Ivermectin: The Far-Right’s Latest Anti COVID 19 Miracle Drug?

Even though it has legitimate use for both man and beast, why is America’s far-right hailing ivermectin as a miracle drug for treating COVID 19?

By: Ringo Bones

America’s far-right had been resisting legitimate COVID 19 vaccines citing unfounded claims that it contains a really tiny micro-chip that can track your exact location. Even though over-use of social media like Tick-Tock is one sure way for your exact location to be tracked online, far-right anti-vaxxers still resort to other non-vaccine based cures for COVID 19, especially ones not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization – i.e. hydroxychloroquine. But has a widely used veterinary variant of an anti parasite drug, ivermectin, now the far-right’s latest miracle cure of choice? But first here’s a brief history of how ivermectin was discovered.

This pharmaceutical product has quite an incredible origin story. In the late 1960s, Satoshi Ōmura, a microbiologist at Tokyo’s Kitasako Institute, was hunting for new antibacterial compounds and started to collect thousands of soil samples from around Japan. He cultured bacteria from the samples, screened the cultures for medical potential and sent them ten thousand kilometers away to Merck Research Labs in New Jersey, where his collaborator, William Campbell, tested their effect against parasitic worms affecting livestock and other animals. One culture, derived from a soil sample collected near a golf course southwest of Tokyo, was remarkably effective against worms. The bacterium culture was a new species and was baptized Streptomyces avermictilis. The active component, named avermectin, was chemically modified to increase its activity and safety. The new compound, called ivermectin, was commercialized as a product for animal health in 1981 and soon became a top-selling veterinary drug in the world. Remarkably, despite decades of searching, Streptomyces avermictilis remains the only source of avermectin ever found.

A few years after becoming a best-selling veterinary drug, Campbell urged his colleagues to study ivermectin as a potential treatment for onchocerciasis – also known as river blindness – a devastating disease caused by worms and transmitted by flies that left millions of people blind, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. The first clinical trials in Senegal showed that the treatment worked and ivermectin was approved for human use in 1987.

As of August 29, 2021, ivermectin, in its horse de-wormer form, was the leading cause of poisoning cases as reported in the United States’ Poison Control hotlines, especially in “farming states” where the former far-right US President Donald J. Trump was very popular. Poison Control Centers across the so-called “red states” received a record number of calls of people suffering side-effects for taking ivermectin without a doctor’s prescription – especially in its horse de-wormer paste and giant pill form.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, animal / veterinary grade de-wormers are not safe for human consumption. But during the summer of 2021, America’s right-wing media outlets like Fox News and News Max and a few others had been busy promoting ivermectin as a perfectly safe miracle cure for COVID 19.

For those old enough to remember, ivermectin – in the form of veterinary grade horse de-wormers – was widely popularized by many a lothario during the early to mid 1980s as a very effective aphrodisiac. Our neighborhood lothario – who turned 18 back in 1976 - still swears by it as a very effective aphrodisiac despite of the veterinary grade ivermectin posing a health hazard to the human physiology.

Medical Detection Dogs: The Future Of COVID 19 Testing?

They’ve successfully sniffed out different forms of cancers and sniffed out those affected by malaria for years, but are medical detection dogs the future of COVID 19 testing and detection?

By: Ringp Bones

Three months ago, specifically trained medical detection dogs have shown promising results in being able to detect COVID 19 in suspected patients even before the patients tested positive with existing COVID 19 test procedures, thus establishing their potential for use in new non-invasive, early warning measure to detect coronavirus in the future. After promising results by the world leading researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and collaboration with the charity Medical Detection Dogs and Durham University, dogs that can sniff out COVID 19 will soon be working as an early detection system in a public space near you.

Given that dogs have been successfully sniffing out certain cancers and even malaria infected individuals for a number of years now, COVID 19 detection could represent the new frontier for these medical detection dogs. More than 10 years of research gathered by Medical Detection Dogs has shown that the dogs, which could screen up to 250 people per hour, can be trained to detect the odor of specific diseases at the equivalent dilution of one teaspoon of sugar in 2-Olympic sized swimming pools of water.

Trials in Helsinki, Finland’s airports are already planned to use medical detection dogs to “sniff-out” newly arrived plane passengers for COVID 19. And given the promising results by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine trials of these dogs, the medical detection dogs can also perform mass screenings of COVID 19 at a faster time compared to existing mass testing methods with even better accuracy. This could make the disconcerting cotton swab through the nose testing for COVID 19 a thing of the past.

Could The Oxford Coronavirus Vaccine End The COVID 19 Pandemic?

