South Koreans Scientists May Have Just Cured Baldness

South Korean scientist team claims their new chemical prevents hair loss and even regrows hair.

It's called PTD-DMB and already works on mice but hasn't been tested on humans yet. If it works, this could be a hugely successful product despite there already being other hair growth products because according to the American Hair Loss Association (AHLA) 99% of these products are ineffective. The future is looking hairy. 

Balding is a major issue around the world for both men and women. Hair is a symbol of youth, vitality, beauty, and even wisdom. A person's hair can be customized in so many different ways to express one's unique character and can change often with societal trends or at moments of personal transformation. Without the element of hair to express oneself, being left with just your bare head may seem limiting. However, people may seem more trustworthy, clean, confident, etc instead. 

U.S. Balding Stats

• MEN: According to the American Hair Loss Association (AHLA), by the age of 35 ~66% of American men lose some hair and ~25% before they turn 21. Almost all (95%+) is due to male pattern baldness (MPB).
• WOMEN: 40% of Americans losing hair are women and is even more stressful than for men because women care more about their appearance. Basically, a bald woman looks weirder than a bald man.

South Korean Hair Care Solution

The team of scientists at Yonsei University in Seoul studying follicles of hair loss patients found a very interesting pattern. The ones balding had a lot more CXXC5 protein on their skin than those people with a normal head of hair. When this CXXX5 protein combines with the disheveled protein, they block the hair follicles from growing more hair. 

Team leader, Choi Kang-yeol, said “We have found a protein that controls the hair growth and developed a new substance that promotes hair regeneration by controlling the function of the protein,” Choi told Business Korea. “We expect that the newly developed substance will contribute to the development of a drug that not only treats hair loss but also regenerates damaged skin tissues.”

So, they created a secret bio-chemical called PTD-DMB to block the hair-growth-blockers. 

Human-Ready?

Sorry, PTD-DMB is not ready for humans yet. It has been tested on mice, who grew more hair after 28 days of use, and is currently being tested on other animals for toxicity to determine if it's safe for testing on humans. 

Sources: 

Futurism

International Business Times

Business Korea

First baby from a uterus transplant in the US born in Dallas

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Chief  Medical Writer

The first birth as a result of a womb transplant in the United States has occurred in Texas, a milestone for the U.S. but one achieved several years ago in Sweden.

A woman who had been born without a uterus gave birth to the baby at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Hospital spokesman Craig Civale confirmed Friday that the birth had taken place, but said no other details are available. The hospital did not identify the woman, citing her privacy.

Baylor has had a study underway for several years to enroll up to 10 women for uterus transplants. In October 2016, the hospital said four women had received transplants but that three of the wombs had to be removed because of poor blood flow.

The hospital would give no further information on how many transplants have been performed since then. But Time magazine, which first reported the U.S. baby's birth, says eight have been done in all, and that another woman is currently pregnant as a result.

A news conference was scheduled Monday to discuss the Dallas baby's birth.

A doctor in Sweden, Mats Brannstrom, is the first in the world to deliver a baby as a result of a uterus transplant. As of last year, he had delivered five babies from women with donated wombs.

There have been at least 16 uterus transplants worldwide, including one in Cleveland from a deceased donor that had to be removed because of complications. Last month, Penn Medicine in Philadelphia announced that it also would start offering womb transplants.

Womb donors can be dead or alive, and the Baylor study aims to use some of both. The first four cases involved "altruistic" donors — unrelated and unknown to the recipients. The ones done in Sweden were from live donors, mostly from the recipients' mother or a sister.

Doctors hope that womb transplants will enable as many as several thousand women born without a uterus to bear children. To be eligible for the Baylor study, women must be 20 to 35 years old and have healthy, normal ovaries. They will first have in vitro fertilization to retrieve and fertilize their eggs and produce embryos that can be frozen until they are ready to attempt pregnancy.

After the uterus transplant, the embryos can be thawed and implanted, at least a year after the transplant to make sure the womb is working well. A baby resulting from a uterine transplant would be delivered by cesarean section. The wombs are not intended to be permanent.  Having one means a woman must take powerful drugs to prevent organ rejection, and the drugs pose long-term health risks, so the uterus would be removed after one or two successful pregnancies.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine issued a statement Friday calling the Dallas birth "another important milestone in the history of reproductive medicine."

For women born without a functioning uterus, "transplantation represents the only way they can carry a pregnancy," the statement said. The group is convening experts to develop guidelines for programs that want to offer this service.

