PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

The role of iron in blindness caused by ocular toxoplasmosis

The role of iron in blindness caused by ocular toxoplasmosis
2023-11-15
(Press-News.org) Researchers from Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine have identified the role of iron in ocular toxoplasmosis (OT), a form of toxoplasmosis that causes blindness. They found reduced iron concentration in the clear gel part of the eye of human patients and iron accumulation in the retina of mice. Treatment of mice with a compound that decreases iron was successful in reducing their symptoms. Their findings show the important role of iron in the disease and that controlling it may lead to a successful treatment. Their study was published in Redox Biology. 

Toxoplasma is a parasite that affects approximately one third of the world's population. OT is one of its major symptoms. A quarter of patients with OT experience a loss of vision in at least one eye, often to the extent of legal blindness. Part of this is because the PCR diagnostic test used to diagnose the disease is unreliable, with an accuracy of only 30%.  

“This limitation reveals the urgent need for the development and implementation of more accessible diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, especially in developing countries where medical resources are scarce,” said lead researcher Dr. Kasuhisa Yamada. “Since there are still differences in medical resources between developing and developed countries, which affect the control of infectious diseases, our group wanted to develop a diagnostic test that has a higher diagnostic rate and does not require specialized equipment.” 

The answer to this problem may lie in controlling iron levels. The researchers found that patients with OT had a decreased iron concentration in the vitreous humor compared to patients with other eye diseases. Furthermore, when they examined sections taken from the eyes of mice with toxoplasmosis, they found increased iron uptake into the retinas.  

Further investigation identified ferroptosis, a form of iron-associated cell death, in the affected areas of the retina. As the retina is a key part of the eye that converts light into electrical signals from a person’s optic nerve to their brain, cell death may explain why some patients are blinded by OT. 

If iron caused the disease, the researchers wondered, could eliminating it inhibit its development? To better understand, they administered deferiprone, a drug that binds to iron, to mice. The results were unexpected. The treatment not only reduced iron uptake but also improved retinal inflammation, significantly helping with OT-related retinochoroiditis.  

The group’s findings show promise for preventive and therapeutic treatments. “In this investigation, deferiprone was administered concurrently with Toxoplasma infection in mice, demonstrating its effectiveness as a prophylactic,” Yamada said. “Nevertheless, our findings suggest promising potential for deferiprone as a therapeutic agent, as we used both oral and intravitreal injections, that both exhibited notable improvements in retinochoroiditis.” 

“Our analysis of the study data yielded a sensitivity and specificity exceeding 80%,” Yamada said. “These findings suggest a strong potential for iron measurement as a diagnostic tool, particularly when the disease has progressed to a stage with noticeable symptoms.” 

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
The role of iron in blindness caused by ocular toxoplasmosis The role of iron in blindness caused by ocular toxoplasmosis 2

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New study reveals the critical role of microglia in human brain development

New study reveals the critical role of microglia in human brain development
2023-11-15
An international team of scientists has uncovered the vital role of microglia, the immune cells in the brain that acts as its dedicated defense team, in early human brain development. By incorporating microglia into lab-grown brain organoids, scientists were able mimic the complex environment within the developing human brain to understand how microglia influence brain cell growth and development. This research represents a significant leap forward in the development of human brain organoids and has the potential to significantly impact ...

Sex differs in intestinal MCT1 function

2023-11-15
Monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) plays a crucial role in the transport of lactate, pyruvate, ketone bodies, and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), as well as MCT1-targeted drugs in various tissues. How MCT1 and lactate in the intestine modulate the physiology and pathophysiology of the body is unclear. A recent study published in Life Metabolism reveals that intestinal MCT1 regulates intestinal inflammation and metabolism in a sex-dimorphic pattern, which further confirms that metabolic homeostasis is ...

National Climate Assessment reporting continues at AGU23 in San Francisco

2023-11-15
WASHINGTON — AGU congratulates the many members of our scientific community whose work contributed to the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5), which was published today. Climate reporting will remain essential as we close out a year of record global temperatures, wildfires in Canada, Hawaii and the U.S. Southeast, droughts in the Amazon and Mississippi river basins, and billion-dollar flooding disasters in the U.S Northeast and California, aggravated by human-driven climate change. AGU’s upcoming 2023 Annual Meeting, convening 11-15 December, will host authors from each of the NCA’s 32 chapters and feature deep ...

