Lewy body disease is the second most common brain degenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease. Lewy bodies, deposits of alpha-synuclein protein, are found in the brainstem, limbic system and cerebral cortex. Similar tissue changes are also seen in patients clinically diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Lewy body disease can be difficult to recognise at the beginning of the disease, as it progresses slowly. Symptoms often include movement disturbances, memory problems and psychiatric symptoms.
In their recent study, researchers from the Universities of Helsinki and Tampere investigated for the first time, the occurrence of Lewy body disease markers in young and middle-aged subjects who were not known to suffer from Lewy body or Parkinson’s diseases. Previous similar studies have investigated the occurrence of the disease markers in people over 60 years old.
The researchers found that Lewy body disease changes may begin to develop in the brain already in middle age, even if there are no actual symptoms yet.
“Our findings indicate that Lewy body disease may be more common in people over 50 than previously thought. In the study, we found disease changes in nine percent of people over 50 who did not have a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease or Lewy body disease. However, further studies are needed to confirm the results,” says Associate Professor Liisa Myllykangas from the University of Helsinki.
Earlier diagnosis means more effective treatment
In their study, the researchers used internationally unique Finnish forensic autopsy data, which consists of approximately 600 people aged 16-95 who died outside hospitals.
Myllykangas says that in the future the treatments developed against degenerative brain diseases will be aimed at patients who are in the early stages of the disease, or are at risk of developing the disease.
“Finding out the prevalence of disease changes in younger age groups is therefore important as this will be the most effective time to start therapies,” she comments.
The study has been published in the journal Annals of Neurology.

Adults younger than 35- to 45-years old may have a higher risk of developing a stroke from nontraditional risk factors such as migraines than from traditional risks like high blood pressure. That’s according to new research published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, a peer-reviewed American Heart Association journal.
Most strokes are caused by traditional stroke risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, smoking, obesity, low physical activity, alcohol abuse or coronary heart disease. However, recent data showed an increased incidence of strokes even among young adults without these risk factors, according to the study.
“We wanted to understand which risk factors were the top contributors to stroke risk among young adults,” said study lead author Michelle Leppert, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., FAHA, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado.
Using an administrative database of health insurance claims reported in Colorado, researchers matched data of more than 2,600 people who had strokes to more than 7,800 people who did not to determine which risk factors may most often lead to strokes.
The analysis found that nontraditional stroke risk factors, such as migraines, blood clotting disorders, kidney failure, autoimmune diseases or malignancy, were significantly associated with the development of strokes in men and women 18- to 44-years old. The association between stroke and nontraditional stroke risk factors was stronger in adults younger than 35 years old.
Results also showed: Among 18- to 34-year-olds, more strokes were associated with nontraditional risk factors (31% in men and about 43% in women) than traditional risk factors (about 25% in men and more than 33% in women). Migraine was the most important nontraditional stroke risk factor among 18- to 34-year-olds, accounting for 20% of strokes in men and nearly 35% in women. The contribution of traditional stroke risk factors peaked among adults aged 35-44 and were associated with nearly 33% of strokes in men and about 40% in women. In the 45-55 age group, nontraditional risk factors accounted for more than 19% of strokes in men and nearly 28% in women. High blood pressure was the most important traditional stroke risk factor among 45- to 55-year-olds, accounting for 28% of strokes in men and about 27% in women. Each additional traditional and nontraditional risk factor was associated with increased risk of stroke in all sex and age groups.”These findings are significant because most of our attention has been focused on traditional risk factors,” Leppert said. “We should not ignore nontraditional stroke risk factors and only focus on traditional risk factors; both are important to the development of strokes among young people.

“In fact, the younger they are at the time of stroke, the more likely their stroke is due to a nontraditional risk factor,” she said. “We need to better understand the underlying mechanisms of these nontraditional risk factors to develop targeted interventions.”
Researchers were surprised to find that non-traditional risk factors were equally important as traditional risk factors in the development of strokes in young men and women. Leppert added that the large contribution that migraine headaches had in the development of strokes was also unexpected.