With extremely encouraging results, could the Oxford Coronavirus Vaccine be the one to end the ongoing global COVID 19 pandemic?

By: Ringo Bones

A senior British official has called the latest news on an Oxford University team’s potential coronavirus vaccine as “extremely encouraging”. The UK Phase I and II trial of the Oxford University coronavirus vaccine began in April 2020 and involved 1,077 healthy volunteers who were between 18 and 55 years old. Some of those volunteers received a second booster dose of the vaccine and they appeared to benefit the most. The vaccine was being developed by Oxford’s Jenner Institute in conjunction with the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, showed that it is safe and produced a strong immune results according to the research published on Monday, July 20, 2020 in The Lancet medical journal.

The Oxford Coronavirus Vaccine is made from a genetically engineered virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees. The vaccine caused a two-pronged immune response, says a news release from the Jenner Institute at Oxford.  First, within 14 days, it triggered a T-cell response, generating white blood cells that can attack infected cells. Second, within 28 days, it provoked an antibody response. Antibodies are able to prevent the virus from infecting cells when it is initially contracted the disease according to the release. Oxford is working with AstraZeneca to develop, manufacture and produce a coronavirus vaccine on a large scale. The unprecedented effort aims to make some 2-billion doses of the vaccine to be available globally, through partnerships with manufacturers in several countries, by early next year.

Lead scientist Prof. Sarah Gilbert told the BBC on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 that while the hope was still to be able to make millions of doses available by this autumn, there was still “absolutely no certainty” of that timeline, as the final Phase III trials were still ongoing and the roll-out of the vaccine on a large scale was also contingent on the manufacturing process and individual nations’ safety regulators approving it for emergency use. There were no dangerous side effects from taking the vaccine; however, 70-percent of the people on the trial developed either fever or headache.

Are Russian Cyber-Spies Targeting COVID 19 Vaccine Research Labs?

Seems unbelievable when I’ve first heard of it but are Russia’s top cyber-spies targeting the world’s leading COVID 19 vaccine research labs?

By: Ringo Bones

Given that to those old enough to remember that the then Soviet Union was at the cutting edge in medical science when it comes to developing performance enhancing drugs at the height of the Cold War, and hence their “almost mythical” athletic performance during the Olympic Games after World War II, that Putin era Russia now has resorted to stealing vital data via cyber espionage when it comes to developing a working COVID 19 vaccine seems “unbelievable”. But, sadly, the world’s leading cyber security services had just found out that the Kremlin’s go-to cyber-spies, a hacker group popularly known as Cozy Bear, was responsible for hacking the computer servers of UK, Canadian and US labs currently working on a working COVID 19 vaccine. It did not specify which organizations had been targeted or whether any information had been stolen. But it said vaccine research had not been hindered by hackers and as usual, Russia has denied any responsibility.

The warning was recently published by an international group of security services like the UK’s NCSC, the Canadian Communication Security Establishment (CSE), the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cyber security Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the US National security Agency. One expert said it was “plausible” that, despite the Kremlin’s denials, Russian spies were involved. Cozy Bear – the named cyber espionage and hacking group – has been implicated in past cyber attacks and has left quite a trail, and there are fairly good links to the Russian state itself. Cozy Bear was first identified as being a significant “threat actor” as far back as 2014, according to the American cyber security firm Crowdstrike. It describes the group as being “aggressive” in its tactics and “nothing if not flexible, changing tool sets frequently. The unit has been previously implicated in hacking the US Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the 2016 US Presidential Election. But given Russia’s reputation of being the cutting edge in medical science since the Soviet era, why did the Kremlin authorize such an operation in order to be the first in developing a working COVID 19 vaccine?

From a geopolitical perspective, a nation state that can first develop a working COVID 19 vaccine could gain an unfair advantage from an economic perspective in being able to end a government enforced lockdown and restarting the economy while keeping its own citizens from getting sick and or dying from COVID 19. It seems that the COVID 19 vaccine spy-game is a high stakes play in terms of statecraft indeed. Let’s just hope that Agent 007 has the sufficient medical degree to tackle such a case successfully.

Will There Be A Post COVID 19 Famine?

Given that it has already disrupted food production in sensitive regions of the world will there be more people dying of hunger than of the COVID 19 virus?

By: Ringo Bones

The charity group Oxfam and the United Nations recently issued a warning that more people could eventually die of hunger than from the COVID 19 virus. Starvation warnings are now posted in vulnerable parts of the world and these regions are not necessary, at the moment, experiencing armed conflict. But could starvation eventually take more lives than from the COVID 19 virus?

