environmental enrichment
Aging-related biochemical changes in nerve cells lead to dysfunctional synapses and disrupted neuronal circuits, ultimately affecting vital processes such as brain plasticity, learning, and memory. The imbalance between excitation and inhibition in synaptic function during aging contributes to cognitive impairment, emphasizing the importance of compensatory mechanisms. Fear conditioning-related plasticity of the somatosensory barrel cortex, relying on the proper functioning and extensive up regulation of the GABAergic system, in particular interneurons containing somatostatin, is compromised in aging (one-year-old) mice. The present research explores two potential interventions, taurine supplementation, and environmental enrichment, revealing their effectiveness in supporting learning-induced plasticity in the aging mouse brain. They do not act through a mechanism normalizing the Glutamate/GABA balance that is disrupted in aging. Still, they allow for increased somatostatin levels, an effect observed in young animals after learning. These findings highlight the potential of lifestyle interventions and diet supplementation to mitigate age-related cognitive decline by promoting experience-dependent plasticity.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-70261-5
Paligenosis and Recruitment of Progenitor Cells
"Paligenosis is how differentiated cells return to the cell cycle. It is a cellular program that is evolutionarily conserved across organs and species, similar to how apoptosis is an evolutionarily conserved program to execute cell death. Paligenosis begins with massive upregulation of autophagy and lysosomes as the cell begins to recycle organelles to convert from a mature, secretory state to a trimmer, progenitor-like state. After the autophagy stage, cells undergoing paligenosis upregulate expression of proteins associated with the embryonic and wound healing state: SOX9, nuclear YAP1, Mucins. They then decide whether to undergo cell division or not. Paligenosis seems to be required for metaplasia, a precancerous lesion that occurs during chronic injury and inflammation. "
https://www.bcm.edu/research/faculty-labs/jason-mills-lab/projects