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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at @MMarchioneAP
 

FDA Approves First-of-a-Kind Test for Cancer Gene Profiling

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Chief Medical Writer

U.S. regulators have approved a first-of-a-kind test that looks for mutations in hundreds of cancer genes at once using a single tumor sample. This gives a more complete picture of what's driving a patient's tumor and aids efforts to match treatments to those flaws.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Foundation Medicine's test for patients with advanced or widely spread cancers, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed covering it.

The dual decisions announced late Thursday will quickly make tumor gene profiling available to far more cancer patients than the few who get it now, and lead more insurers to cover it.It also will help more patients find and enroll in studies testing new drugs that target specific genes.

Microbots Swimming Among Our Cells Could Prevent and Cure Diseases

Think brain-computer interface is mind-blowing? Dive deep into the world of microbot technology. 

To enable versatile mobility inside a living organism of moving tissues and cells, these tiny robots are actually made of algae, the spirulina platensis used as a dietary supplement. The lead of a research team, Li Zhang from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has discovered how these can potentially be life-changing, literally.

Cancer Killing Magnetic Micro-Armor

Coating these spiral spring-shaped algae with iron oxide nanoparticles allows them to be guided to their target by magnetic fields from a doctor's device. With this magnetic micro-armor they actually destroy 90% of tumor cells they contacted for 48 hours in a petri dish experiment. Depending on how thick this iron oxide coating determines how long these algae will survive in our body before biodegrading, ranging from hours to days. 

Doctors can monitor them by seeing their fluorescence or using a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging tool for when the algae travel deeper into the body's tissues. So these little guys broaden the possibilities of healing methods for the doctors of the future. 

Distant Future?

Joseph Wang, nanoengineer developing other microbots said, "It's still not ready for a doctor to use." He thinks it will take another 10 years before it will be in doctors' hands. 

Ray Kurzweil, Google chief engineer expects such nanobots will start being used by 2030. It seems the challenges are the technical difficulties of powering and controlling these super tiny devices as they interact with the living bio-computer that is the human body. Differentiating the signals and traversing the every-changing interior landscape at the cellular level is no easy task. 

As always, beware the dangers of such invasive technologies that can be controlled remotely and may have unintended consequences. Coupled with Artificial Intelligence could compound the issue beyond our control. 

Instead of spending millions on artificial tiny robots to search and destroy negative cells in our bodies, why not embrace the natural remedies that purify and strengthen our body's functions and defenses? Perhaps there's a far simpler and more effective solution, like with the example of the United States developing a pen that can write in space's zero gravity, while Russian astronauts used a pencil instead. 

Sources:

https://futurism.com/organic-microbots-change-medicine-decade/

Brain Implants Boost Memory for First Time Ever

Are we living in the Matrix or in a futuristic RoboCop world with cybernetic people?

Neurologists and high-tech engineers have joined forces to create what we thought was only science fiction: the BRAIN-BOOSTING IMPLANT. Specifically, this chip works on memory and can boost short-term memory by 15% and working memory by 25%.

Now students around the world can study less and spend more time on Facebook... Actually, scientists intend to use this technology to help people with memory problems like Alzheimer's and other degenerative brain diseases. 

The University of Southern California (USC) seems to believe this is a step towards a bright cybernetic future. Professor Dong Song presented this “memory prosthesis” at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington D.C. as the first of its kind to improve human memory.

20 volunteers allowed Song's team to implant electrodes into their brains to treat epilepsy and he collected their brain activity data during memory exercises. The research team found the pattern for best memory function and stimulated the electrodes with it during future tests. These showed 15% and 25% memory improvements over no stimulation and even more so over random stimulation. 

Song said “We are writing the neural code to enhance memory function. This has never been done before.”

 

Worth It?

The cost to deal with memory disabilities in the US cost $236 billion in 2016, plus the emotional stress of family members helping their loved ones. Financially, it seems totally worth implanting a small device to prevent or reduce the debilitating effects of memory loss. 

However, what about the slippery slope of cybernetic enhancements and technological control over our lives? Would it be wise to implant something in your brain that can monitor and even control your thoughts? Can such devices really stay offline for privacy? 

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are talking about cybernetic brain enhancements and mind reading A.I. but the potential dangers are quite obvious to those with even the same level of imagination as those that dreamt up these technologies in the first place. So why be tempted to stray away from natural solutions rather than towards new shiny double-edged artificial swords? Do you really want to live under an artificially intelligent supercomputer than governs your daily life and that can punish you wirelessly instantly? 