According to Oxfam, COVID 19 is already disrupting food production in poorer parts of Africa currently not experiencing armed conflict. And basing on recently imposed lockdown measures, COVID 19 could complicate the delivery of food aid and the resulting economic downturn due to the coronavirus lockdown caused runaway unemployment will make charitable fundraising activities much more difficult. The UN says up to 122-millon people worldwide could be facing starvation by the end of 2020. And according to Oxfam, up to 12,000 people a die could die of hunger by the end of 2020. By way of comparison, the global death peak of COVID 19 back in April 2020 was only 10,000 deaths per day, which is quite a sobering statistic any way you put it.

The recent Oxfam briefing also reveals the world’s ten worst hunger hotspots, places such as Venezuela and South Sudan where the food crisis is most severe and getting worse as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. It also highlights emerging epicenters of hunger – middle income countries such as India, South Africa and Brazil – where millions of people who were barely managing have been tipped over the edge by the pandemic.

Hydroxychloroquine: The Drug Of Choice Of Right Wing Populists?

Given that it is touted by Presidents Donald Trump, Jail Bolsonaro amongst others, is the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine the drug of choice of right wing populists in the treatment of COVID 19?

By: Ringo Bones

Brazilian strongman President Jair Bolsonaro recently used it after recently registering positive for COVID 19 and US President Donald Trump and his far right inner circle – like former NY City Mayor Rudi Giuliani – had been promoting it as an effective cure for the coronavirus. Originally for malaria and lupus, hydroxychloroquine was originally shortlisted by the Solidarity Trial – an international clinical trial launched by the WHO and other partners to help find an effective treatment for COVID 19. It was hoped that one or more treatments under trial, including hydroxychloroquine, will result in improving clinical outcomes in COVID 19 patients and save lives. But hydroxychloroquine trials were eventually stopped as of June 17, 2020 as evidence showed it did not result in the reduction of mortality of hospitalized COVID 19 patients when compared with standard care. Given that it has been proven to do nothing against COVID 19, why is it that some people – especially those in the far right populist wing – still insist that hydroxychloroquine is the only effective cure against COVID 19?

Conspiracy theories tend to be grounded in unusual coincidences or misunderstood science and they use highly emotional language to appeal to others. In a time when public mistrust is at an all-time low, it is important to counter false information with clear, high-quality evidence. Although not a conspiracy theory, the hype around hydroychloroquine started in March 14, 2020 when a Google Word document was circulated on Twitter touting the potential use of repurposing the old anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a possible COVID 19 cure. The document claimed to be written in consultation with prestigious medical schools and scientific institutions and by March 16 it had gone viral on Twitter. Unfortunately, it was only realized much later that the author of the document was actually a blockchain investor, who had inaccurately claimed to write it in consultation with medical schools and scientists.

The global hype around hydroxychloroquine had already been set in motion before the first clinical study testing it on COVID 19 patients was even published on March 17, 2020 with the study only finding a 50-percent improvement in the extremely small sample size of 14 patients with COVID 19 taking hydroxychloroquine alone. These authors have now been criticized for not randomly assigning patients to treatment groups, their small sample size and lack of a control group to compare with the treatment group with, meaning that the positive results could easily have occurred by chance.

However, by March 19, 2020 – US President Donald Trump, in conjunction with former NYC Mayor Rudi Giuliani, were promoting the potential of the drug at press conferences, incorrectly stating it had already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the COVID 19 virus. The FDA then had to release a statement cautioning people against using the drug off label. Later, when President Trump stated that he was taking a two week course of hydroxychloroquine, despite any evidence showing it could prevent COVID 19, there was widespread concern from healthcare professionals about the dangerous example this could set. A recent study confirmed a huge surge in hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine prescription fills – likely due to off label prescriptions for COVID 19.

Since then, hospitals now have to deal with the additional burden of treating people poisoning themselves after taking the drug, with one man fatally poisoning himself with a fish tank cleaning additive made with the same active ingredient as chloroquine. The bias towards this drug is even derailing clinical trials of other closely related COVID 19 treatment regimens. While studies done within cell dishes in labs show that both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine can inhibit the virus, as with any medicine while studies in humans tend to be much more inconsistent. The largest study of the drug was published in The Lancet on May 22, 2020 stating that the drug increased the risk of death in hospitalized COVID 19 patients. This paper has now been famously retracted because of serious concerns about the verification of the data sources, study design and analysis used. While the verdict on hydroxychloroquine is far from clear, now is not the time for anyone to be taking this drug off label.

Air Pollution: Anathema To COVID 19 Sufferers?

Given that they already have compromised respiratory systems, does COVID 19 sufferers in cities with high levels of air pollution more likely to die that their counterparts in clean air locales?

