#Predictive Biomarkers

[creativeera]

Cancer Biomarkers Market Poised to Exhibit a CAGR of 7.3% by 2031

Cancer biomarkers are substances whose presence is indicative of some biological condition, processes, or pathology. They can be used for cancer diagnosis or checking effectiveness of treatment. Being non-invasive procedures, demand for cancer biomarkers is growing rapidly. They aid in early detection of cancer during screening programs and reduce cost of cancer treatment. Global cancer biomarkers market is estimated to be valued at USD 25.60 Bn in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 59.01 Bn by 2031, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7% from 2024 to 2031.

Key Takeaways Key players operating in the Cancer Biomarkers market are Schlumberger Limited, Rockwell Automation Inc., SIS-TECH Solutions LP, Emerson Electric Company, HIMA Paul Hildebrandt GmbH, Honeywell International Inc., Siemens AG, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Schneider Electric SE, and ABB Ltd. They are investing heavily in biomarker detection methods and panels targeting unmet clinical needs. Rising incidence of cancer across the world is driving for Cancer Biomarkers Market Demand. Biomarkers help in cancer screening and detecting disease at early stages. This improves treatment outcomes and survival rates significantly. Initiatives by governments and cancer councils to spread cancer awareness are also boosting the market. Global expansion strategies adopted by leading players are expected to support market growth during the forecast period. They are expanding their footprint in emerging markets of Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa to tap the high growth opportunities. This will increase access to advanced cancer diagnostic solutions. Market Key Trends The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to discover novel biomarkers from large datasets is a key trend in the market. It helps accelerate the process of biomarker identification. Genomic and proteomic biomarkers are also gaining traction for their role in cancer detection as well as tracking cancer progression and drug response. Development of personalized diagnostics based on multi-omics approaches and liquid biopsy tests are some other trends expected to shape the market.

Porter’s Analysis Threat of new entrants: The cancer biomarkers market requires huge capital investments in R&D for developing novel biomarkers and testing kits which makes the entry difficult for new players. Bargaining power of buyers: Buyers have moderate bargaining power in this market as there are many players offering similar cancer biomarker testing services. Bargaining power of suppliers: Suppliers have low bargaining power due to availability of alternative raw material suppliers in the market. Threat of new substitutes: Substitutes have low threat as there are limited substitutes available for cancer biomarker tests. Competitive rivalry: The market is highly competitive due to presence of many global as well as regional players. Geographical Regions North America region accounts for the largest share of the cancer biomarkers market in terms of value due to presence of major players, rising healthcare expenditure and increasing prevalence of cancer in the region. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period owing to increasing awareness regarding cancer, improving healthcare infrastructure and rising access to diagnostic services in emerging economies of China and India in this region.

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About Author:

Money Singh is a seasoned content writer with over four years of experience in the market research sector. Her expertise spans various industries, including food and beverages, biotechnology, chemical and materials, defense and aerospace, consumer goods, etc. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/money-singh-590844163)

[scichores]

Fascinating Role of Genomics in Drug Discovery and Development

This article dives deep into the significance of genomics in drug discovery and development, highlighting well-known genomic-based drug development services that are driving the future of pharmaceutical therapies. #genomics #drugdiscovery

A scientist using a whole genome DNA sequencer, in order to determine the “DNA fingerprint” of a specific bacterium. Original image sourced from US Government department: Public Health Image Library, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under US law this image is copyright free, please credit the government department whenever you can”. by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is…

[mindblowingscience]

Scientists have figured out a non-invasive way to determine if a transplanted organ is failing to take in a patient – no matter if it's a kidney, liver, lung, or heart. It's the first time that biomarkers of dysfunction have matched across multiple types of transplanted organs, and it hints at the possibility of a blood test that can diagnose early rejection in all transplant scenarios – a tool that doesn't yet exist. If more research is done, the newly identified biomarkers could even be used to differentiate between various types of organ rejection, including immune issues, inadequate blood supply, or maladaptive repairs.

Continue Reading.

[seeingivy]

elevated heart rates 

levi ackerman x f!reader

levi’s a mind reader and you’re a love expert 

content: grad student levi, brain researchers, nile being a weirdo freak (sorry yall), mentions of drinking, levi is shirtless at one point, reader has claustrophobia 

an: started my big girl brain research fellowship today. hence - brain jargon and GRAD STUDENT LEVI

- 

The room is small - the nineteen of you cramming into the small space of the conference room. You’re located directly at the front, sitting next to your advisor, Dot Pyxis. A leading expert in the field, one of the first neuroscientists you had met at a conference when you were a freshman in college. 

You saw it - the way his eyes lighted up, the way he was stumbling over his words because he was so excited to explain what he did everyday that you wanted that. To be that excited about something. And here you were, sitting next to him about to make it happen. 

