#19 Alzheimer’s disease, Pollution absorption and Vision restoring
Discover 3 recent science news in our #PeerusWhatsNew, now on Medium.
1 Researchers discovered that a class of anti-rejection drugs used after organ transplants could slow the progression of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
“We found that beta-amyloid, which is overproduced in the brains of most people with Alzheimer’s, turns on a protein called calcineurin. Activated calcineurin then causes the inhibition of a second protein called Pin1, leading to loss of dendritic spines and synapses,” said Dr. Malter, who holds The Senator Betty and Dr. Andy Andujar Distinguished Chairmanship of Pathology.
2 Scientists have developed a new ‘green’ material which absorbs pollutants in air and wastewater.
Better than activated carbon, the most common option today, it is more affordable and also sustainable. The hybrid material is produced from an industrial waste by-product (silica fume) and naturally abundant polymers (sodium alginate).
“The material was designed on the basis of The European Commission’s request to develop an affordable, sustainable and innovative design-driven material solution that can reduce the concentration of particulate matter in urban areas.”
3 A team of researchers has announced that they have restored stem cell vision of two elderly people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
For both of the volunteers, a British octogenarian and a visually impaired sexagenarian, the recovery was spectacular, as said in a statement of the Moorfields Hospital in London.
“Patients were followed for 12 months and reported improvement in their vision, going from being unable to read even with glasses, to being able to read 60 to 80 words per minute with glasses“.
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