By: Ringo Bones

Public health policymakers have been warning us for decades that polluted air is a serious threat to people with compromised respiratory systems – like ones suffering from asthma and related preexisting chronic lung conditions. Since the year 2000, about a million people die annually in Mainland China’s urban centers where the air quality falls far below the acceptable guidelines set by the World Health Organization. But since the advent of the COVID 19 pandemic, does polluted air spell the death knell to COVID 19 sufferers?

A recently published research from the Harvard University School of Public Health shows that COVID 19 sufferers living in cities with severe levels of air pollution are more likely to die than ones living in regions with much cleaner air. Even though pollution levels in cities have declined since lockdown measures were enforced. Polluted cities COVID 19 death rates are up to a third higher compared to cities with cleaner air and stricter enforced clean air policies.

Given that the Trump administration had rolled back the EPA’s Clean Air Act back in 2017, the increased levels of COVID 19 deaths in the United States could be attributable to increased pollution levels in major metropolitan areas. The Harvard study now highlights the importance of clean air laws when it comes to formulating public health policy.

Does 5G Internet Networks Cause And Help Spread COVID 19?

Given that the belief is straight out off Trump’s climate change denial playbook, does the belief that 5G internet networks causes COVID 19 more dangerous than the pandemic itself?

By: Ringo Bones

The dismissal of the pandemic as a hoax and questioning of scientific experts is straight out of President Trump’s, and other right-wing populist demagogue’s, playbook of climate change denial that got them elected in the first place. The 5G theory about radio waves transmitting or activating the virus, for example, is a reworking of long running conspiracy fears about mind control experiments, subliminal messaging and supposed United States military weapons projects that has since been a staple of Hollywood’s TV and movie industry way before the runaway mid 1990s success of The X-Files. Add to that an utter lack of how science works of most of Trump’s supporters and it is no longer a mystery that the belief that 5G internet networks causes and spreads the COVID 19 virus is very popular in the United States at the moment. 

The 5G coronavirus conspiracy theories are particularly challenging to debunk by normal educated people with a working grasp of science – never mind tenured government scientists - because they bring together people from very different parts from the political spectrum. On the other hand, they attract the far-right Trump supporters who see them as part of a technological assault by big government and the “rich liberal elite” on the freedom of individuals. On the other, they appeal to the well established “anti-vaxxer community” who are often allied with those distrustful of Big Pharma. Getting COVID 19 from 5G internet networks is probably like someone getting smallpox from lighting a 1950s era flashlight into their face.

Cow Plasma: Possible COVID 19 Treatment?

Given that the race is on to find a possible treatment to this terrible pandemic as soon as possible, is cow plasma the most viable method to provide COVID 19 antibody treatment?

By: Ringo Bones

A biotech company in South Dakota says it could hold the key to help fight the COVID 19 virus. The antibodies from the cows could help fight off the infection and speed up the recovery. Dr. Ryan Schaefer, a veterinarian at Walcott Veterinary Clinic says “they engineer the animals so that they actually produce human immune cells, and then they are basically vaccinating those cows with COVID 19, and then turning around and collecting the plasma from those cows and getting the antibodies.”

SAb Biotherapeutics in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is the brains behind the science. Dr. Ryan Schaefer says antibody testing is different to finding a vaccine. Dr. Schaefer says: “The antibodies are already produced and they are going to attack that cell if somebody is infected. Cow’s antibodies would come in first to at least help because you don’t need to produce that antibody right away.” A vaccine would take a bit longer than the antibody treatment method because a vaccine works by first requires your body to make antibodies to ward off infection. The biotech company plans to begin clinical trials in the coming months.

Sewage Epidemiology: Viable COVID 19 Early Warning System?

Could a sewage-based coronavirus test provide faster and better results than existing medical tests?

By: Ringo Bones

Current rapid coronavirus antibody tests recently got a bad rap after providing a lot of false-positive results, but could testing a city or community’s sewer system for the COVID 19 virus provide faster and more accurate results? Scientists led by UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology are working on a standardized test to “count” the amount of coronavirus in a wastewater sample. The test could pick up COVID 19 infection spikes up to 10 days earlier than with existing medical based tests. Newcastle University’s Prof. David Graham and his colleagues have now developed a way to quantify the genetic material from the coronavirus.

Early in the COVID 19 pandemic, research revealed that people infected with the virus “shed” viral material in their feces. That insight prompted an interest in “sewage epidemiology”. A somewhat similar test used by Chinese epidemiologists working with Italian health authorities during the spring of 2020 produced test results showing that coronavirus could already had been present in Italy near the end of December 2019. The researchers want to fine tune and reproduce this test before it can be rolled out as part of a COVID 19 alert system.

