Universal Medicine

Scientists have created the first ever human-sheep hybrid as a development to eventually being able to grow organs for human transplants which could potentially lead to a cure for type 1 diabetes.  There is a global shortage of organ donors and thirty-two people die every day waiting for an organ transplant so this is life changing science. To expand the supply scientists are trying to 3D print organs in the lab and some are trying to create artificial, mechanical organs whilst others are making hybrids. There has been previous developments in human-pig hybrids but scientists were unable to obtain human organs from them for transplants. Scientists had hoped their organs could be transplanted directly but they were always rejected. The idea of growing human organs in another animal is ideal as patients would not reject the organs as their own cells are used to create them. The process would involve obtaining a sheep embryo and modifying and deactivating the DNA that would norma...

Drug interactions are the reason why we need to read labels for prescribed or over-the-counter drugs. They can cause unexpected side effects, make drugs less effective or increase the action of a certain drug. Types of drug interactions: Drug-drug interactions : these interactions occur when two or more different drugs are administered together. Side-effects are inevitably brought about by this type of interaction but these effects are intensified if the drugs that are taken have the same effect: aspirin and warfarin, for example, both help to reduce blood clots unless they are used in conjunction with each other to cause excessive bleeding. Drug-food/beverage interactions : certain ingredients in food or beverages (e.g. alcohol) can affect the way in which drugs function. Grapefruit juice is a classic culprit: this type of juice has the effect of inhibiting enzymes which break down statins (drugs used to lower cholesterol levels) in the intestines. The result is that more of...

Obesity. The second biggest preventable causes of cancer in the UK. Obesity occurs when a person is considered to be overweight with a high percentage of body fat. A person is usually considered obese when their BMI is 30 to 39.9. It affects approximately 1 in 4 adults whilst affecting 1 in 5 children. Unfortunately, most of the time obesity does come with additional health effects such as high blood pressure and cancer. High blood pressure due to the body requiring more oxygen and nutrients to be delivered to the additional fat tissue. This causes the heart to increase the pressure in the arteries and increase the heart rate and the body’s ability to transport blood through the vessels. Obesity contributes to the increased risk of getting a variety of cancers. For women there is an increased risk of being diagnosed with breast, colon, gallbladder and uterus cancer whilst for men they have a higher risk of being diagnosed with colon or prostate cancer. In our modern day lif...

Superbugs kill around 700,000 people every year, and this figure is set to increase to as much as 10,000,000 by 2050 due to bacteria developing antibiotic resistance. This usually arises through random mutation, and this resistance spreads rapidly due to the ability of bacteria to share advantageous alleles through plasmids, which can be shared between even distant species.  It is therefore unsurprising that we are developing new, more effective forms of medicine to combat this threat; a team of scientists from led by The Institute of Bio-engineering and Nanotechnology have created a polymer capable of attaching to the bacteria cell surface, entering the bacterial cell, and precipitating the cytoplasmic substances to kill the bacterium. this polymer has been found to be effective against  Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Additionally, it was found that the bacter...

Millions of people in the UK are plagued with migraines. Some people think of them as a bad headache but they cause a crowd of symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, light and noise sensitivity and fatigue. There are currently only treatments that can reduce the symptoms of migraines; there is no cure. These treatments aren’t always effective and many have side effects. It is a very common condition that affects one in every five women and around one in every 15 men. The cause of migraines is unknown so it is very hard to find effective treatments. The current treatments include painkillers, triptans (medication that can help reverse the changes in the brain that may cause migraines) and anti-emetics (medication that is often used to reduce nausea and vomiting). Erenumab is a new drug that has been proven to prevent migraine attacks and might be open for use as early as next year. They are monoclonal antibodies which block the receptor of CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) in the br...