Using cosmetic ingredient for battery protection

Using cosmetic ingredient for battery protection
2023-11-15
Xanthan gum, derived from plants like cabbage and known for its carbohydrate content, serves as a natural protective barrier in cosmetics to retain their benefits on the skin. In a recent development, this remarkable substance has been harnessed to create a protective shield for battery electrodes, rather than for the skin.   Professor Changshin Jo from the Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Eco Materials Technology and the Department of Chemical Engineering and Jooyoung Jang, a PhD candidate, from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), have crafted a protective film by blending ...

SFI Press releases new editions of Murray Gell-Mann books

SFI Press releases new editions of Murray Gell-Mann books
2023-11-15
The opening lines of Homer’s Odyssey describe its eponymous hero as polytropos, a man of many turns. It’s no coincidence that SFI co-founder Murray Gell-Mann invoked Homer’s crafty, long-voyaging hero when he envisioned the pinnacle of the scientific endeavor.  “Murray described his ideal scientist as an ‘Odyssean,’ one who lives somewhere between the analytical Apollonian and the intuitive Dionysian, one who loves to simplify yet is equally enamored of complication,” says David Krakauer, SFI President and Editor-in-Chief of the SFI Press. “Over the course of Murray’s life, he realized this ideal in his own ...

THE LANCET: Alarming new projections reveal soaring health risks of persistent global inaction over the climate emergency

THE LANCET: Alarming new projections reveal soaring health risks of persistent global inaction over the climate emergency
2023-11-15
Peer-reviewed / Review and Analysis / People The Lancet: Alarming new projections reveal soaring health risks of persistent global inaction over the climate emergency New global projections in the 8th annual report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change reveal the grave and mounting threat to health of further delayed action on climate change, with the world likely to experience a 4.7-fold increase in heat-related deaths by mid-century. Report also highlights how climate inaction is costing lives and livelihoods today. In 2022, individuals were, on average, exposed to 86 days of health-threatening ...

COVID-19 showed the importance of genomic surveillance – now we need it to help fight antimicrobial resistance, say researchers

2023-11-15
During the COVID-19 pandemic, genomic surveillance proved vital in helping understand the evolution and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Now, an international group of researchers is calling for its potential to be harnessed to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a major global challenge that could ultimately result in many more deaths than the coronavirus pandemic. AMR already causes substantial sickness and death worldwide, responsible for approximately 1.27 million deaths in 2019. Some estimates suggest that by 2050, it could kill as many as 10 million people each year. Professor Sharon Peacock at the University ...

UK soft drinks levy linked to fall in child hospital admissions for tooth extraction

2023-11-15
The UK soft drinks industry levy introduced in 2018 may have reduced the number of under 18s having a tooth removed due to tooth decay by 12%, suggests research published in the open access journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health.  The fall in hospital admissions may have saved more than 5,500 hospital admissions for tooth decay alone and the largest reductions were in children aged up to nine years old. Sugar-sweetened drinks account for around 30% of the added sugars in the diets of children aged one to three years and over 50% by late ...

HIIT in water improves exercise capacity in adults with long term health conditions

2023-11-15
High-intensity interval training in water, often called aquatic HIIT (AHIIT) improves exercise capacity in adults with chronic conditions and has a similar impact as land based training (LBHIIT), suggests research published in the open access journal BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine. The researchers say AHIIT may provide a safe and valuable alternative for people with chronic conditions who are unable to perform LBHIIT. HIIT is a type of interval training exercise that involves brief bursts of high intensity movements followed by short recovery periods of lower intensity movements. HIIT is considered to have more health benefits than moderate-intensity ...

The Lancet: Deferred clamping of umbilical cord reduces risk of death in premature babies by at least a third, suggest two studies with the most comprehensive analysis to date

2023-11-15
Peer-reviewed / Systematic review and meta-analysis / People The Lancet: Deferred clamping of umbilical cord reduces risk of death in premature babies by at least a third, suggest two studies with the most comprehensive analysis to date Meta-analysis of 3,292 infants across 21 studies finds premature babies whose umbilical cord is clamped 30 seconds or more after birth are less likely to die before leaving the hospital, compared to those whose cord is clamped immediately after birth. A second companion meta-analysis of 47 trials including 6,094 babies suggests waiting at least ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

iRECODE: A new computational method that brings clarity to single-cell analysis

New NUS-MOH study: Singapore’s healthcare sector carbon emissions 18% lower than expected, a milestone in the city-state’s net zero journey

QUT scientists create material to turn waste heat into clean power

Major new report sets out how to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health

Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world

Major report tackles Covid’s cardiovascular crisis head-on

A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice

ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

[Press-News.org] The role of iron in blindness caused by ocular toxoplasmosis