Dexamethasone: Possible COVID 19 Cure?

Given the drug’s ability to reduce deaths among patients on ventilators and on oxygen, is dexamethasone a promising COVID 19 cure?

By: Ringo Bones

Given that a working COVID 19 vaccine is probably still months away, this “miracle drug” is already widely available around the world for years. Primarily used to reduce inflammation in a range of conditions caused by an overactive immune system like arthritis, asthma and some skin conditions and an added bonus that the drug is not astronomically expensive when as little as UK£5 per patient could save a patient on a ventilator or on oxygen due to COVID 19, dexamethasone was recently labeled as a “miracle drug” after the anti-inflammatory drug showed promising results after being tested as part of the world’s biggest trial of existing treatments to see if they could also work against coronavirus.

In a trial led by a team from Oxford University, about 2,000 hospital patients were given dexamethasone and compared with more than 4,000 who were not. For patients on ventilators, it cut the risk of death from 40-percent to 28-percent. For patients needing oxygen, it cut the risk of death from 25-percent to 20-percent. The researchers said this was equivalent to one life being saved for every eight patients on a ventilator and one life being saved for every 20 to 25 patients being treated with oxygen. Chief investigator Prof. Peter Horby said it was “the only drug so far that has been shown to reduce mortality – and reduce it significantly.”

UK Heath Secretary Matt Hancock told the commons that 240,000 doses of the drug are in stock and on order. Dexamethasone works by dampening down the reaction of the body’s immune system to COVID 19, which can often be more harmful than the virus itself. And given the initial results of the trial, some experts even said that COVID 19 deaths in the UK could have been cut by half of the June 16, 2020 total of 42, 153 if UK hospitals started using dexamethasone by the beginning of March 2020.

Does President Trump Still Harboring A Cavalier Attitude About The Novel Coronavirus?

Given that the WHO just declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on the novel coronavirus, does President Trump still harboring a “cavalier attitude” towards the coronavirus emergency?

By: Ringo Bones

Given that his so-called inner circle often advises anyone who approaches to within talking range of President Trump – like foreign dignitaries and reporters from major news outlets – that he is a “germophobe”, Trump really has a track record of harboring a cavalier attitude towards pathogens of public health concern. I mean since 2018, on average, the Trump Administration had been slashing the annual budgets of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services by almost 15-percent on an annual basis since 2018.

President Trump enacted an executive decision to slash the budget of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention back in 2018 focused on eliminating the funding of Obama era disease security programs and also of the Health and Human Services. Back in 2018, the White House eliminated a position on the National Security Council tasked with coordinating a global pandemic response. During a federal government budget proposal meeting for the 2020 US Government Budget held back in 2019, the Trump Administration sought to cut the CDC’s annual budget for the fiscal year 2020 by as much as 16-percent.

President Trump’s rather cavalier attitude about the novel coronavirus even raised a furor of criticism by the American public that raises an impression that President Trump is more concerned about the health of Dow Jones than the health of Joe Public. Given the March 9, 2020 declaration of the World Health Organization that the spread of the novel coronavirus across China and to a growing list of international locations constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern will prompt the Trump Administration to be concerned with the American public’s health – as opposed to the financial health of Wall Street.

Could Artificial Intelligence Soon Replace Doctors In Diagnosing Breast Cancer?

Given very promising results from an international team of medical researchers, including Google Health, could AI be soon replacing doctors when it comes to diagnosing breast cancer?

By: Ringo Bones

Latest results of a medical research published in the journal Nature has shown that artificial intelligence is more accurate than doctors in diagnosing breast cancer from mammograms. The international medical research team, including researchers from Google Health and Imperial College London, designed and trained a computer model to analyze X-ray images from nearly 29,000 women. The algorithm outperformed six radiologists in reading mammograms. AI was still as good as two doctors working together and unlike humans, AI is tireless and experts say it could improve detection.

The newfangled AI mammogram was tested against the current system in the UK’s NHS that uses two radiologists to analyze each woman’s X-rays. In rare cases when the two radiologists disagree, a third doctor assesses the images. In the research study, an AI model was given anonymized images, so that the women could not be identified. Unlike the human experts, who had access to the patient’s medical history, the AI had only the mammograms to go on. The results showed that the AI model was as good as the NHS’s current double-reading system of two doctors. And it was superior at spotting cancer than a single doctor.