You moved to Marley two months ago for this very moment. Your first day at the Brain Consortium - one of the best neuroscience research labs in the country, led by Pyxis himself. He was going to co-advise your thesis, guide you into becoming an expert in the field. Unlike any other, this lab was barely limited to one field, instead equipped with researchers from many different departments, the projects, the papers entirely interdisciplinary. 

There was no other place like it. You can feel your hands shaking as you hand over your hard drive, your presentation loaded on to it. Pyxis had explained it all - there were weekly lab meetings where everyone came together, presenting their research. Everyone gave feedback, asked questions to help further expand and build on the projects. 

And it was your turn. On your very first day, you were expected to explain. What you were going to research, what you were going to contribute, what you were excited about. 

It’s fucking nerve wracking. Pyxis stands up, giving you one last shoulder squeeze, before introducing everyone in the lab to you. He points everyone out - the other assistant professors, post-doctoral researchers, and the other PhD students. 

“Hange Zoe, Erwin Smith, Levi Ackerman, Petra Ral, and Nile Dok. The other PhD students. I want the five of you to give her a tour of the lab after.” 

They all nod, a few of them giving you encouraging smiles as you start. Pyxis turns to you, taking your seat at the table as you take the pointer in your hands, starting your presentation. 

“Right. Um, I’m F/N L/N. It’s nice to meet you all. I, um, completed my undergraduate studies at Shiganshina University. I got a b-bachelors in applied neuroscience and computational biology. I’ll be presenting my thesis project pr-proposal.” 

You hate this shit. You’re stuttering over your words and they’re all staring back, completely uninterested in your work. The PhD students in front of you aren’t even taking you seriously - the girl with glasses nearly stumbling off her chair from sliding around on it and the guy with dark black, grey steely eyes more interested in his cup of fucking tea than what you were talking about. 

“Right, so. My project aims to study interoceptive signals - like heartbeat, respiration cycles, blood pressure - and use them to predict and decode intentions. These small biomarkers, entirely unconscious to us, are consistent during decision making, unbeknownst to us. We can exploit that - to understand higher level cognition.” 

You’ve got their attention - you can tell. This is always the easy part, drawing them in - the woman from before stopped sliding on her chair, instead leaning forward with her eyes shining at your slides, the guy with the tea momentarily flickering his eyes up to the screen. 

“You can use it to predict how people act, how they feel. Especially for something like heart rate, which is what I want to focus on, you can understand so many things - anxiety, stress, companionship, sexual attraction, romance.” 

You see one of the PhD students murmur under his breath, interrupting you in your stead. Nile, they said his name was. 

“So you want to be a…love expert?” 

The entire room laughs, giving you smiles as you continue on. You give him a smile, responding. 

“I guess you could say that.” 

You continue on - highlighting how the brain regulates these signals, what equipment you’ll be using to record all of it. 

They clap when you’re done. Success. 

 - 

You feel fully settled into the lab, a few months later. You’ve decorated your tiny cubicle, directly in the middle with the other PhD students, with a few knick knacks - a picture of you and your best friend, a tiny little green figurine your parents gifted you, and a rack for your headphones. 

You’re located in the section with the other PhD students, who are…interesting. 

On the first day, they lead you to take the cubicle directly next to Hange, which you realized was a bad idea. Because they set you up. Hange’s a biochemist - doing research on the brain tissue at the molecular level, trying to understand how glioblastomas progress. Meaning - they’re always playing with chemicals at their desk, sometimes too lazy to walk over to the lab, which leads to some interesting smells and…smokes in your area. 

They never get in trouble, because Erwin and Petra always come to save the day. They’re both leading policy experts, studying volition and decision making in hopes to use in applications to the law and judicial systems. Figuring out why criminals commit crimes, using it for to serve justice. They cover up the evidence, distract Pyxis and Shadis, and talk their way out of it on Hange’s behalf. 

And that leaves Nile, who isn’t particularly your favorite. He’s a bit hard to get along with, not exactly personable per say. He’s researching microdosing and addiction - trying to figure out how we can manipulate medicines or drugs into being more or less addictive. 

You almost forgot about him. Levi, who's currently leading you to the MRI room on the other side of the building. Definitely the most intriguing of all of your colleagues - using transcranial brain stimulation to decode intentions. In less jargony terms, he read minds. 

He puts the decisions made on the tests into algorithms, correcting it until the machines can predict the decisions being made perfectly - that can be applied to anyone, not just singular participants. He’s coding human thought into machines. And doing it successfully. 

Levi’s quiet, perplexing, and intelligent. An enigma. He’s stood out to you, more than anyone else, for the simple reason that he’s the only one who doesn’t want to talk to you. Hange invites you out for drinks, Petra introduced you to her boyfriend, Erwin bought you a birthday present even though you didn’t tell anyone it was your birthday, and Nile asked you on a date (which you obviously declined). 

