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  • Long-term use of either cannabis or cannabis-based drugs impairs memory say researchers.

    The study has implications for both recreational users and people who use the drug to combat epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and chronic pain.

  • San Antonio, Texas  A group of scientists at Texas Biomedical Research Institute have zeroed in on a new defense against HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. Led by Ruth Ruprecht, M.D., Ph.D., the team used an animal model to show for the first time that an antibody called Immunoglobulin M (IgM) was effective in preventing infection after mucosal AIDS virus exposure. Worldwide, an estimated 90% of new cases of HIV-1 are caused through exposure in the mucosal cavities like the inside lining of the rectum or vagina.

  • Technologies that are reducing costs and changing the ways in which researchers and clinicians process and use therapeutic cells are showcased in the August 2018 special issue of SLAS Technology. With leadership from guest editor Christopher Puleo, Ph.D., and colleagues of General Electric Global Research (Niskayuna, NY), the issue presents two review articles that detail the status of cell bioreactors in both stem cell and tissue/organ engineering applications and five original research reports by life sciences researchers from universities, pharma companies and hospitals in Australia and across the United States.

  • Gestational diabetes may increase the risk of blood vessel dysfunction and heart disease in offspring by altering a smooth muscle protein responsible for blood vessel network formation. Understanding of the protein's function in fetal cells may improve early detection of disease in children. The study is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology--Cell Physiology.

  • People infected with HIV are twice as likely to suffer from heart disease, research has found.

    Analysis of global figures reveals that HIV-associated cardiovascular disease has more than tripled in the past 20 years as more people are living longer with the virus.

  • Omega 3 is a type of fat. Small amounts of omega 3 fats are essential for good health, and they can be found in the food that we eat. The main types of omega 3 fatty acids are; alpha­linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). ALA is normally found in fats from plant foods, such as nuts and seeds (walnuts and rapeseed are rich sources). EPA and DHA, collectively called long chain omega 3 fats, are naturally found in fatty fish, such as salmon and fish oils including cod liver oil.

  • A class of molecules formed when the body metabolizes omega-3 fatty acids could inhibit cancer's growth and spread, University of Illinois researchers report in a new study in mice. The molecules, called endocannabinoids, are made naturally by the body and have similar properties to cannabinoids found in marijuana - but without the psychotropic effects.

  • A novel drug based on capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their spicy burn, caused long term weight loss and improved metabolic health in mice eating a high fat diet, in new studies from the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy. The drug, Metabocin, was designed to slowly release capsaicin throughout the day so it can exert its anti-obesity effect without producing inflammation or adverse side effects.

  • Treatments using antibiotics should stop as soon as possible to prevent patients passing the tipping point of becoming resistant to their effects, new research has shown.

    A team of researchers, led by Professor Robert Beardmore from the University of Exeter, has uncovered new evidence that suggests reducing the length of the antibiotic course reduces the risk of resistance.

    For the study, the researchers examined how microbial communities - groups of microorganisms that share a common living space in the body - reacted to different antibiotic cycling patterns, which sees the medication restricted or increased, under laboratory conditions.

    They found that changes both in the duration and dose of antibiotics used and in sugar levels (which mimics the variable sugar levels in human patients) could push these microbial communities beyond a "tipping point" - creating an irreversible shift to becoming drug resistant.


    The researchers insist this new study demonstrates that resistant species can increase within the body even after an antibiotic is withdrawn - if a tipping point was unwittingly passed during treatment.

    Professor Beardmore, a mathematical biosciences expert from the University of Exeter, said: "It's a sensible idea that when you take an antibiotic away, resistance goes away too, but we wondered what kinds of antibiotic treatments don't behave like that. After all, in some clinical studies, resistance didn't disappear when the antibiotic did."


    Antibiotic resistance occurs when microbes develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them, and so they multiply unhindered. Antibiotics are the most effective treatment for a wide-range of microbial infections, including strep throat and pneumonia.

    For decades, patients have been instructed to complete courses of antibiotics because the perceived wisdom had been that taking too few tablets would allow bacteria to mutate and become resistant. However, more recently it has been suggested that the longer microbes are exposed to antibiotics, the more likely it is that resistance will develop.

    Little research has been conducted to show how the length of a course of antibiotics impacts resistance, which, despite differences in patients, for example in their blood sugar levels, are recommended to be the same for all.

    In the new study, the researchers examined how microbial communities containing Candida albicans and Candida glabrata reacted to different doses of an antimicrobial when fed with sugar.

    Both species are commonly found together in healthy people, but are also opportunistic pathogens which can cause infection.

    The study showed that as the antimicrobial was introduced, the communities were reduced, while the removal of the treatment allowed them to flourish again.

    Crucially, the researchers showed that if sugar levels dropped in the community, it could reach a "tipping point" whereby resistance would persist even after the antimicrobial had stopped being used.

    The new research opens up the possibilities for further studies to better understand when the best time would be to stop antibiotic treatment, to prevent resistance occurring.

    Co-author Professor Ivana Gudelj added: "Our body is a mother ship for microbial communities but we've still expected to understand drug resistance by studying microbial species one at a time, in the lab.

    "We show this can be misleading because microbes have intricate relationships that the drugs make even more complicated, and yet our theories of antibiotic resistance have ignored this, until now. So that's the first surprise: even sugars can affect antibiotic resistance."

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  • People with multiple sclerosis (MS) can find an abundance of conflicting advice suggesting that special diets - everything from avoiding processed foods to going low-carb - will ease their symptoms. But the evidence is scanty that dietary changes can improve fatigue or other MS symptoms.

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