Compared to one radiologist, there was a reduction of 1.2-percent in false positives, when a mammogram is incorrectly diagnosed as abnormal. There was also a reduction of 2.7-percent in false negatives, where a cancer is missed. Dominic King from Google Health said “Our team is really proud of these research findings, which suggest that we are on our way to developing a tool that can help clinicians spot breast cancer with greater accuracy”. Could AI based cancer diagnosis soon become a regular vital medical routine? 

Can Sound Waves Be Used To Cure Cancer?

I don’t know if this latest breakthrough in medical science will soon allow your healthcare provider to subsidize your high end audio rig, but can sound waves soon be a viable cure for cancer?

By: Ringo Bones

The newfangled medical procedure is called acoustic cluster therapy and even though a number of white papers had been published of the subject as far back as 2015, the first ever patient has been treated with acoustic cluster therapy got press coverage back in December 17, 2019. The procedure uses microscopic clusters of bubbles and liquid droplets formed via ultrasound waves to enhance the delivery of chemotherapy drugs to tumors. The procedure promises to improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy by better targeting it to the cancer site and could potentially be explored with reduced doses of chemotherapy drugs in order to reduce the severity of the side effects.

The new treatment has been recently being trialed by The Institute Of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. The next step, the phase I and II clinical trial of acoustic cluster therapy will aim to provide early data on the effectiveness of the therapy as well as establish its safety. The treatment will then be used to treat patients with tumors in the liver that had spread from the bowel or pancreas.

Professor Jeffrey Barber, professor in physics applied to medicine at The Institute Of Cancer Research is delighted that the work “has progressed to the point where the technology is now being assessed in patients for the first time. It’s a very exciting door opening technology which concentrates more of the drug in the tumor.” The clinical trial is largely funded by Phoenix Solutions with additional funding from the Research Council of Norway, as well as support from the NHR Biomedical Research Centre at The Royal Marsden and the ICR.

Gene Silencing: A New Frontier In Medicine?

Could inherited diseases now be treated by a newly-developed treatment called “gene silencing"?

By: Ringo Bones

Gene silencing had shown really promising results after a recent trial treatment to treat an inherited disease called porphyria – a crippling illness often linked to the madness of King George III. Patients with prophyria participating in the trial treatment of a new drug saw attacks of crippling pain reduced by 90-percent on average with half of them had resulted in the elimination of chronic pain. Porphyria is an inherited disorder which means people with the disorder cannot produce haem – a vital component of hemoglobin in red blood cells that transport oxygen around the body – and therefore suffer a painful buildup of chemicals called porphyrins. In the 1960s, psychiatrists suggested that the inherited illness might explain the mania suffered by King George III, based on evidence that he had purple urine which is a main symptom of the disorder.

The newfangled treatment uses an approach called gene silencing. A gene is part of our DNA that contains the blueprint for making proteins, such as hormones, enzymes or raw cellular building materials. But our DNA is locked away inside a cell’s nucleus and kept apart from a cell’s protein-making factories. So our bodies use a short strand of genetic code, called messenger RNA, to bridge the gap and carry the instructions. This drug, called givosiran, kills the messenger in the process known as RNA interference. In acute intermittent porphyria, the drug lowers the levels of an enzyme involved in haem production and prevents the buildup of toxic proteins.

Prof. David Rees from King’s College London treated patients taking part in the trial in the UK. He told the BBC that “this is a really important treatment   - it’s innovative. Porphyria is one of the first conditions it has been used successfully. I’m genuinely surprised how well it works in this condition and I think it offers a lot of hope in the future.” Gene silencing has been used to treat a genetic disease that causes nerve damage and the US Food and Drug Administration said such medicines “have the potential to transform medicine”. Other ongoing trials have shown that the gene silencing drug givosiran has the potential to treat other inherited diseases but it is still in its very early days. A similar approach is also being investigated in Huntington’s disease, which is caused by a buildup of a toxic protein that kills brain cells. Researchers are also looking into it as an alternative to statins for lowering cholesterol.

Climate of Secrecy Surrounds a Drug Resistant Fungus?

After a patient died after 90 days being admitted in Mount Sinai Hospital, why is there a so-called climate of secrecy surrounding Candida auris – a deadly drug-resistant fungus?

By: Ringo Bones

An elderly man died from the fungus last year at Mount Sinai Hospital following abdominal surgery and yet the Trump Administration had never issued a public health warning. A drug-resistant superbug fungus variant of Candida auris has sickened nearly 600 people across the United States in recent years, including more than 300 patients in New York State, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported. Candida auris, a fungus that normally preys on people with weakened immune systems can be deadly if not treated properly. “Most Candida auris cases in the United States have been detected in the New York City area, New Jersey and the Chicago area,” the CDC said in a statement. The fungus was seen in the United States for the first time in 2013, Dr. Lynn Sosa, Connecticut’s deputy state epidemiologist had told The New York Times that she views Candida auris as “pretty much unbeatable and difficult to identify.” But why is it that the so-called “veil of secrecy” surrounding Candida auris has just been recently lifted and at most without the attendant press fanfare?