But Levi doesn’t care. You don’t either, but it does intrigue you at times. Why he’s so quiet, so closed off, what he’s always doing on his laptop, who he texts on his breaks. This was the first time you were alone with him - getting roped into participating in his newest study. 

“Newbie has to do it.” 

“Do what, Hange?” 

“Levi likes to experiment on all of our brains. You’ve never done it and he needs someone, so we’re volunteering you.” 

Hange and Erwin pull you up by the wrists, all but pushing you out of the conference room into Levi’s cubicle, where you almost trip and fall over him. He looks up - already deeply uninterested with the three of you standing in his space - as he removes his hands from his keyboard. 

“What, brats?” 

“I’m not participating. She is. Take her away!” 

He looks between the three of you, clearly unamused with how nonchalant Hange was being about the whole thing, as they knocked over Levi’s stack of books on the floom. They nearly shake his entire frame in their hands as they thanked him profusely for not making them participate. 

Erwin picks up the stack of books - somehow shuffling them all out of order as Levi gets even more frustrated - shooing the two of them out of his space. After successfully removing them, you and Levi walk towards the MRI room, all the way across the building, in silence. 

When you get there, he taps his hand on the platform, signaling for you to sit on it. You obediently follow, still not uttering an entire word. You watch him mill around the room - pressing switches, using the intercom to communicate with the operator, turning the lights off. 

“Wearing any metal?” 

“My necklace. I’ll take it off.” 

You reach up, awkwardly fumbling with the clasp as he watches you, his hands pressed to his sides as he waits. You’re not sure what it is - how sweaty your hands are, the way he’s looking at you, awkwardly waiting for you to finish - but you can’t get the clasp off, your hold shaking behind your hair. 

“I can help you.” 

You meekly nod, getting off the platform. Before you can, he reaches forward, his slender hands gathering your hair before placing them across the side to your shoulder. You feel his knuckles against your nape, quickly unlatching the necklace and fixing your hair back into place. 

“I’ll hold it for you.” 

You get back onto the platform, lying flat, as Levi uses the intercom to signal to Armin, one of the undergraduate students who worked in the MRI building. You can feel the platform sliding you into the tube and you suddenly feel it. 

Your claustrophobia. Every horrible thought you can imagine is running through your head as the machine starts whirring, your heart pounding in your chest. An earthquake - the machine would crush you. The magnets can be too fast, the machine malfunctioning while you’re stuck inside it. There could be a fire and you would be left here, everyone leaving you and locking you out of the room. 

“You okay?” 

“Y-yeah, Armin. Sorry. I get a bit claustrophobic, that’s all.” 

“Okay, take your time. Try to stay still so we can get better pictures.” 

You nod, trying to still your breaths as the machine whirrs on again. You can feel your nails digging into your palms, as you try to calm down, the panic still sitting in your chest. You feel a hand circle around your ankle, squeezing twice, as the machine keeps going. 

“You okay, Newbie?” 

“Yeah, Levi. I’m okay.” 

“I’m here. Get out if you’re uncomfortable. I’ll just drag Shitty Glasses by the scalp to do it instead of you.” 

You laugh, his hold still firm on your ankle. You try to focus on it - the fine print on the machine, your back against the platform, his fingers on your skin as the machine keeps going, your panic still writhing in your chest. The MRI finishes - Levi giving you one last squeeze before the platform slides out and you nearly jump out of the machine. 

You and Levi walk back to the main lab, in silence. When you get there, Levi gives Hange’s ponytail one big yank before settling back into his cubicle, giving you a soft smile before you return to yours. 

-   

It’s Levi’s turn to present for the lab meeting. The lab is going to Hizuru for Sigtuna, one of the largest neuroscience conferences to date. The PhD students are all presenting posters, except Levi who was invited to give a talk. 

You had been helping Levi as of late - working with him to identify the sulcuses and the lobes on all of Levi’s MRIs. He had no experience in magnetic resonance imaging whatsoever - something you had spent years learning during undergrad. So the two of you had worked out a system - you helped him with identifying the images and helped you troubleshoot your code for your tasks whenever you needed it (which was often). 

You spent a lot of time together - even if it wasn’t direct. You’d sit in silence in the main conference room, working for hours. He’d bring you a cup of coffee and you would pick up dinner, talking through ideas as you finished off your projects. 

You had helped him write the grant for the talk instead of the poster, helping him with all the physiological portions. He taught you how to do all the analysis for yours - the two of you often the one’s leaving the lab latest, Levi walking you to your car in the dark before walking off to his own. 

You were friends. Project partners. 

