Content about medicine

Scientists Discover the Key to Axolotls’ Ability to Regenerate Limbs (wired.com)

“Our big surprise was to discover that the key was not in how much retinoic acid was produced, but in how it was degraded,” says Monaghan. The team discovered that cells in the distal part of the limb, the wrist, are awash in an enzyme called CYP26B1, whose sole function is to destroy retinoic acid. In contrast, cells in the shoulder have hardly any of this enzyme, allowing retinoic acid to accumulate to high levels.

This difference creates a chemical gradient along the limb: lots of retinoic acid in the shoulder, little in the wrist. It is this gradient that informs cells of their exact location.

This is fascinating on several levels. First, just the idea that there is a possibility that humans have an ability to regenerate limbs is amazing. Second, this reminds me that chemical gradients, which are mathematics at their core, play an important role in so many aspects of biology and medicine. And lastly, this really shows the possibilities unlocked by public funding of basic research. Kudos to Wired for reporting this, in a thorough manner, to a broader audience.

Here’s the original Nature paper.

tags: science research math medicine

posted by matt in Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Anti-tetanus vaccination is associated with reduced occurrence and slower progression of Parkinson’s disease (medrxiv.org)

Our findings reveal a significant reduction in PD occurrence following anti-tetanus vaccination, with a time-dependent association between the elapsed time since vaccination and both the rate and progression of PD. These results are supported by evidence that antimicrobial treatments significantly alter disease severity, suggesting the actual involvement of Clostridium Tetani in PD pathology.

This is only a preprint, but it's really interesting and definitely something to keep an eye on.

After reading it, I wondered if men get tetanus more than women, considering our penchant for playing and working in the dirt and handling rusty metal. Turns out we do (although relative prevalances may flip at age 60). Then I wondered if Parkinson's is more prevalent in men than in women. It is.

Interesting indeed.

tags: science medicine research

posted by matt in Thursday, June 13, 2024

Cancer and heart disease vaccines ‘ready by end of the decade’ (theguardian.com)

"Dr Paul Burton, the chief medical officer of pharmaceutical company Moderna, said he believes the firm will be able to offer such treatments for “all sorts of disease areas” in as little as five years."

This lightning speed timeframe still leaves plenty of time for anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists to ramp up their efforts.

tags: science medicine

posted by matt in Saturday, April 8, 2023

‘I hope you die’: how the COVID pandemic unleashed attacks on scientists (nature.com)

"But Nature’s survey suggests that even though researchers try to shrug off abuse, it might already have had a chilling effect on scientific communication. Those scientists who reported higher frequencies of trolling or personal attacks were also most likely to say that their experiences had greatly affected their willingness to speak to the media in the future...."

The pandemic, and our collective handling of it, has already had societal impacts that we fail to appreciate. A chilling effect on science, and its role in the distribution of knowledge, is disturbing. And that might not be the worst of it. Have we discouraged a generation of people from going into science as a career? Medicine? I don't know, maybe it's had the opposite effect in that regard. I have heard that applications to medical school are up. I didn't expect that.

tags: covid science medicine

posted by matt in Wednesday, October 13, 2021

‘It will change everything’: DeepMind’s AI makes gigantic leap in solving protein structures (nature.com)

This is really cool...and exciting. Combining this huge advance in protein structure prediction with the development and deployment of mRNA vaccines, 2020 will eventually be viewed as the starting point of multiple revolutions in biology and medicine. Exciting times for sure.

tags: biology medicine science

posted by matt in Tuesday, December 1, 2020