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Cat genes could hold the key to future cancer treatments

Although we adore our feline friends, it does not often seem like we have much in common with them — unless, of course, you also have a passion for attacking furniture legs and licking your own rear. When it comes to health, however, cats are exposed to many of the same environmental risks as their owners and they fall victim to many of the same ailments. Cancer, for example, is one of the leading causes of illness and death in cats; however, the genetics of this disease in felines remain relatively unexplored.

Pigs and grizzlies, not monkeys, hold clues to youthful human skin

Research with pigs and grizzly bears showed that key skin structures called rete ridges, which help keep human skin strong and elastic, form after birth rather than during fetal development. The study, published in Nature, identified bone morphogenetic protein signaling as a key pathway and provides a concrete molecular target for therapies for wound healing, scar repair and age-related skin thinning.

New paper urges caution as FDA plans to phase out animal testing in drug development

FDA’s animal testing phaseout needs caution, experts say: Biomedical research with animals remains essential for preclinical safety testing, and rapidly replacing animal studies with unvalidated alternatives could increase the risk of unsafe or ineffective drugs reaching patients, legal expert Sara Gerke and colleagues wrote in Trends in Biotechnology. The Authors recommend maintaining animal testing alongside alternatives until enough data proves equivalence, and they propose measures like premarket reviews or independent certification to ensure the safety and efficacy of new methods.

Inside the Most Common FDA Inspection Issues

Despite two (2) decades of consistent FDA Warning Letter patterns, medical device companies continue making the same compliance mistakes with CAPAs, Design Controls, and complaints accounting for over one-third (1/3) of all citations.

Patient survived 48 hours without lungs before transplant:  The external, artificial-lung system could be used to treat other people who are critically unwell and awaiting transplants.

A study published in Med examines the case of a 33-year-old man who was kept alive for 48 hours without lungs by connecting him to an external artificial-lung system that maintained normal blood flow through the heart until a double lung transplant could be performed. The system was originally developed to support critically ill COVID-19 patients and could offer a temporary lifeline for other critically ill patients awaiting transplant. There have been no signs of organ rejection or impaired lung function in the patient nearly three (3) years later.

Researchers find chronic stress you can see, using a CT scan

Researchers said they have uncovered a novel sign of chronic stress and its damaging effects on the body by using an artificial intelligence algorithm to analyze common CT scans for what they describe as a “biological barometer.”