He gives you one last look before starting the presentation and you shoot him a thumbs up under the table, which he returns with a smile. He’s explaining - using your brain and Hange’s as the sample templates to explain what he was doing - what parts of the brain he has to use for his machine learning. 

“This is Newbie’s and this is Hange’s brain. In theory, each part of the brain is slightly bigger, depending on what parts of your brain you exercise more. For example, Hange is involved in more motor-dexterity - running all their projects by hand. This part of the sulcus is more developed, bigger because of it, compared to Newbie.” 

Nile nudges you on the side, whispering something about how he can give you something to do with your hands if you needed it. You roll your eyes, awkwardly shuffling farther as you refocus on what Levi was saying. 

“This part of the brain is more developed for Newbie, the Brodmann areas - associated with critical thinking, higher level cognition, decision making. Good thing I didn’t use your brain, Dok. We wouldn’t even be able to catch it on the image if we used yours.” 

The entire room laughs - Nile sulking in his chair as Levi continues. You don’t miss the look he gives you afterwards, his eyes uncharacteristically soft when he meets yours, as he continues the presentation. 

When he finishes, Pyxis goes over the room assignments, mentioning that there were three rooms for all the PhD students - meaning a few of you would have to pair up. You turn your neck to look at Petra, who's already nodding and agreeing with Hange that they would room together. You deflate, watching Erwin and Levi pair up. Which leaves you next to Nile, who's all but too excited to be your partner. 

He slings his arm around your shoulder, saying that you guys can share the bed if it gets cold at night, which leaves you shooting dangerous looks at Hange. Levi catches on first, immediately dragging Erwin over to where the two of you were standing. 

“Dok. Erwin is going to room with you.” 

“Says who?” 

“Says me. Don’t argue with me today, I’m already sick of you.” 

Levi grabs you by the wrist, dragging you towards the other side of the room as he rambles on. 

“What a fucking idiot. First he interrupts me during my talk and then starts saying perverted shit like that. Someone’s going to smack him upside the head one day and I surely hope for my sake it’s me.” 

You wrap your arms around his neck, squeezing him twice before letting go. 

“Thank you for that - I was literally going to vomit if I had to room with him.” 

“Well, I told you before. I’m here if you’re uncomfortable.” 

You nod, the two of you walking into the conference room to make edits to your presentation. 

 - 

You and Levi come back to your hotel room after the conference, positively plastered. He’d all but given his talk perfectly and your poster won an award at the end - which meant you and Levi were celebrating well into the night. 

You had your arms slung around each other, your weight uneven, as you both slide back into the hotel room, falling onto the singular bed in the room. You and Levi were greeted with the unpleasant sight earlier in the day - you and Levi both insisting that you would be the ones to sleep on the couch. 

You’re both lying face up on the bed - your cheeks flushed, your chests heaving up and down, the only sound in the room being your shaky breaths. Your hands are still locked together, your brain fuzzy from the events of the night. 

You and Levi amble up after a few minutes, both attempting to change into your pajamas and go to bed. You ogle Levi as he takes his shirt off, watching from the side of the mirror. He catches you, walking closer to you. He still reeks of beer, still shaking on his feet. 

He leans over, pressing his forehead against yours as you hold onto his arms, grounding your fingers into his biceps. He’s still not wearing a shirt, his bare chest on display. You fight the urge to stare at him full on. 

“You’re smart, Y/N.” 

“You’re smart too, Levi.” 

“Did you pay attention during my talk?” 

“Y-yes. You code the information, like a puzzle, to figure out what people’s intentions are.” 

“Hm. You be me. I’ll give you the information and you figure it out, okay?” 

You nod, barely understanding what he was getting at as you lean into him. You can feel the buzz dying down, the tiredness setting into your bones. 

“I’m not a mind reader like you, Levi.” 

“You’ll get this one. You’re my smart girl.” 

He reaches down, securing his hands around your waist as he pulls you closer to him. Your hands and frame are pressed against his chest, his skin cold to the touch.

“You caught my eye on the first day, with your perfectly pressed hair and that stupid black skirt.” 

You can feel your breath catch in your throat, the sound not leaving your throat.

“You take the cubicle two feet down from mine and I can’t help but watch you - reorganize your desk, get up to get water, scribble things on the whiteboard.” 

You can feel his heartbeat get faster against your hear, his grip on your waist tightening. You’re suddenly too aware of what’s happening - Levi, PhD Levi, is shirtless, hugging you in a hotel room. The lights are dim, there’s only one bed, and he’s holding you. 

“I don’t work with other people at the lab, but when you ask, I do. I leave the lab way past the required time, willingly spending more time in a room with that idiot Nile in it just because you’re in it too.”

“Levi.” 

“I’m not done.”

“It drives me crazy, every time Nile talks to you, touches you, looks at you. I want to sock him in the face - because he’s not nearly good enough for you. Not that anyone could be, but for some idiot like that to think he stands a chance is next level infuriating.”