“There have been many studies demonstrating the association between migraines and strokes, but to our knowledge, this study may be the first to demonstrate just how much stroke risk may be attributable to migraines,” Leppert said.
Study details, background and design: Researchers collected data from 2012-2019 from the Colorado All Payer Claims Database, which mandates the submission of all commercial insurance, Medicaid and Medicare claims. Among the study’s stroke cases selected from adults 18- to 55-years old, 52% were among women and more than 73% were ischemic (clot-caused) strokes, which occur when a vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed. Individual race and ethnicity, based on insurance reporting, were missing for almost half of all participants. Data for stroke cases and people who did have strokes were matched by sex, age, insurance type and pre-stroke period. Cases were defined as someone admitted to a hospital with a primary diagnosis of ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke or subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding in the space surrounding the brain). Nontraditional stroke risk factors were defined as factors that are rarely the cause of stroke in older adults or unique to young adults and included: migraines, malignancy, HIV, hepatitis, thrombophilia (including history of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism), autoimmune disease, vasculitis, sickle cell disease, heart valve disease and renal failure. Hormonal risk factors, such as oral contraceptive use and pregnancy, were considered separately among women. Traditional stroke risk factors were defined as well-established potential causes for stroke routinely considered for adults ages 65 and older and included: high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, peripheral artery disease, atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, alcohol abuse, substance abuse, tobacco use, obesity and congestive heart failure.The study had several limitations including its reliance on an administrative database, which could impact how risk factors were noted, and because it lacked data about race and ethnicity for many participants. Also, the research was conducted in metro areas one mile or more above sea level, so altitude may create unique conditions that are not applicable to people living at other altitudes.

An international team of 25 scientists has proposed a roadmap for how to prevent the next pandemic by conserving natural areas and promoting biodiversity, thereby providing animals with enough food, safe havens and distance to limit contact and the transfer of pathogens to humans.
Pandemics begin when disease-harboring animals, such as bats, come in close proximity with people, livestock or other animals and pass on new pathogens. Viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, Nipah, Hendra and possibly Ebola have all fatally spilled over from bats to humans, sometimes through an intermediate host.
“The world is focused on how can we detect and then contain a novel pathogen once it is circulating in humans, rather than how can we prevent that pathogen from entering the human population in the first place,” said Raina Plowright, professor in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University, and first author of the paper, “Ecological Countermeasures to Prevent Pathogen Spillover and Subsequent Pandemics,” published in Nature Communications.
The pandemic-prevention strategy is based on insights from a pair of 2022 papers that serve as a case study applicable to all animals that potentially carry zoonotic diseases. Those papers — about how bats can spread fatal Hendra virus to horses and people — explained that when bats lose their natural habitats and winter food sources, their large populations splinter and they migrate in small groups to agricultural and urban areas. They also become stressed, partly due to inadequate food sources, and they shed more virus in their urine. The virus falls to the ground where grazing horses become infected; horses in turn can then infect people. But when natural habitats can provide adequate food, especially in fallow winter months, the bats return to these habitats, aggregate in large numbers, and stop shedding virus.
The roadmap uses this and other case studies to explain the mechanisms linking environmental change and spillover of pathogens from animals to humans, and identifies ecological interventions to disrupt these links and policy frameworks to implement them.
Ecological interventions begin by protecting the places where animals eat. “We need to make sure there’s always an abundant supply of food available at all times of year, especially when animals are in stressful life history stages like reproduction and migration,” Plowright said.
Next, it’s important to protect where animals may roost or aggregate, as tens of thousands of bats can roost in canopies and caves, so when these areas are disturbed, these populations can splinter, move and shed more virus. Also, cave dwelling bats may not have other caves to move to, in which case they stay put, become more stressed and likely shed more virus. Protecting lands that act as buffers between people and wildlife is also key.

“There are trillions of microbes in nature, but we rarely actually get sick, because there are many, many barriers between us and new pathogens,” Plowright said.
Lastly, for communities who come in contact with animals, it’s important to ensure people have the protection that they need to avoid pathogen exposure, Plowright said.
