After a 10-year project and a £60 million (US$80 million) investment, the UK Biobank has completed the whole body scans of 100,000 volunteers and is making the 1 billion images available for researchers worldwide.
After a 10-year project and a £60 million (US$80 million) investment, the UK Biobank has completed the whole body scans of 100,000 volunteers and is making the 1 billion images available for researchers worldwide.
In a recent study published in PNAS, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center investigated cholesterol-mimetic compounds specifically binding and inhibiting Scap. Their final goal was to understand cholesterol regulation by the Scap/SREBP system and identify potential therapeutics for dysregulated lipid metabolism.
The ALDH2 gene encodes mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), a major acetaldehyde-metabolizing enzyme. Approximately 36% of East Asians (around 560 million people) carry an inactivating E504K missense mutation of the ALDH2 gene, which reduces ALDH2 enzymatic activity. This inactivating mutation has been correlated with several diseases and is strongly associated with type 2 diabetes, body mass index and serum lipids in East Asians.
In a potential breakthrough for diagnosis and treatment development of liver disease, the Biomarkers Consortium’s Noninvasive Biomarkers of Metabolic Liver Disease (NIMBLE) project demonstrated that a blood test could diagnose nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an increasingly common liver disease in the U.S. The study, published in Nature Medicine, identified four biomarkers that outperform current liquid biopsies for NASH.
Nuralogix Corp.’s Anura health platform has expanded its capabilities to predict health risks using transdermal optical imaging (TOI) technology to include fatty liver disease (FLD), which affects an estimated quarter of the U.S. population. The platform uses facial blood flow patterns to provide medical-grade assessments of more than 30 health vital signs using any video-enabled device.
Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) has emerged as a leading cause of progressive liver disease, even leading to a risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Animal models that mimic the key etiological and histological features of the liver in the context of metabolic dysfunction represent the basis of preclinical research in MAFLD. The aim of work from researchers at Guangdong Pharmaceutical University was to develop a diet-induced murine model of MAFLD progressing to fibrosis and HCC.
Clearmind Medicine Inc. has released promising preclinical results demonstrating efficacy of its psychedelic-derived drug candidate MEAI for treating obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Sonic Incytes Medical Corp. collected $7.3 million in a series A fundraising round to bring its liver-focused point-of-care ultrasound solution to commercialization. Nimbus Synergies led the round with participation from Nicola Wealth, Mint Venture Partners, Consortium Medteq, Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health, Gaingels, INP Capital and several angel investors. The round was oversubscribed by 150%. The hand-held Velacur system noninvasively quantifies liver volume, stiffness and attenuation, critical factors in diagnosing and monitoring liver disease in a process that takes about five minutes and can be performed in a physician’s office. The system received FDA clearance late last year.