He releases his hands from your face, lifting his hands to cup your face. His touch his soft, his thumb caressing the burning skin on your cheeks as his eyes meet yours.

“I think about you all the time. When I wake up, when I go to sleep, when I eat my breakfast. When I’m not with you, I just want to be around you. And when I’m around you, I want to be with you.” 

He leans forward, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. His lips are pillowy soft, his breath tickling the edges of your forehead. 

“What does it mean? Figure out my intentions, smart girl.” 

You can feel your entire body burning, your head still spinning - from the alcohol, Levi’s touch, his words ringing in your ears. 

“You…like me.” 

“That’s a fact. Not an intention.” 

“You…want to kiss me?” 

He smiles, leaning forward to press his lips to yours. The kiss is warm, the taste of the beer still hanging on his lips. You can feel his hands moving, carding through your hair as you reach up to press your hand against his shoulders. He kisses you for a long time - your body burning at the entire sensation. He breaks apart, still smiling against your lips. 

“Smart girl.” 

“Do you…remember my research, Levi? From the first day?” 

“I’ve memorized every single thing you’ve ever said to me.” 

You can feel your cheeks flushing, Levi’s hands returning to squish the sides of your face. You grab one of his hands, opening up his fingers and placing it flat against your chest. You move his hand around, until you’re sure he can feel your heart - which is pounding in your chest. 

“Heart rate can give away a great deal. The biomarker can help you understand a lot of different emotions. Figure out which one I’m feeling, Levi.” 

He leans forward, pressing soft kisses all over your face as he starts asking. 

“Anxiety?” - a soft kiss, right on top of your head. 

“No.” 

“Stress?” - a light kiss, right on your closed eyelids. 

“No, Levi.” 

“Companionship.” - a sweet kiss, right on your lips. 

“Yes. But that’s not the one I was looking for.” 

You watch a smirk spread across his face as he leans down, spreading soft kisses all along your neck. He murmurs against your neck, a hint of teasing in his voice. 

“Sexual attraction?” 

“Levi. Quit being a tease.” 

“Shut up, brat.” 

“No. You missed one, Levi.” 

“What was it?” 

“Love. A heartbeat can give away a great deal - can even be used to indicate and understand romantic feelings.” 

He press his hand against your chest again, your heart still hammering. 

“It’s fast. What does that mean?” 

“That I love you.” 

You see a big smile spread across his face, reaching all the way up to his eyes. You see him now and you think it’s the best he’s ever looked - messy black hair, pink cheeks, squinted eyes. He reaches down, opening your fingers and placing them against his bare chest. You can feel his heart hammering in his chest. 

“Fast.” 

“Yeah. Means I love you too, smart girl.” 

- 

[punisheddonjuan]

Woah, well this is significant.

Our results reveal 511 blood-based biomarkers whose levels differ significantly between people with ME and those without ME (Fig. S2A). Our approach decomposed the total effect of ME on blood traits into two components: (1) the indirect effect of ME on these traits via activity, and (2) the direct effect through all other paths, not mediated via activity. We do not claim causality for our estimates, because the assumptions of no unmeasured confounding may be violated. Nevertheless, any “causal gap”, the difference between our estimates and any underlying causal estimand, cannot be due to age and sex, as we account for these factors. Our findings constitute differences of population estimates of blood biomarkers between case and control populations and do not provide individual-level predictions of caseness based on biomarker values. However, our results can be used for variable selection in training a prediction model, as long as an independent data set is used. If the same data is used twice, i.e., both for variable selection and for training a prediction model, the resulting predictions will suffer from selective inference [49], with overly optimistic (invalid) prediction scores, and thus will not generalise to new cases.

The large number of discoveries relative to previous studies likely reflects our study’s substantially higher numbers of cases and controls (Table 1). These large numbers allow many small average effects of ME status on molecular and cellular traits to be detected.

Importantly, and unlike most previous studies, we independently replicated 166 biomarkers in both females and males (TEs; Fig. S2A). This indicates that our discoveries are both robust and not sex-biased. It thus provides strong evidence for ME disease pathophysiology being equivalent in both sexes. This is despite sex-bias of ME with respect to prevalence and onset, comorbidities, symptoms and other features [13, 50].

Importantly, these biomarker differences are not explicable by dissimilarities in physical activity: among 3,237 NIE estimates we obtained, ME status was significantly associated with only one trait (Fig. S2B). Blood traits thus distinguish ME cases from population controls, but not because of ME cases’ reduced physical activity levels.