The study’s authors emphasize the need for an international agency or panel that can assess and synthesize data on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and collect metrics on intactness of landscapes, ecological integrity and biodiversity.
The paper was funded by the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Institutes of Health, the Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions and the National Environment Research Council.

A global collaborative research group comprising 131 researchers from 105 laboratories across seven countries announces a groundbreaking research paper submitted to eLife. Titled “Large-scale Animal Model Study Uncovers Altered Brain pH and Lactate Levels as a Transdiagnostic Endophenotype of Neuropsychiatric Disorders Involving Cognitive Impairment,” the study identifies brain energy metabolism dysfunction leading to altered pH and lactate levels as common hallmarks in numerous animal models of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, such as intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease.
At the forefront of neuroscience research, the research group sheds light on altered energy metabolism as a key factor in various neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. While considered controversial, an elevated lactate level and the resulting decrease in pH is now also proposed as a potential primary component of these diseases. Unlike previous assumptions associating these changes with external factors like medicationa, the research group’s previous findings suggest that they may be intrinsic to the disorders. This conclusion was drawn from five animal models of schizophrenia/developmental disorders, bipolar disorder, and autism, which are exempt from such confounding factorsb. However, research on brain pH and lactate levels in animal models of other neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders has been limited. Until now, it was unclear whether such changes in the brain were a common phenomenon. Additionally, the relationship between alterations in brain pH and lactate levels and specific behavioral abnormalities had not been clearly established.
This study, encompassing 109 strains/conditions of mice, rats, and chicks, including animal models related to neuropsychiatric conditions, reveals that changes in brain pH and lactate levels are a common feature in a diverse range of animal models of conditions, including schizophrenia/developmental disorders, bipolar disorder, autism, as well as models of depression, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease. This study’s significant insights include:
I. Common Phenomenon Across Disorders: About 30% of the 109 types of animal models exhibited significant changes in brain pH and lactate levels, emphasizing the widespread occurrence of energy metabolism changes in the brain across various neuropsychiatric conditions.
II. Environmental Factors as a Cause: Models simulating depression through psychological stress, and those induced to develop diabetes or colitis, which have a high comorbidity risk for depression, showed decreased brain pH and increased lactate levels. Various acquired environmental factors could contribute to these changes.
III. Cognitive Impairment Link: A comprehensive analysis integrating behavioral test data revealed a predominant association between increased brain lactate levels and impaired working memory, illuminating an aspect of cognitive dysfunction.
IV. Confirmation in Independent Cohort: These associations, particularly between higher brain lactate levels and poor working memory performance, were validated in an independent cohort of animal models, reinforcing the initial findings.

V. Autism Spectrum Complexity: Variable responses were noted in autism models, with some showing increased pH and decreased lactate levels, suggesting subpopulations within the autism spectrum with diverse metabolic patterns.
“This is the first and largest systematic study evaluating brain pH and lactate levels across a range of animal models for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Our findings may lay the groundwork for new approaches to develop the transdiagnostic characterization of different disorders involving cognitive impairment,” states Dr. Hideo Hagihara, the study’s lead author.
Professor Tsuyoshi Miyakawa, the corresponding author, explains, “This research could be a stepping stone towards identifying shared therapeutic targets in various neuropsychiatric disorders. Future studies will center on uncovering treatment strategies that are effective across diverse animal models with brain pH changes. This could significantly contribute to developing tailored treatments for patient subgroups characterized by specific alterations in brain energy metabolism.”
In this paper, the mechanistic insights into the reduction in pH and the increase in lactate levels remain elusive. However, it is known that lactate production increases in response to neural hyperactivity to meet the energy demand, and the authors seem to think this might be the underlying reason.
References
a. Halim ND, Lipska BK, Hyde TM, Deep-Soboslay A, Saylor EM, Herman M, et al (2008). Increased lactate levels and reduced pH in postmortem brains of schizophrenics: medication confounds. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 169(1): 208-213.
b. Hagihara H, Catts VS, Katayama Y, Shoji H, Takagi T, Huang FL, et al (2018). Decreased Brain pH as a Shared Endophenotype of Psychiatric Disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology 43(3): 459-468.

