NEWS
NEW ULTRASOUND DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM FOUND TO BE HIGHLY EFFECTIVE AGAINST BACTERIAL BIOFILMS
Researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a new drug delivery system using ultrasound-activated nanoparticles to break through and destroy bacterial biofilms. This offers a promising solution that could address the global crisis of chronic antibiotic-resistant infections affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
In up to 80 % of chronic infections, bacteria form biofilms – a slimy substance secreted by the bacteria which forms a protective matrix around them.
To address this, a team from Oxford’ s Department of Engineering Science and the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology, and Musculoskeletal Sciences( NDORMS) have engineered antibiotic-loaded nanoparticles. When activated by ultrasound, these rapidly vaporise and thus both physically disrupt biofilms and release drugs directly at the infection site. Ultrasound can be precisely focused deep inside the body, which is a key advantage for targeting infections non-invasively.
Professor Eleanor Stride, Professor of Biomaterials, University of Oxford and Principal Investigator of the project, said:“ Innovative solutions are desperately needed to extend the action of life-saving antibiotics. Our findings are very promising, as treatment of chronic infections associated with biofilm production continues to be a challenge in the face of spreading antimicrobial resistance worldwide. The methods we used in this study were designed with clinical use in mind, and we look forward to developing this system further for application in healthcare settings.”
Biofilms are a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance as they protect bacteria from both human immune cells and antimicrobial drugs, increasing their resistance to treatment by up to 1000-fold. Biofilms are very difficult to remove without mechanically breaking them up, which is not straightforward to do inside the body.
AT-HOME SPIT TEST BETTER THAN BLOOD TEST AT DETECTING PROSTATE CANCER
simple at-home spit test may be more accurate at
A detecting prostate cancer than the current prostatespecific antigen( PSA) blood test, new NIHR-funded research suggests.
This new method could better identify the future risk of cancer for some men. The BARCODE 1 study calculated the risk of prostate cancer from DNA extracted from saliva. This is called a polygenic risk score( PRS).
The study was partly funded by the NIHR Royal Marsden Biomedical Research Centre. It was supported by NIHR Research Delivery Network and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
For men with the highest risk score, the study found this to be a better tool than the current prostate cancer risk test.
This is a blood test which measures levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen( PSA). PSA levels can be elevated in men with prostate cancer.
The current blood test is used to identify men who are at higher risk of prostate cancer due to their age or ethnicity, or men presenting with symptoms. Men with a high PSA result will be sent for further tests to detect cancer.
However, the PSA test falsely indicates prostate cancer in men 3 out of 4 times and detects cancers which grow so slowly they are unlikely to ever be life-threatening. This means that some men may undergo unnecessary MRI scans, invasive biopsies and treatments.
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