It's ironic that in trying to improve our memory rushing towards technology, we may have actually forgotten who we are and what we are truly capable of. 

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Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/brain-implant-boosts-memory-first-time-ever-ncna821016

Amish DNA Holds Key to Immortality

Amish people live longer thanks to mutated DNA.

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine conducted a study examining the Amish people in Indiana and found a gene called "SERPINE1" that is “one of the first clear-cut genetic mutations in human beings that act upon aging and aging-related disease.”

It works by eliminating the Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 (PAI1) protein from building up in our bodies and thereby preventing aging. Lead researcher Dr. Douglas Vaughan, says there are “a number of factors that drive PAI-1 production in the body, including glucose and insulin and inflammation and oxidative stress. All of those factors, in a roundabout way, contribute to aging, and they all sort of converge on PAI-1.” His 40-person team was surprised how cooperative this Amish community was, allowing them to test ~200 people. 

Other schools are studying how to block this age-inducing protein. In Japan's Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Dr. Toshio Miyata started drugs trials attempting to replicate SERPINE1's affects to reduce the PAI1 protein. If successful, they may have one of the most valuable drugs ever created and that people, even emperors, have been seeking for thousands of years: the ELIXIR OF IMMORTALITY!

Well, it may not be that effective, but would still be a great breakthrough in medicine and bio-engineering. At least it could slow aging and help elderly people regain some more youthful state towards the end of their life. 

Yet, while looking for a way to live longer, let's not forget to realize our purpose for living in the first place. Many traditional and ancient cultures have long taught to live in alignment with nature and universal principles such as being compassionate to others, seeking higher and higher levels of truth and wisdom, and even giving up worldly temptations. They say our immortal life lives on beyond the physical realm that science can measure. 

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Sources:

http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/11/20/genetic-key-to-longevity-discovered-in-indianas-amish-community/

The Earthquake Neutralizer: The STRANGE INVENTIONS of Pier L. Ighina

By Leonardo Vintini, Epoch Times

Seismic technologies, environmental purifiers, and even the ability to change an organism’s molecular structure.

The world of Pier Luigi Ighina is of a science never before propagated, in which reality and mysticism seem to join in a way that is both charming and unnerving.

It is impossible to speak about this unusual inventor and thinker without naming his teacher and colleague, the celebrated Guglielmo Marconi—most well known for developing radio but also responsible for many other curious innovations. Ighina worked with Marconi until his death in 1937, and later carried on his teacher’s efforts through the secrets he shared with him.

While Ighina never invented anything as well known as the radio, his talent brought forth machines with perhaps even more astounding abilities that few would imagine, much less believe were possible.

As a student of magnetic fields, Ighina developed a great number of inventions throughout his life based on atomic vibrations. He also worked with the interaction of fields between the earth and sun, harnessing this energy to regenerate diseased cells.

Ighina’s numerous inventions include a bed of passive resonance, an earthquake neutralizer, and a strange device he dubbed “Elios,” which is said to purify any food matter that comes within its small field of action.

The Cloud-Buster

But perhaps none of these strange inventions brought as much pleasure to Ighina as the magnetic stroboscope. He was delighted in its capacity to surprise and amaze curious onlookers on cloudy days.

In 1998, internationally renowned journalist Maurizio Costanzo went to interview Ighina and witnessed a strange propeller spinning above his humble dwelling in Imola, Italy.  Costanzo describes how a hole in the clouds steadily opened and grew as the minutes passed. Later, Ighina admitted that the most satisfying component of his unusual invention was the innocent smiles of children as they watched the clouds retire, as if by magic.

The magnetic stroboscope—which can be compared to Wilhelm Reich’s Cloudbuster—could certainly deliver a magnificent performance. And yet the landmark of Ighina’s work would have to be his discovery of something never before considered by science—a small, elusive, yet fundamental particle he named “the atomic magnet.”

 

From Apricots to Apples

In over 40 years of study, Ighina put his all into the task of classifying the particle vibrations that had been discovered in each atom found in nature. While observing the level of light absorption of these minuscule particles, Ighina became convinced that scientists had made a mistake in conceiving the fundamental structure of atoms. He maintained that it was impossible to study a particle in perpetual motion without creating a false image.