The parties in the fight over access to the abortion pill sharply disagree on whether anti-abortion doctors and groups can show they will suffer harm.The future of access to abortion pills may turn on a basic legal question: Who has a right to bring a lawsuit?Among the anti-abortion doctors involved in the case before the Supreme Court seeking to restrict availability of the pill is Dr. Christina Francis, who leads one of the anti-abortion groups suing the Food and Drug Administration to curtail distribution of the drug, mifepristone. She says she has experienced moral injury in treating patients who have taken the medication.Left unclear is whether that reaches a necessary threshold to bring a lawsuit in federal court — that the plaintiffs would suffer concrete harm if mifepristone remained widely available. Lawyers call this requirement standing.The F.D.A. “is forcing me to be complicit in an action that I have a moral objection to,” Dr. Francis, who is the head of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said in an interview on Friday.Those statements are echoed by other anti-abortion doctors involved in the lawsuit, including an Indiana doctor and state legislator who has called for stronger punishments for abortion providers and a California doctor who helped pioneer an abortion pill reversal method that has not been supported by scientific evidence.None of the anti-abortion doctors are required to prescribe the drugs or regularly treat abortion patients, but they say that they might encounter such patients in emergency rooms and that even treating side effects could cause them hardship. That, they say, would subject them to “enormous stress and pressure,” forcing them to choose between their consciences and their professional obligations.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Published31 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, James Anderson/BBC NewsBy Josh ParryLGBT & Identity ProducerSenior bosses have shared concerns about the closure of the NHS gender identity clinic for young people, leaked emails seen by BBC News reveal.Hospital executives voiced worry about the cancellation of appointments, patients lacking information and poor communication with the new services.In one email, the service’s director, Dr Polly Carmichael, said cancellations could potentially put patients at risk.NHS England insisted patients would have “continuity of care”.Trans treatment waiting list a ‘death sentence’NHS England to stop prescribing puberty blockersWhat does transgender mean and what does the law say?The controversial Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), which is run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, is due to close later this week.Its closure was announced in July 2022, after an independent review said a “fundamentally different” model of care for young people with gender-related distress was needed. The service – the sole NHS gender identity service for children in England and Wales – was rated as “inadequate” by inspectors in 2020.It will initially be replaced by two new regional hubs; a London-based southern hub and a north of England hub. Additional hubs are expected to open in the coming years. Not enough detailsHowever, BBC News has spoken to staff at the existing service who say, just days before the 31 March closure, they have been unable to answer basic questions from patients about the future of their care.They say they still do not have enough details about how the new services will operate or when some provisions will be fully operational in the new clinics.The BBC has also seen emails in which staff at the new services complain about a lack of information. Several sources said they had been asking for months for NHS England to help set up channels of communication between the teams to assist with a smooth handover.NHS England says it has organised a meeting between the new and old teams.The BBC understands that meeting only took place weeks before the closure of Gids.BBC News has also been given a dossier of internal emails – sent between February last year and this month.In one email, sent earlier this month, current director of Gids Dr Polly Carmichael informed staff about the “unexpected” cancellation of children’s appointments at endocrinology clinics.In the email, dated 8 March, she said the cancellations could create a “risk” to some patients and that the process had been “poorly managed, as we did not know in advance”.”I know this is upsetting but [I] hope we can contain and support any families who make contact,” she wrote.NHS England told the BBC a decision on whether these appointments would be rescheduled was yet to be taken.’Far from an ideal situation’In another email exchange, in November last year, clinicians wrote to Dr Michael Holland, chief executive of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, to raise concerns that they had “insufficient information” for patients. They wrote: “The situation is now having a significant impact on the safety and well-being of the families we are supporting.”On the same day, Dr Holland replied: “Your concerns are extremely important, and these are concerns that [the senior leadership team] share.”He added: “We are in dialogue with [NHS England] on these very points as we are extremely worried that we need clarity. It is far from an ideal situation.”One family told the BBC they were still “completely in the dark” about their child’s future care, saying they had found out more