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© 2011, 2012 Health Futures Digest
| A massive new synchrotron in the UK is expected to literally shed light on the structure of matter, and lead to better food, medicines, and many other benefits. An FDA plan to make clinical trials faster by allowing them to change while in progress could put a serious dent in this bottleneck to new therapies, but it will have to be careful not to introduce bias and analysis problems. The scope of the complexity of the cell has been expanded yet again, this time by the discovery of a second code superimposed on the genetic code. The development of precisely targeted drugs requires understanding of the proteins they target. The discovery of a material that can be used to make protein crystals, which are then amenable to X-ray crystallography, will take us a big step forward in that understanding, and therefore in the development of targeted drugs, though practical results might not be available for another ten years. Is there a physical basis for metaphysical experiences? A psychedelic drug could help find the answer. | |
New Synchrotron for Medical Research (among other things) The £300m-plus Diamond Light Source synchrotron — the biggest science facility to be built in the UK for 30 years, says the BBC — produced its first light beam in July. Diamond is described as a series of “super microscopes” that will probe the structure of matter down to the scale of atoms and molecules, and could lead to breakthroughs in physics, medicine, and environmental protection. Diamond is housed in a doughnut-shaped building covering an area the size of five football fields. Electrons are fired into the doughnut ring and accelerated in a vacuum to velocities approaching light-speed, then steered around the ring by huge electromagnets. The electrons give off energy in the form of synchrotron radiation — exceptionally intense beams of X-ray, ultraviolet, and infrared light, which is channeled into 40 sidings called “beamlines” at the end of which are research stations where scientists use the radiation to probe deep into the basic structure of matter. Synchrotron radiation has helped improve foods, cosmetics, drugs, and surgical tools. It is used in medical imaging, the detection of toxic substances in the environment, forensics, and monitoring stresses in complex engineering structures such as aircraft wings. The US Food and Drug Adminstration plans to develop regulatory guidelines for a new kind of clinical trial: one that evolves as it is carried out. In traditional blinded clinical trials, results are not released until study completion. In adaptive clinical trials, results will be monitored continuously, enabling study designs to be changed as findings emerge. Adaptive clinical trials are expected to save time and reduce the number of patients needed by 30 percent or more, but critics contend that providing constant updates to trial sponsors, researchers, or patients has the potential to introduce bias and could encourage those involved to “consciously or unconsciously change their conduct on an ad hoc basis.” They are also logistically and statistically more complex and problematic than the traditional model. An FDA board will review examples of adaptive study designs to create a “concept paper,” and develop draft guidelines by 2007. DNA appears to have a second code superimposed on the genetic code that specifies the proteins a cell makes. The second code controls the placement of nucleosomes, protein spools around which DNA is looped and which protect and control access to the DNA itself. If confirmed, writes Nicholas Wade in the New York Times, the discovery “could open new insights into the higher-order control of the genes, such as the critical — but still mysterious — process by which each type of human cell is allowed to activate the genes it needs but cannot access the genes used by other types of cells.” Proteomics: Crystallized Proteins Imperial College London and University of Surrey researchers have developed a way to make high quality protein crystals, which will make proteins easier to analyze — via X-ray crystallography — for the development of targeted drugs. They used Bioglass – a new material made of calcium, phosphate and silicon – as a “nucleant,” a structure on which to grow the crystals. This is approaching what the lead researcher called the “holy grail” — a “universal nucleant” which would induce crystallisation of any protein. The researchers plan to turn their discovery into a commercial product, but any treatments resulting from the research won’t be seen for about a decade. After a study in which two-thirds of the volunteers described their experience with psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, as “one of the most meaningful and spiritually significant events in their life,” Johns Hopkins University researchers believe that a single dose of the drug could treat depression, anxiety, and other disorders and last for months. It could also be used in research into the biological basis of human perception, consciousness, and even mystical experience. |
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