What then cause these molecular and cellular changes in blood if not physical activity? Our findings provide strong and replicated evidence for chronic low-level inflammation (elevated CRP and cystatin-C levels, and platelet, leukocyte and neutrophil counts), insulin resistance (elevated triglycerides-to-HDL-C ratio, ALT, ALP, GGT and HbA1c) and/or liver disease (elevated ALT, ALP, and GGT, and low urea levels) in ME (Fig. 2A). ME is thus portrayed by insulin resistance and systemic inflammation, with liver inflammation and dysfunction likely affecting lipid metabolism and the balance between HDL and LDL cholesterol. To our knowledge, the overall combination of blood marker changes we observed does not present in any other disease. For example, although primary biliary cholangitis is accompanied by elevated ALP and GGT levels (and post-exertional malaise [51]) it is also marked by high circulating levels of bilirubin rather than the lower levels we observe for ME (Fig. 2A). Nevertheless, because ME likely arises from multiple pathomechanisms and we did not further stratify cases, we cannot conclude that our results exclude other diseases from sharing a common aetiology with some ME cases.

[...]

Evidence that there is a large number of replicated and diverse blood biomarkers that differentiate between ME cases and controls should now dispel any lingering perception that ME is psychosomatic [57]. These findings should also accelerate research into the minimum panel of blood traits required to accurately diagnose ME in real-world populations. Such a panel would be invaluable for diagnosis, for measuring response to future treatment or drug trials, and potentially for determining the worsening or progression of ME. Such a panel might also help to determine the distinctions or overlap between ME and symptomalogically similar diseases such as Long Covid and fibromyalgia.

Well that seems pretty definitive then.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Proteomics identifies potential immunological drivers of postinfection brain atrophy and cognitive decline - Published Aug 14, 2024

Not covid specific but important to understanding how long covid may is accelerating dementia and other similar brain illness.

Abstract Infections have been associated with the incidence of Alzheimer disease and related dementias, but the mechanisms responsible for these associations remain unclear. Using a multicohort approach, we found that influenza, viral, respiratory, and skin and subcutaneous infections were associated with increased long-term dementia risk. These infections were also associated with region-specific brain volume loss, most commonly in the temporal lobe. We identified 260 out of 942 immunologically relevant proteins in plasma that were differentially expressed in individuals with an infection history. Of the infection-related proteins, 35 predicted volumetric changes in brain regions vulnerable to infection-specific atrophy. Several of these proteins, including PIK3CG, PACSIN2, and PRKCB, were related to cognitive decline and plasma biomarkers of dementia (Aβ42/40, GFAP, NfL, pTau-181). Genetic variants that influenced expression of immunologically relevant infection-related proteins, including ITGB6 and TLR5, predicted brain volume loss. Our findings support the role of infections in dementia risk and identify molecular mediators by which infections may contribute to neurodegeneration.

[pandemic-info]

Researchers Develop Algorithm To Predict Whether A Person Gets Long Covid

Researchers Develop Algorithm To Predict Whether A Person Gets Long Covid

https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/09/25/researchers-develop-algorithm-to-predict-whether-a-person-gets-long-covid/?sh=442ada729259

[circumlocutive]

Undergrad research blast from the past. Here I am in 2020 assembling a micro fluidic flow cell with a gold electrode block. I think I took this video for myself so I knew what to clip to what. This was when I worked with electrochemical sensors, transducing signals via impedance spectroscopy.

A lot of electrochemical techniques rely on measuring voltages or currents, but in this lab we looked at impedance- which is a fancy combination of regular resistance (like the same one from ohms law) and the imaginary portion of the resistance that arises from the alternating current we supply.

I would functionalize different groups on the gold working electrode by exposing the surface to a solution of thiolated biomarker capture groups. Thiols love to form self-assembled mono layers over gold, so anything tagged with thiol ends up sticking. [Aside: Apparently after I left the group they moved away from gold thiol interactions because they weren't strong enough to modify the electrode surface in a stable and predictable way, especially if we were flowing the solution over the surface (which we wanted to do for various automation reasons)]. The capture groups we used were various modified cyclodextrins- little sugar cups with hydrophobic pockets inside and a hydrophilic exterior. Cyclodextrins are the basis of febreeze- a cyclodextrin spray that captures odor molecules in that hydrophobic pocket so they can't interact with receptors in your nose. We focused on capturing hydrophobic things in our little pocket because many different hydrophobic biomarkers are relevant to many different diseases, but a lot of sensors struggle to interact with them in the aqueous environment of bodily fluids.

My work was two fold:

1) setting up an automated system for greater reproducibility and less human labor. I had to figure out how to get my computer, the potentiostat (which controls the alternating current put in, and reads the working electrode response), the microfluidic pump, and the actuator that switched between samples to all talk to each other so I could set up my solutions, automatically flow the thiol solution for an appropriate time and flow rate to modify the surface, then automatically flow a bio fluid sample (or rather in the beginning, pure samples of specific isolated biomarkers, tho their tendency to aggregate in aqueous solution may have changed the way they would interact with the sensor from how they would in a native environment, stabilized in blood or urine) over the electrode and cue the potentiostat for multiple measurements, and then flow cleaning solutions to clean out the tubings and renew the electrode. This involved transistor level logic (pain) and working with the potentiostat company to interact with their proprietary software language (pain) and so much dicking around with the physical components.