information from news reports than from the NHS.Patients and their families have now received letters explaining that the oversight of their care will transfer from Gids to the new service.However, many say they still do not have basic information, such as names or contact details of the doctors taking over their children’s care.Instead, the letters advise that those with urgent concerns or queries should contact their GP, local mental health crisis teams, or Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs). Continuity of care One of the most controversial elements of care provided by Gids was the use of puberty blockers – drugs that NHS England said were a way to “delay” the physical changes of puberty. The NHS recently said the drugs would no longer be routinely prescribed for gender-distressed children and that more research was needed as there was not enough evidence about whether they were “safe or effective”.However, sources say they fear the part of the new service that gives psychological support to children still taking those drugs will not be fully operational when the service transfers across.That includes a team at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which will take over the support of children who are currently approved for puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.Job adverts for senior roles in Nottinghamshire – including a principal clinical psychologist, psychiatrists and specialist nurses – only closed to applicants last week, just days before Gids is due to shut.A spokesperson for the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said they had hired some some staff and were still actively recruiting more. It said the new service would open on 2 April but would not provide details on when they will be able to see patients.The closure of Gids followed an independent review by Dr Hilary Cass, in which she called for care at the new services to be more “holistic”.An NHS England spokesperson added: “In line with the Cass Review, NHS England took the decision to close Gids at the Tavistock and set up a fundamentally different and improved approach to children and young people’s gender services.”Patients will see continuity of care when the new services come online from April, and all patients waiting will be offered a local mental health assessment if they want it, with extra national resource provided to ensure the best possible support.”If you or someone you know needs information or support for issues about sexuality or gender, these websites and organisations may be helpful.More on this storyTrans treatment waiting list a ‘death sentence’Published5 days agoNHS England to stop prescribing puberty blockersPublished12 MarchNew youth gender services further delayedPublished18 October 2023

As authorities crack down on illicit drugs, University of South Australia experts have issued an alert on the use of the synthetic stimulant pentylone, as new research finds a 75% increase in detections across Australia.
In a new study as part of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program, researchers identified 20 different novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in wastewater treatment plants across Australia (between Feb 22-23) with pentylone detected at every collection site. Other NPS, eutylone and phenibut were also commonly detected.
Pentylone, (street name ‘bath salts’), is a highly potent and unpredictable synthetic cathinone, producing similar effects to stimulants such as methamphetamine or MDMA. This group of drugs produces stronger effects that wear off faster, leading to more frequent use.
Users of novel psychoactive substances are at risk due to limited information about the toxicity and unpredictable effects of these compounds.
In 2022 Australia had 1693 drug-induced deaths (64% males and 36% females).
UniSA researcher, Dr Emma Jaunay says any changes to drug levels in wastewater can provide an early warning for NPS circulating in the illicit drug market.
“Novel psychoactive substances are drugs that have been designed to mimic established illicit drugs, such as cannabis, cocaine, MDMA and LSD,” Dr Jaunay says.

“These types of drugs are unregulated and untested, and by nature their chemical composition is constantly changing to stay ahead of the law. When they first appear, they’re commonly called ‘legal highs’ because they are not yet classed as controlled or prohibited substances.
“In this study, we tested wastewater from across Australia to determine what type of NPS were being used across the year. Of the 59 different NPS we looked for, 20 were found in wastewater across the study – some occasionally, while others were at every site for multiple collections.
“The most common group of NPS detected were synthetic cathinones, also known as ‘bath salts’, which mimic the effect of stimulant drugs like MDMA.
“Specifically, we detected an increase of pentylone across Australia, with frequencies rising from 25% in April in 2022 to 100% across all states and territories by December that same year.
“Interestingly, we found pentylone displaced eutylone, which highlights the constantly evolving nature of NPS, and how quickly drug preferences change.”
This study is unique in that the sample intentionally avoided special events and holiday periods to determine more typical trends across the year.
“Changes to drug levels present in wastewater can provide early signals about drug use and raise awareness of new drugs with harm potential,” Dr Jaunay says.
