New stem cell-based therapy can repair damaged heart, improve function

grow into heart muscle precursor cells, which can develop into various types of heart cells. This is done through cell differentiation, a process by which dividing cells gain specialised functions.

During preclinical trials, the precursor cells were injected into the area of the heart damaged by myocardial infarction, where they were able to grow into new heart muscle cells, restoring damaged tissue and improving heart function.

-- abnormal heart beats that can limit or stop the heart from supplying blood to the body.

The new procedure developed by Duke-NUS researchers involves transplanting non-beating heart cells into the damaged heart. After the transplantation, the cells expanded and acquired the rhythm of the rest of the heart. With this procedure, the incidence of arrhythmia was cut by half. Even when the condition was detected, most episodes were temporary and self-resolved in around 30 days.

Beijing, June 12 (IANS)

Researchers have developed a wound-healing ink that can actively encourage the body to heal by exposing the cut to immune-system vesicles.

The ink can be spread into a cut of any shape using a 3D-printing pen, and in mice, the technology nearly completely repaired wounds in just 12 days, according to the study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

When the skin is cut or torn, the body's natural "construction crew" kicks in to fix it back up -- clearing out any bacterial invaders, regrowing broken blood vessels and eventually forming a scar. Many techniques used to heal wounds can't do much beyond helping the body do its job better.

Bandages or stitches are used to prevent further bleeding, while antibiotics work to prevent complications from infections. But by adding members of the construction crew to a woundhealing treatment or bandage, it could actually accelerate the natural healing process.

Specifically, white blood cells

Dan Li, and other researchers from Nanjing University in China wanted to incorporate these EVs into a hydrogel-based wound healing ink that could be painted into cuts of any shape.

The team developed a system called PAINT, or "portable bioactive ink for tissue healing", using EVs secreted from macrophages combined with sodium alginate. These components were combined in a 3D-printing pen, where they mixed at the pen's tip and formed a sturdy gel at the site of injury within three minutes.

The EVs promoted blood vessel formation and reduced inflammatory markers in human epithelial cells, shifting them into the "proliferative," or growth, phase of healing. PAINT was also tested on injured mice, where it promoted collagen fibre formation.

Mice treated with PAINT had almost healed completely from a large wound after 12 days, compared to mice that didn't receive the treatment, who were not nearly as far along in the healing process at this time point. This work could help heal a wide variety of cuts quickly and easily, without the need for complex procedures, the researchers said.

Indian-origin US entrepreneur’s AI algorithm can spot healthiest sperm

lower costs, as couples will need fewer rounds of the treatment.

Singapore, June 9 (IANS) A breakthrough stem cell therapy, has shown that these stem cells, when transplanted into an injured heart, have the ability to repair damaged tissue and improve heart function, as per results of preclinical trials.

The most common cause of death worldwide is ischemic heart disease, which is caused by diminished blood flow to the heart.

When blood flow to the heart is blocked, the heart muscle cells die -- a condition termed myocardial infarction or heart attack.

In this study, published in the journal npj Regenerative Medicine, a unique new protocol was used where pluripotent, or immature, stem cells were cultivated in the laboratory to

"As early as four weeks after the injection, there was rapid engraftment, which means the body is accepting the transplanted stem cells," said Dr. Lynn Yap, who led the research while as Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS' University, Singapore.

"We also observed the growth of new heart tissue and an increase in functional development, suggesting that our protocol has the potential to be developed into an effective and safe means for cell therapy," added Yap, who is now an Assistant Professor at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

In previous studies, the transplantation of heart muscle cells that were already beating, brought about fatal side effects -- namely, ventricular arrhythmia

In addition, the transplanted cells did not trigger tumour formation -- another common concern when it comes to stem cell therapies.

"Our technology brings us a step closer to offering a new treatment for heart failure patients, who would otherwise live with diseased hearts and have slim chances of recovery," said Professor Karl Tryggvason from Duke-NUS.

"It will also have a major impact in the field of regenerative cardiology, by offering a triedand-tested protocol that can restore damaged heart muscles while reducing the risk of adverse side effects," he added.

New Delhi, June 12 (IANS) An Indian-origin US entrepreneur's company is working on a novel Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based algorithm that can identify the healthiest sperm, an advance that can reduce the time and costs of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) pregnancies.

To develop the sperm health test algorithm, the team from California-based Oma Fertility Clinic scanned sperm from the ejaculates of more than 1,000 men, Daily Mail reported.

The AI algorithm scans sperms for their shape and how rapidly they move to pick out the best ones for fertilising an egg -- a process the company believes will boost success rates with IVF and

"As it stands right now, couples have to go through three cycles of IVF on average," Dr Kiran Joshi, co-founder at Oma Robotics, was quoted as saying to DailyMail. "We want to reduce that number as that will reduce the pain and reduce the financial burden and lead to more success," he said. According to studies, about 40 per cent of infertility cases are because of the male partner having low sperm counts -- majorly on the rise due to increase in unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles.

The sperm samples for the algorithm were mostly from men in their 30s and 40s, from across the US and other countries. Some also ranged up to the age of 75 years.

Dr Joshi's team extracted and analysed a subset of sperm from each sample -- which contained up to 20,000 sperms, based on their shape and how well they swim -- an exercise which Dr Joshi called as "like searching for a needle in a haystack", the report said.