2) coming up with new cyclodextrin variants to test, and optimizing the parameters for surface functionalization. What concentrations and times and flow rates to use? How do different groups around the edge of the cyclodextrin affect the ability to capture distinct classes of neurotransmitters? I wasn't working with specific sensors, I was trying to get cross reactivity for the purpose of constructing nonspecific sensor arrays (less akin to antibody/antigen binding of ELISAs and more like the nonspecific combinatorial assaying you do with receptors in your tongue or nose to identify "taste profiles" or "smell profiles"), so I wanted diverse responses to diverse assortments of molecules.

Idk where I'm going with this. Mostly reminiscing. I don't miss the math or programming or the physical experience of being at the bench (I find chemistry more "fun") but I liked the ultimate goal more. I think cross reactive sensor arrays and principle component analysis could really change how we do biosample testing, and could potentially be useful for defining biochemical subtypes of subjectively defined mental illnesses.... I think that could (maybe, possibly, if things all work and are sufficiently capturing relevant variance in biochemistry from blood or piss or sweat or what have you) be a more useful way to diagnose mental illness and correlate to possible responses to medications than phenotypic analysis/interviews/questionnaires/trial and error pill prescribing.

[cbirt]

A Bioinformatics Roadmap for Drug Prioritization from Cancer Genomics Data

Cancer is a complicated disease brought on by the interaction of various informational layers. Tumor origin, the appearance of genomic and transcriptomic variations, or interactions with the microenvironment are all factors that contribute to the difficulty of treating tumors. With reference to the types of tumor heterogeneity and the accessible data from next-generation sequencing, the current methods for selecting a therapy are presented in this article. The study elucidates the potential integration of bioinformatics in precision oncology.

Cancer is an evolving dynamic disease that becomes more diverse as the disease progresses. One of the core reasons why medication doesn’t work and patients relapse has been identified as its heterogeneity. A burgeoning area called precision oncology aims to create personalized cancer treatments for every cancer patient using data from epidemiological, clinical, and omics sources. Targeted therapies are considered an anchorage of precision oncology. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized 214 predictive biomarkers by the year 2022, up from 39 in 2013, as a result of ongoing attempts to identify novel predictive biomarkers of anticancer drug effectiveness. BRAF V600E inhibitors in melanoma patients and imatinib to target BCR-ABL translocations in chronic myeloid leukemia are common examples of targeted therapies.

Continue Reading

[bpod-bpod]

More the Better

Images of immunofluorescence highlighting signature molecules and traditional histology methods from the same tumour section generate biomarkers highly predictive of cancer progression rate

Read the published research paper here

Image from work by Jia-Ren Lin, Yu-An Chen and Daniel Campton, and colleagues

Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Cancer, June 2023

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[drforambhuta]

Targeted Therapy:

Precision or targeted therapies encompass medications engineered to disrupt specific molecules implicated in the progression of cancer. In contrast to conventional chemotherapy's broad impact on fast-dividing cells, precision therapies selectively target cancer cells while preserving healthy tissue integrity. These drugs aim at various molecular pathways involved in cancer development, including signaling cascades, angiogenesis, and DNA repair mechanisms.

An illustrative example of precision therapy is the application of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in treating specific cancer types like non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). TKIs hinder the activity of particular tyrosine kinases, crucial enzymes in cancer-promoting cell signaling pathways. By obstructing these kinases, TKIs effectively inhibit tumor growth and extend patient survival.

Likewise, monoclonal antibodies represent another form of precision therapy, binding to specific proteins on cancer cell surfaces, initiating immune-mediated tumor destruction. These antibodies can also be combined with cytotoxic agents or radioactive isotopes to heighten their anti-cancer properties.

Personalized Chemotherapy:

While precision therapies are central to personalized medicine, tailored chemotherapy remains vital in cancer treatment. Tailored chemotherapy involves customizing traditional cytotoxic drugs to suit the unique characteristics of each patient's tumor. This may involve adjusting drug doses, combining different agents, or selecting chemotherapy regimens based on tumor biology and patient-specific factors.

One approach to tailored chemotherapy utilizes predictive biomarkers to identify patients likely to respond positively to specific chemotherapy drugs. For example, certain mutations in the BRCA genes are associated with increased sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy in breast and ovarian cancers. By identifying these biomarkers, oncologists can identify patients who will benefit most from a particular chemotherapy regimen while minimizing potential toxicity for others.