“Routine monitoring provides valuable insights about illicit drugs and their ‘legal’ counterparts before overdoses and fatalities occur.”

U.S. regulators confirmed that sick cattle in Texas, Kansas and possibly in New Mexico contracted avian influenza. They stressed that the nation’s milk supply is safe, saying pasteurization kills viruses.A highly fatal form of avian influenza, or bird flu, has been confirmed in U.S. cattle in Texas and Kansas, the Department of Agriculture announced on Monday.It is the first time that cows infected with the virus have been identified.The cows appear to have been infected by wild birds, and dead birds were reported on some farms, the agency said. The results were announced after multiple federal and state agencies began investigating reports of sick cows in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico.In several cases, the virus was detected in unpasteurized samples of milk collected from sick cows. Because pasteurization kills viruses, officials emphasized that there was little risk to the nation’s milk supply.“At this stage, there is no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply or that this circumstance poses a risk to consumer health,” the agency said in a statement.Outside experts agreed. “It has only been found in milk that is grossly abnormal,” said Dr. Jim Lowe, a veterinarian and influenza researcher at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.In those cases, the milk was described as thick and syrupy, he said, and was discarded. The agency said that dairies are required to divert or destroy milk from sick animals.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

It’s taboo to consume seaweed soup before exams in Korea since it can lead to failing the exam. The belief is rooted in the idea that the slippery nature of seaweed may cause people to slip and falter during the test. The slick surface of seaweeds such as seaweed and kelp is attributed to alginate, a mucilaginous substance. Notably, an intriguing study exploring the use of alginate for the treatment of retinal detachment has been recently published.
A collaborative effort between Professor Hyung Joon Cha from the Department of Chemical Engineering and the School of Convergence Science and Technology and Dr. Geunho Choi from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), and Professor Woo Jin Jeong, Professor Woo Chan Park, and Professor Seoung Hyun An from the Dong-A University Hospital’s Department of Ophthalmology has resulted in the creation of an artificial vitreous body for treating retinal detachment. This solution is based on a natural carbohydrate derived from algae. The research findings were recently published in Biomaterials, an international journal of biomaterials published by Elsevier.
The vitreous body is a gel-like substance that occupies the space between the lens and retina, contributing to the eye’s structural integrity. Retinal detachment occurs when the retina separates from the inner wall of the eye and moves into the vitreous cavity, leading to detachment and potentially resulting in blindness in severe cases. While a common approach involves removing the vitreous body and substituting it with medical intraocular fillers like expandable gas or silicone oil, these fillers have been associated with various side effects.
To address these concerns, the research team employed a modified form of alginate, a natural carbohydrate sourced from algae. Alginate, also known as alginic acid, is widely utilized in various industries, including food and medicine, for its ability to create viscous products. In this research, the team crafted a medical composite hydrogel based on alginate, offering a potential alternative for vitreous replacement.
The hydrogel, possessing high biocompatibility and optical properties akin to authentic vitreous body, enables patients to preserve their vision post-surgery. Its distinctive viscoelasticity effectively regulates fluid dynamics within the eye, contributing to retinal stabilization and the elimination of air bubbles.
To validate the hydrogel’s stability and effectiveness, the team conducted experiments using animal models, specifically rabbit eyes, which closely resemble human eyes in structure, size, and physiological response. Implanting the hydrogel into rabbit eyes demonstrated its success in preventing the recurrence of retinal detachment, maintaining stability, and functioning well over an extended period without any adverse effects.
Professor Hyung Joon Cha of the POSTECH who led the study remarked, “There is a correlation between retinal detachment and severe myopia and the prevalence of retinal detachment is increasing, particularly in young people. The incidence of retinal detachment cases in Korea rose by 50% in 2022 compared to 2017.” He expressed the team’s commitment by saying, “Our team will enhance and progress the technology to make the hydrogel suitable for practical use in real-world eye care through ongoing research.”
Professor Woo Jin Jeong from the Dong-A University Hospital stated, “The worldwide market for intraocular fillers is expanding at a rate of 3% per year.” He added, “We anticipate that the hydrogel we’ve created will prove beneficial in upcoming vitreoretinal surgeries.”
