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Revolutionizing Healthcare: Lab-on-a-Chip Devices Bring Medical Testing into Home

Imagine being able to detect mental health disorders or heart conditions from the comfort of your own home. This is now possible thanks to a revolutionary new device developed by University of Cincinnati engineers. The “lab-on-a-chip” device, created by researchers led by Distinguished Research Professor Chong Ahn and his students, can measure stress hormone levels from saliva, providing valuable diagnostic information that can help doctors make timely interventions.

Mental health disorders, such as anxiety and depression, affect over 400 million people worldwide. Prolonged cortisol elevation is linked to numerous mental health disorders, including depression and anxiety. The lab-on-a-chip device can track cortisol levels in minutes using a disposable collection device that a person places in their mouth, which is then inserted into a reader. The results are transmitted quickly to a portable analyzer and smartphone.

“This device will help doctors make timely interventions,” Ahn said in an interview. “Mental health care can be an urgent situation.”

The study was published in the journal Biomedical Microdevices. Researchers also highlighted the potential of this technology for detecting other health issues, such as heart conditions.

“We can monitor troponin in the blood on a daily basis and hopefully get valuable information,” said co-author Vinitha Thiyagarajan Upaassana, a doctoral graduate at UC. “The test provides immediate results, which is important when a patient is in need of immediate care.”

In addition to mental health disorders, researchers also developed a new point-of-care-testing platform for COVID-19. The device can provide rapid and effective biochemical testing that measures troponin from a drop of blood.

“The next step would be to collaborate with psychiatrists and conduct clinical trials to see if our platform works as expected,” said co-author Supreeth Setty, a doctoral student at UC. “Point-of-care testing is a practical way to make results available quickly for everyone.”

The lab-on-a-chip device has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by providing patients with quick and accurate diagnostic information, even in remote or underserved areas. This technology could potentially save lives and improve patient outcomes worldwide.

Breaking New Ground in Rare Disease Research: Unveiling Potential Treatments for UBA5-Associated Encephalopathy

Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have made groundbreaking strides in understanding and potentially treating a rare and devastating disease – UBA5-associated encephalopathy. This condition, caused by mutations in the UBA5 gene, affects brain function, leading to developmental delays and early-onset seizures. Despite its rarity, the impact on affected individuals is profound.

The research team, led by Dr. Heather Mefford, has created a first-of-its-kind cortical organoid model for the disorder. By studying how it causes developmental defects, they’ve identified potential ways to treat this debilitating condition. Currently, treatment options are limited to managing symptoms and addressing severe deficiencies in muscle tone and physical ability.

The team’s innovative approach involved leveraging technological advances to create patient-derived models, such as induced pluripotent stem cells from patients with UBA5-associated encephalopathy. These three-dimensional cell cultures mimic the organization and development of regions of the brain, allowing researchers to explore the genetic architecture of the disease and compare it to healthy control models.

The findings revealed striking differences between the patient organoids and controls in how they functioned. The patient organoids were smaller, grew slower, and had increased but less organized electrical activity. This is a key point because most patients with UBA5-associated encephalopathy experience seizures that are hard to treat.

Furthermore, the cortical organoid models revealed developmental defects, including stunted GABAergic interneuron growth. These cells play a crucial role in preventing hyperactivity and may explain why these patients have seizures. The research team found that boosting the expression of the existing partially functioning copy of UBA5 reversed the mutation’s effects, demonstrating a potential treatment route.

The study’s first author, Dr. Helen Chen, expressed excitement about the initial findings and emphasized the importance of continued research to pinpoint the therapeutic window for treatment while focusing on establishing the minimum response dose and potential delivery approaches.

Rare diseases like UBA5-associated encephalopathy are often embodied by tight-knit and active advocacy groups. The researchers involved in this study acknowledged the critical role that families and advocacy groups played in the research, highlighting their understanding and hope for future affected individuals.

This groundbreaking research has opened up new avenues for potential treatments and underscores the importance of continued collaboration between scientists, patients, and advocates to push the boundaries of rare disease research.

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Groundbreaking Study Shows Vagus Nerve Stimulation Can Eliminate PTSD Symptoms for Up to Six Months

A historic clinical trial conducted by researchers from The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and Baylor University Medical Center has demonstrated that patients with treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can experience significant long-term benefits when paired with vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). The results, published in Brain Stimulation, show that all nine participants remained symptom-free for up to six months after completing traditional therapy along with VNS.

Dr. Michael Kilgard, the Margaret Fonde Jonsson Professor of neuroscience at UTD’s School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, expressed his excitement about the outcome, stating, “In a trial like this, some subjects usually do get better, but rarely do they lose their PTSD diagnosis. Typically, the majority will have this diagnosis for the rest of their lives.” Kilgard emphasized that the 100% loss of diagnosis among participants is “very promising.”

The study employed prolonged exposure therapy, a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, in conjunction with short bursts of VNS delivered via an implantable device. Assessments were conducted four times during the six months following the completion of the standard 12-session therapy course. The benefits persisted throughout this period for all nine participants.

This research represents the largest clinical trial to date utilizing an implanted device for PTSD treatment, according to Kilgard. Pioneering work by UTD researchers has previously demonstrated that VNS paired with physical rehabilitation can accelerate neuroplasticity – the rewiring of areas in the brain. Their 13-year effort to treat a wide variety of conditions using VNS has resulted in FDA approval for treating impaired upper-limb movement in stroke patients.

The National Center for PTSD estimates that 5% of adults in the U.S. have post-traumatic stress disorder in any given year, with women being twice as likely to develop PTSD at some point in their life. Many PTSD patients fail to respond to therapy or experience intolerable side effects or relapse, leaving them with no viable prospect for remission.

Kilgard emphasized that PTSD patients are not limited to military veterans but can also be found among average citizens who have faced traumatic events. “When you hear PTSD, you may picture a combat zone, but it’s much more prevalent than that,” he said. “It can stem from any event that inspires fear of death or bodily injury, or death of a loved one.”

The next step in the PTSD research – a double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 pilot study – is ongoing in Dallas and Austin. Researchers hope that it will represent another step toward FDA approval of a treatment that doesn’t exist now, and it would be invented, tested, and delivered by UTD, as was the case for upper-limb recovery after stroke.

Licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Mark Powers, a research center director of the Trauma Research Center at Baylor University Medical Center, is the lead author of the study. He expressed his enthusiasm about VNS, stating that it has “changed the game” by improving both treatment efficacy and its tolerability.

Powers added that his collaboration with UTD has a multidisciplinary synergy that he regards as rare. “With this alliance, we have people doing the preclinical and the clinical work at the same time, giving each other feedback and ideas,” he said. “Neither one of our groups could do this alone.”

The research was funded by a grant from the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.