According to the CDC, symptoms of the fungus may be difficult to detect because patients are often already sick and only a lab test can identify the superbug. Candida auris can cause different types of infections, including bloodstream infection, wound infection and ear infection. People that recently had surgery, live in nursing homes, or who have breathing tubes, feeding tubes or central venous catheters appear to be at highest risk. “Based on information from a limited number of patients, 30 to 60-percent of people with C. auris infections have died. However, many of these people had other serious illnesses that also increased their risk of death,” the CDC said.

While most Candida auris infections are treatable with antifungal medications, the CDC says its concerned that some variants of the fungus have proven to be resistant to all three main classes of antifungal medications. “In this situation, multiple antifungal medications at high doses may be needed to treat the infection.” The CDC said.

3D Organ On A Chip: The Future Of Drug Research?

Primarily developed to increase the accuracy of drug research in the lab, could a 3D Organ On A Chip also point to the future of cruelty-free drug testing by reducing the use of lab animals?

By: Ringo Bones

The newfangled device, which incorporates cells inside a 3D transistor made from a soft sponge-like material inspired by how cells in nature are structured, now allows scientists the ability to study cells and tissues in new ways. By enabling cells to grow in three dimensions, the device more accurately mimics the way that cells grow in the body. The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge say their device could be modified to generate multiple types of organs – a liver on a chip or a heart on a chip, for example – ultimately leading to a body on a chip which would simulate how various treatments affect the body as a whole. Their results are reported in the journal Science Advances.

Traditionally, biological studies were – and still are – done in petri dishes, where specific types of cells are grown on a flat surface. While many of the medical advances made since the 1950s, including the polio vaccine, have originated in petri dishes, these two-dimensional environments do not accurately represent the native three-dimensional environments of human cells and can, in fact, leas to misleading information and failures of drugs in clinical trials. “Two-dimensional cell models have served the scientific community well, but we now need to move to three-dimensional cell models in order to develop the next generation of therapies,” says Dr. Roisin Owens from Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology and the study’s senior author.

Cambridge University’s 3D Organ On A Chip could also spell good news on the reduction of the use of lab animals which could eventually lead to cruelty-free drug testing. Remember how Canadian scientists Fredrick G. Banting and his team discovered insulin back in 1921? They extensively used dogs in their lab to find out how insulin works and how it could be used to treat Type-1 diabetes in humans and unfortunately, it resulted in the deaths of many dogs.

Could Drugs That Target Zombie Cells Make Us Live Forever?

Although it is still on early trials yet on mice, could drugs that target “zombie cells” be used to make us live forever?

By: Ringo Bones

Mayo Clinic in the United States are conducting early trials on senolytics: anti aging drugs that can slow and even reverse the ageing process, in a bid to ward off diseases like Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease and diabetes that showed really promising results on lab animals. A senolytic is among the class of small molecules under basic research to determine if they can selectively induce death of senescent cells – also known as zombie cells. The goal of those working to develop senolytic agents is to delay, prevent, alleviate, or reverse age-related diseases. Multiple possible senolytic agents are under investigation. Certain anti-cancer agents may, in low doses, decelerate aging and age-related diseases. Targeting cancer prevention with anti-cancer agents may confer longevity effects by offering protection from metabolic pathologies during aging, independently of effects of cancer. Navitoclax, also known as ABT-263, was originally studied as an anti-cancer drug.

Cellular senescence – i.e. how zombie cells behave inside our bodies – is one of the causes of aging because the inflammatory signals generated by growing numbers of senescent cells or zombie cells disrupt tissue maintenance and cell function and play an important role in many age-related conditions, including osteoarthritis. The best approach in dealing the senescent cells inside our bodies appear to be a simple one – destroy them. These so-called zombie cells accumulate slowly and therapies that selectively remove senescent cells have been shown in animal studies to produce significant reversal of numerous aspects of aging.

Research on flushing out those so-called zombie cells from our bodies to reverse the human aging process is still on its early stages. Most biochemical startups are focusing on some anti-cancer drugs. Others are researching the stem-cell route to make zombie cells revert into less harmful normal cells. But research into the use of existing of-the-shelf anti-cancer drugs that target zombie cells is the one that currently shows the most promise. Even the relatively inexpensive and widely available diabetes drug metformin has been studied for its anti-aging effects for a number of years because this drug was found out to inhibit the nasty secretions of senescent cells.