The research was sponsored by the Korea Medical Device Development Fund and the Mid-Career Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Published5 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, EFE/REX/ShutterstockBy Ben KingBusiness reporter, BBC NewsBanning disposable vapes will not be “effective”, the boss of the UK’s largest tobacco firm has told the BBC. Tadeu Marroco, chief executive of British American Tobacco (BAT), also said raising the smoking age would have “non-intended consequences”. The government plans to outlaw disposable vapes next April as part of the “biggest public health measure in decades”.BAT is the UK’s third-largest vape seller.Sales of disposable vapes – which give a few hundred puffs of nicotine-containing liquid before being thrown away – have skyrocketed in recent years in Britain. It is estimated hundreds of millions are now sold every year, many of them illegal. Last week the government published the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which will ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born from 2009 onwards, and bring in on-the-spot fines for retailers caught selling to under-18s. But Mr Marroco said such a ban had not worked overseas. “In other countries this hasn’t been effective,” he said. “In Australia they have banned the whole category, and the amount teenagers use in the illegal market is very high. The same is happening in Brazil,” he added.However, campaigners believe otherwise. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the anti-smoking charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said, “The ban on disposables can be made to work but it requires tough enforcement not just in shops but at the border to prevent illegal imports.”As one of the biggest publicly-listed companies in the UK, BAT is third in the disposable vape sector behind market leaders Chinese firms SKE and iMiracle, which make Elfbar and Lost Mary.Mr Marroco agreed that tougher penalties are needed. He said proposed on-the-spot fines of £100 were “not enough”, calling the French proposal of €100,000 (£86,000)”a proper fine”.But he warned of “non-intended consequences” for retail and law enforcement from the government’s plan to keep raising the smoking age every year, so that people born in or after 2009 will never legally be able to buy tobacco. “We need to tackle first of all the underage vapour use, we need to have a retail licence as we do for alcohol,” he said, and repeated the company’s calls for a ban on flavours which might appeal to children such as sweets and soft drinks. “There is no doubt that the UK is being looked at by a number of countries around the world. That’s why it’s so important to get it right here,” he said. Asked whether BAT was only advocating policies which aligned with its commercial interests, the CEO stated: “This is an industry which has been under a lot of scrutiny on how we reduce the health impact of our products… this is the first time that we have the technology to do that.”Mr Marroco defended the company’s use of sponsorship as “predominantly for adults” – it hands out free samples to promote its oral nicotine pouch products. “We are very cautious about that,” he said.Image source, Getty ImagesBAT also sponsors Formula One but Mr Marroco said the company’s controls were “robust enough” to stop teenagers being encouraged to buy nicotine pouches. However, he admitted that the law did not prevent them purchasing them. “At the moment if you’re 14 you can buy nicotine pouches [legally in the UK]. This needs to stop,” he said. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will give government powers to control sales of nicotine pouches.BAT has had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for violating international sanctions in North Korea and breaking competition rules in Nigeria.Mr Marroco would not comment if that made the company a trusted voice on vape regulation, but said: “We have exhaustively spoken about those problems in the past, and these stay there in the past…BAT today has the opportunity now that we didn’t have in the past to reduce the risk of our products.”Ms Arnott from ASH said: “We’ve heard it all before that BAT has turned a new leaf and is now on the side of the angels. “But BAT is still promoting tobacco cigarettes…and that’s still where they’re making most of their profits. That’s why they don’t like the government’s age of sale legislation, not because it won’t work but because it will.” In a statement the Department for Health and Social Care said smoking was responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year in the UK, costing £17bn a year. “The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is the biggest public health measure in decades, protecting future generations from the harms of smoking. “It will save thousands of lives and billions of pounds for our NHS, freeing up new resource which can be spent to improve outcomes across the UK.”More on this storyTobacco firm calls for tougher rules on vapesPublished27 November 2023What is the new vaping tax and when will it start?Published6 MarchSchool takes a stand to stop teen toilet vapingPublished6 hours ago