Science Repository

B Vitamins Can be Used to Treat Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Researchers have found that elevated blood levels of an amino acid – homocysteine can be correlated strongly with the severity of an advanced form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Scientists also discovered that vitamin B12 & folic acid could be used to prevent or delay disease progression. These findings may help people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – an umbrella term for a range of liver conditions affecting people who drink little to no alcohol. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease constitute fat build-up in the liver and is a leading cause of liver transplants worldwide. Its high prevalence is association with diabetes and obesity – two major public health problems globally. As the condition progresses towards inflammation and scar tissue formation – the condition is known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). While deposition of fat in the liver is reversible in its early stages – its progression to NASH causes liver dysfunction, cirrhosis and increases the risk for liver cancer. Scientists found that, as homocysteine level gets increased in the liver – the amino acid attached to various liver proteins, changes their structure and impedes their functioning. In particular, when homocysteine attached to a protein called syntaxin 17 – it blocks the protein from performing its role in transporting and digesting fat in the fatty acid metabolism, inflammation prevention and mitochondrial turnover. This showed induced development and progression of fatty liver disease to NASH.

Does the Production of Transgenic Plants and Organisms Come at a Cost?

As the disease and disorder intensity is increasing exponentially with time, so there is a need for newer and more efficient medicines. If there are no model organisms, then testing medicines will not be possible. For these kinds of concerns, we have the concept of bioethics. Bioethics is the area dealing with ethical issues in the field of medicine or any other biological studies. It is a study of the typically controversial ethics which are brought about by the advances in life sciences and healthcare. However, the production of transgenic plants and organisms come at the cost of disturbing the natural genome of those organisms. The idea of “human cloning” also sounds fascinating, but that is not as great in reality. Producing human clones without regulation may lead to various serious concerns like overpopulation, increase in diseases, exhaustion of limited resources and many more. Also, this can act against the balance of nature. We know that nature promotes variation in the gene pool of organisms. Cloning can lead to the utilization of the same gene pool constantly, thus leading to a loss of vigor in the genes.

Heart Disease and Cancers Could be Diagnosed Easily with New Rapid Test

Scientists have built a new easy-to-use test technique that could diagnose non-infectious diseases such as heart attacks and cancers more easily and quickly. The recent test functions by detecting molecular signals inside the body called biomarkers – which are already used in things like testing of COVID-19 where the presence of SARS-CoV-2 genes indicates COVID-19. There are also biomarkers for non-infectious diseases like prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood, which can sometimes act as a biomarker to indicate the presence of prostate cancer. Diagnostic tests based on DNA or RNA often require controlled temperatures and involve various multiple steps. The new test can be used at room temperature in a user-friendly process. CrisprZyme builds on CRISPR diagnostic tests that use RNA – the messenger that helps create proteins – to detect biomarkers in biological fluids like blood/urine. In their current form – these kind of tests detect RNA and then amplify the RNA by creating several copies so that the signal is read in an easier way. To eliminate the amplification process, scientists used nanozymes – tiny synthetic materials that behave like enzymes. Their enzymatic-like action increases the signal of the test, making the colorimetric analysis easier to read.

Gallstone-Related Pathogenesis of Acute Pancreatitis: One of the Most Common Reasons for Hospital Admission

The obstruction in pancreatic activity due to gallstone is known as gallstone pancreatitis. Mainly in gallstone pancreatitis, the stone comes out of the gallbladder and blocks the opening of the pancreas in the entry of the small intestine. It has been firmly established that pancreatitis initiation requires the passage of a gallstone from the gallbladder through the biliary tract and gallstones, that remain in the gallbladder will not cause pancreatitis. Studies in the field of anatomy have revealed that the communication between the pancreatic duct and the common bile duct is much shorter (< 6 mm) to permit the biliary reflux enter into the pancreatic duct, and an impacted gallstone can likely obstruct both the common bile duct and the pancreatic duct. Later in the course of pancreatitis, when necrosis is firmly established, biliopancreatic reflux due to a loss of barrier function in the damaged pancreatic duct can explain the observation of a bile-stained necrotic pancreas at the time of surgery. However, this should not be assumed as evidence that “reflux of bile to the pancreas is a triggering event for the disease onset”. It is essential to recognize, anticipate, diagnose, and treat the disease and its complications.