Owing to this, Ighina devised a mechanism that isolated each atom, consisting of walls of different atoms with decreasing rates of light absorption. It was during these investigations (for which he employed a microscope of his own design capable of magnification of up to 1.6 billion times) that Ighina discovered the magnetic atom—an extremely energetic particle present in all organic matter.

The scientist discovered that if he managed to change the vibratory state of a group of particles, the material itself could transform.

After years of arduous lab work, Ighina discovered the most profound nature of matter—that atoms do not oscillate but vibrate. This revelation led to one of his more curious and brilliant inventions—the magnetic field oscillator. The scientist discovered that if he managed to change the vibratory state of a group of particles, the material itself could transform.

What followed was a series of fantastic experiments in which the field oscillator played a leading role. On one occasion, Ighina set up his apparatus before an apricot tree. He then altered the atomic vibration so that it gradually became the same as that of an apple tree. (He had previously studied the indices of this vibration.) After 16 days, he ascertained that the apricots had mutated, almost completely, into apples.

After this experience, Ighina ventured to investigate the reach of his invention on animals. He altered the vibrational state of the tail of a rat to change it, in four days, into the tail of a cat.

Even though the rat died after such treatment (perhaps its body was incapable of enduring such a rapid molecular change), it prompted Ighina to try an experiment even more revelatory: Through studying the corresponding vibration of the healthy bone of a rabbit, he excited the atoms of another rabbit’s fractured feet until they were healed in record time.

In this way, Ighina understood that sick cells (including cancerous ones) of any individual were possible to cure through a simple, gradual alternation in their vibrational index, if this was correctly calculated.

In short, Ighina had designed a machine that performed marvels. However, in spite of his long list of inventions and mythical anecdotes, Ighina was never recognized as an orthodox scientist by the academic community. Rather, he was either ignored or ridiculed for his daring work.

But some of his colleagues did recognize his genius. “The fact that it is not believed takes place because there are not the necessary tools to understand how it happens,” stated nuclear scientist Guiliano Preparata, defending Ighina’s work.

While Ighina’s work was not given its due by the scientific community at large, he was recognized by a few fellow scientists as a revolutionary pioneer and a great contributor to Italian heritage. Today, not only have foundations, streets, and conferences been founded in his name but following his death, Ighina’s oeuvre has helped to awaken even greater interest in his fascinating work.

Ighina left this world on Jan. 8, 2004, taking with him an important yet misunderstood legacy in which science meets magic. However, he leaves behind a wealth of mysterious ideas and incomprehensible artifacts that certainly inspire further study.

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Sources:

http://www.svpvril.com/ighina/magatom.html

Microchip Grows Brain Cells on Your Skin

Zap Cells into Other Kinds for Fast Healing

Ohio State researchers created a genetic compound that quickly converts skin cells into blood endothelial cells for building blood vessels with the help of a microchip. They tested this on living mice with severed arteries and after 3 weeks of growing new blood vessels and increased blood flow, they were fully healed. Now scientists claim this is safe for testing on humans. 

Usual methods of reprogramming cells like this use mixes of DNA, RNA, and proteins. The most popular way actually delivers the cells via viruses, but they may miss their target, inflame the immune system, and even turn cells cancerous. The next best alternative has been to basically electrocute target cells open to receive the new cells but this has a high failure rate of transforming the cells properly and even destroying them altogether. 

This new technological bio-technique is called Tissue Nanotransfection and uses a microchip with channels that transmit electric fields onto target cells individually. 

“You affect only a small area of the cell surface, compared with the conventional method, which upsets the entire cell,” says study co-author L. James Lee, a chemical and biomolecular engineer at the Ohio State University. “Essentially we create a tiny hole and inject DNA right into the cell, so we can control the dosage.”

Even better, the new cells replicate the programmed cells on their own and deliver them into deeper tissues for healing. One successful example of this repairs mice brain tissue damaged by stroke by transforming mice skin cells into neuron-like cells and injecting them on the damage. 

“As a proof of principle, this [approach] is very nice,” says neurobiologist Benedikt Berninger of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany, who was not involved in the study. “A big question would be: Can we get [EVs] to convert only specific cells?”

The team of scientists are very excited about the possibilities of human trials and being able to program human cells into the kind needed for the fastest healing or performance. 

“Considering what could be done,” Sen says, “this could be transformative.”

What do you think about computers triggering cellular transformations? What are the potential harms of the frequencies on our cells and organs? Is there a non-tech way to induce optimum healing with vibrations? 

Let us know what you think in the comments below.