Furthermore, progress in pharmacogenomics, which explores how genetic variations affect drug response, has provided insights into individual differences in drug metabolism and toxicity. By analyzing patients' genetic profiles, oncologists can predict their likelihood of experiencing adverse effects or poor response to chemotherapy drugs, enabling personalized dose adjustments and treatment optimization.

Early cancer detection and management is important for an improved success rate in cancer treatment. You can undergo regular health checkups to get diagnosed for cancer at an early-stage. There are many good hospitals in Mumbai that offer health checkup packages for cancer screening, such as a full body health checkup at Saifee Hospital Mumbai, which is one of the best hospitals in the country.

[janelongevityintime]

How AI models are transforming evidence-based predictions

AI is everywhere now. Every sector is taking the help of AI to make predictions. Through Machine Learning we can make computer to think like a human and do as a human. By combining various models there are new innovative ideas that are being produced. We can make new drugs and new way of treatments for patients. This way of treatment is giving right predictions with 95-100% of accuracy at most of the cases. This is now highly used in increasing the Longevity. Finding out the One can take care of their health at any conditions. Regular fitness is checked out. Alerts for the upcoming chances of dangerous diseases is predicted out correctly with AI models. It is not possible to make personalized healthcare for everyone at all the times. That’s why we need this new form of Healthcare Innovation to create a change. These models will maintain separate dataset analysis for each patient. With linear regression we can make the comparison with inputs and outputs and AI models will make the necessary predictions to make it to the output. The status of the patient is always traced correctly and always follows the health trends. People who want to make their bodies to reduce aging and go back to their fit form from any stage can opt for the AI predictive models. With deadliest viruses and life taking climate conditions, every second makes a count. In emergency conditions where we need to make the correct prediction within less time AI models will help a lot. These health predictions are the most helpful in the case of obesity, stroke, various types of cancer and HIV. Diseases which show immediate reaction on our bodies with very less symptoms to show are predicted with various measured biomarkers. These AI models can use various hundreds of markers to make the prediction right. Human of any age can start working on longevity and plan for further ages. The number of centenarians is increasing in the world. The biggest reason for this is increasing in technology. Because we are able to make the correct prediction regarding the health, we can tackle most dangerous diseases.

[mindblowingscience]

In a study in the journal Science Advances, the researchers validated the accuracy of the blood test that identifies key biomarkers of osteoarthritis. They showed that it predicted development of the disease, as well as its progression, which was demonstrated in their earlier work. The research advances the utility of a blood test that would be superior to current diagnostic tools that often don’t identify the disease until it has caused structural damage to the joint.

Continue Reading.

[neurosurg101]

the only FDA approved biomarker for traumatic brain injury, the Brain Trauma Indicator™

The Brain Trauma Indicator™ (BTI™) works by measuring levels of proteins, known as UCH-L1 and GFAP, that are released from the brain into blood and measured within 12 hours of head injury. Levels of these blood proteins after mTBI/concussion can help predict which patients may have intracranial lesions visible by CT scan and which won’t. Being able to predict if patients have a low probability of intracranial lesions can help health care professionals in their management of patients and the decision to perform a CT scan. Test results can be available within 3 to 4 hours.

The Brain Trauma Indicator was able to predict the presence of intracranial lesions on a CT scan 97.5 percent of the time and those who did not have intracranial lesions on a CT scan 99.6 percent of the time

A step-wise increase in biomarker concentrations over the continuum of severity from mild to severe TBI was detected. Of the two, only the neuronal biomarker UCH-L1 had the potential to detect acute intracranial lesions, as assessed by CT. Most importantly, both markers were substantially increased in TBI patients with a normal CT. Serum UCH-L1 and GFAP concentrations also strongly predicted poor outcomes

references: (1) https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-authorizes-marketing-first-blood-test-aid-evaluation-concussion-adults?utm_medium=email&utm_source=transaction#:~:text=Press%20Announcements-,FDA%20authorizes%20marketing%20of%20first%20blood%20test%20to%20aid,evaluation%20of%20concussion%20in%20adults&text=The%20U.S.%20Food%20and%20Drug,to%20as%20concussion%2C%20in%20adults (2) https://www.cureus.com/articles/89515-advances-in-traumatic-brain-injury-biomarkers#references (3) Ghaith, H.S., Nawar, A.A., Gabra, M.D. et al. A Literature Review of Traumatic Brain Injury Biomarkers. Mol Neurobiol 59, 4141–4158 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-022-02822-6

[nyheadache]

PTSD biomarkers

Researchers have identified four blood biomarkers that show promise in predicting, diagnosing, and monitoring treatment response for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These biomarkers could lead to more accurate methods of screening for PTSD, allowing for early intervention and prevention strategies. Additionally, they could help monitor treatment progress, identify different subtypes of…