Aerotoxic Syndrome: Unrecognized Occupational Health Hazard to Pilots and Cabin Crew?

Aerotoxic Syndrome, also known as Toxic Cabin Air Syndrome, could be poised to become as the airline industry’s version of the dreaded “Gulf War Syndrome?

By: Ringo Bones

As of March 28, 2019, five of the UK’s largest airlines are facing legal action which claims pilots and cabin crew are regularly exposed to toxic fumes during flight. The Unite Union said legal notice has been served in 51 cases, the majority of which are against British Airways. Easyjet, Thomas Cook, Jet2 and Virgin Atlantic are also subject to the legal action over “aerotoxic syndrome”. The Unite Union, which represents airline staff, claims pilots and crew are exposed to frequent “fume events” when air drawn into the aircraft becomes contaminated by toxic compounds. The Unite Union says the fumes – which originate from the oil used to lubricate the jet engines – contain organophosphates and trichlorophenol and long-term exposure can lead to chronic ill effects and life threatening conditions. Pardon me but two of the chemicals mentioned here reminded me of nerve gas / cholinesterase inhibitor chemical agent precursors suspected of causing the dreaded “Gulf War Syndrome” that affected a large number of troops who served during Operation Desert Storm back in 1991.

Sadly the science behind aerotoxic syndrome is still under dispute by the world’s leading occupational health authorities. Aerotoxic Syndrome is a phrase coined by Chris Winder and Jean-Christophe Balouet in 2000 to describe their claims of short-term and long-term ill-health effects caused by breathing airline cabin air which was alleged to have been contaminated to toxic levels that exceed established parts per million safe levels with atomized engine oils or other chemicals. An assessment by the UK’s House of Lords Science and Technology Committee found that claims of health effects were unsubstantiated. An update in 2008 found no significant new evidence. As of 2013, aerotoxic syndrome is still not recognized in medicine. Could aerotoxic syndrome / toxic cabin air syndrome just become the global airline industry’s Gulf War Syndrome? 

Is Space Herpes For Real?

Although it seems like a plot from a bad science fiction movie, does the latest studies from NASA already shows that prolonged space travel could trigger a so-called “space herpes” epidemic?

By: Ringo Bones

No, it is not a plot from a bad Star Trek episode although there was an episode in Star Trek Voyager that explains why the rulebook on the Prime Directive is over two inches thick and despite Stephen Colbert and other late night show hosts recently poking fun at it, it seems that NASA researchers have recently uncovered that prolonged spaceflight is triggering viruses such as herpes, chickenpox and shingles in astronauts. As part of the study on the impact of space travel has on viruses, NASA researchers analyzed blood, urine and saliva samples from astronauts before, during and after Space Shuttle flights and International Space Station missions.

The findings were recently published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology show an increase in shedding or reactivation of these viruses while in space. Lead study author Satish K. Mehta from Johnson Space Center said “to date, 47 out of 89 (53 percent) NASA astronauts on short Space Shuttle flights and 14 out of 23 (61 percent) on longer International Space Station missions shed herpes viruses in their saliva or urine samples. These frequencies – as well as the quantity – of viral shedding are markedly higher than samples from before or after flight, or from matched healthy controls.”

According to researchers, the reactivation of the dormant viruses was found to be caused by stress – the same factor that awakens them here on Earth. So being exposed to prolonged periods of weightlessness are not turning these viruses into superbugs? Although bathroom breaks in the weightless conditions of space – to me at least – can be quite a stressful experience in comparison to going here on the sensation of the Earth’s normal pull of gravity. In addition to being confined in small spaces and separated from family and friends for extended periods of time, astronauts also undergo stress during takeoff and re-entry, the most dangerous phases of space travel. Add to that exposure to weightless conditions and increased doses of cosmic radiation.

The study also found that four of the eight human herpes viruses were detected, including oral, genital, shingles and chicken pox, however, although the viruses were found to “wake up”, most of the astronauts did not display symptoms. According to Mehta “Only six astronauts developed any symptoms due to viral reaction, all were minor.” In addition to the increased possibility of infecting others, the reactivation of the herpes virus raises concerns regarding future long-term missions to the planet Mars. According to Mehta “The magnitude, frequency and duration of viral shedding all increase with length of spaceflight. The ideal countermeasure is vaccination for astronauts – but this is so far available only against chickenpox.” Researchers are currently looking for methods of combating the reactivation of the virus – which would also benefit those here on Earth.