Global Medical Updates

 WHAT IS SEPTICEMIA? Septicemia, or sepsis, is the clinical name for blood poisoning by bacteria. It is the body's most extreme response to an infection. Sepsis that progresses to septic shock has a death rate as high as 50%, depending on the type of organism involved. Sepsis is a medical emergency and needs urgent medical treatment. Without treatment, sepsis can quickly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death . Septicemia is an infection that occurs when bacteria enter the bloodstream and spread. It can lead to sepsis, the body’s reaction to the infection, which can cause organ damage and even death. Septicemia is more common in people who are hospitalized or have other medical conditions. It requires immediate medical attention and antibiotic treatment. Septicemia, sometimes called blood poisoning, is an infection that occurs when germs get into the bloodstream and spread. The germs are usually bacteria but also can be viruses or fungi. WHAT CAUSES SEPSIS? These infe...

 WHAT IS BIOMIMETICS? Biomimetics is an interdisciplinary field in which principles from engineering, chemistry and biology are applied to the synthesis of materials, synthetic systems or machines that have functions that mimic biological processes. Biomaterials are any natural or synthetic material that interacts with any part of a biological system. Biomimetic designs could be used in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and drug delivery. COMMON EXAMPLES IN BIOMIMETICS The Pyramids, skyscrapers, supersonic flight - despite the incredible ingenuity and engineering ability humans have demonstrated over the past millennia, we are continually looking for new inspiration and ways to improve our designs. Given  evolution  has the benefit of millions of years of trial and error to perfect its designs in nature, it is logical that human construction can benefit in drawing from its influence. This approach to human innovation, via emulating nature, is called biomimetic des...

 WHAT IS SANGER SEQUENCING? Sanger sequencing is a method that yields information about the identity and order of the four nucleotide bases in a segment of DNA. Also known also as the “chain-termination method”, it was developed in 1977 by Frederick Sanger and colleagues, and is still considered the gold standard of sequencing technology today since it provides a high degree of accuracy, long-read capabilities, and the flexibility to support a diverse range of applications in many research areas In the mid-1970s, Sanger wasn’t alone in the race to sequence DNA; almost in parallel, two American scientists, Maxam and Gilbert, developed a technique in which DNA is chemically treated to break the chain at specific bases. Following electrophoresis of the cleaved DNA, the relative lengths of the fragments—and thus the positions of specific nucleotides—can be determined and the sequence inferred. This is considered the birth of first-generation sequencing. However, the advent of Sanger’s ...

  Researchers in Madrid recently wrapped up the largest-yet genomic study of rare neuroendocrine tumors, known as pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs), which identified a seemingly perfect panel of metastatic disease markers as well as a group of patients who could potentially benefit from immunotherapy. The objective here is a better means to predict, at the time of diagnosis of the primary tumor, whether patients will be immediately affected by cancer spread, according to Bruna Calsina, a researcher at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO).  Surgical removal of the primary tumor is standard practice, with physicians relying on clinical characteristics of the tumor and patient symptoms in the absence of reliable molecular markers of metastatic potential, she says. The central problem is that PPGLs are exceedingly rare. Samples from more than 100 patients with metastatic disease were analyzed in the latest study, published in  Nature Communications , ...

  DEPRESSION Depression, that is major depressive disorder (MDD), is a calamity for individuals and society. If we have not experienced it ourselves, we all know someone who has been struck by this disease. Twenty percent of women and 15 per cent of men suffer at least one episode in their lifetime. In the USA, the lifetime prevalence in the general population is estimated at 16.2 per cent. MDD is characterized by two or more weeks of depressed mood or diminished interest, associated with symptoms such as disturbed sleep, decrease in appetite and libido, psychomotor changes, reduced concentration, excessive guilt and suicidal thoughts or attempts. It is insidious and often recurrent. Although depressive episodes can be treated well with antidepressant medication, structured forms of psychotherapy or a combination of these, the rate of recurrence is high, with each episode raising the probability of a new one by 16 per cent. MDD is the second leading cause of disability worldwide, i...

  WHAT IS CRISPR? “CRISPR” (pronounced “crisper”) stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, which are the hallmark of a bacterial defense system that forms the basis for CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology. In the field of genome engineering, the term “CRISPR” or “CRISPR-Cas9” is often used loosely to refer to the various CRISPR-Cas9 and -CPF1, (and other) systems that can be programmed to target specific stretches of genetic code and to edit DNA at precise locations, as well as for other purposes, such as for new diagnostic tools. With these systems, researchers can permanently modify genes in living cells and organisms and, in the future, may make it possible to correct mutations at precise locations in the human genome in order to treat genetic causes of disease. Other systems are now available, such as CRISPR-Cas13, that target RNA provide alternate avenues for use, and with unique characteristics that have been leveraged for sensitive diagnostic t...