Biomedical Progress Research Articles

Towards a European End-of-Life Regulation: A Necessary Analysis.

Background/Objectives: Biomedical progress has extended the lifespan of patients with incurable diseases, sparking debates about their desire to live under certain conditions. This study examines the ethical and legal challenges surrounding end-of-life issues in Europe, including informed consent, the refusal of treatment, the right to health, self-determination, advance directives, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. European countries exhibit different interpretations and regulations of these practices, leading to patient "migrations" seeking favorable legal environments. Methods: This study analyzes end-of-life legislation across European countries in a comparative and qualitative way, highlighting differences, commonalities, and the potential for uniform regulation. The data were collected from the literature published between 2000 and 2024, focusing on the EU member states, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Results: The examination of the norms governing end-of-life practices in various European countries revealed significant differences in legislative frameworks, reflecting diverse cultural, ethical, and legal perspectives. These variations have led to patient migrations in search of suitable legal environments to end their lives with dignity. Conclusions: This study highlights the need for a harmonized approach to end-of-life legislation in Europe to ensure equitable access to end-of-life care and to uphold human dignity. Continuous legal updates and comparative studies are essential to balance medical advancements with ethical considerations. The findings emphasize the importance of autonomy and self-determination, which are fundamental human rights that should be respected in the context of end-of-life decisions.

"Spanish flu," encephalitis lethargica, and COVID-19: Progress made, lessons learned, and directions for future research.

One hundred years ago, an influenza pandemic swept across the globe that coincided with the development of a neurological condition, named "encephalitis lethargica" for the occurrence of its main symptom, the sudden onset of sleepiness that either developed into coma or gradually receded. Between 1917 and 1920, mortality of the flu was >20 million and of encephalitis lethargica approximately 1 million. For lessons to be learned from this pandemic, it makes sense to compare it with the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred 100 years later. Biomedical progress had enabled testing, vaccinations, and drug therapies accompanied by public health measures such as social distancing, contact tracing, wearing face masks, and frequent hand washing. From todays' perspective, these public health measures are time honored but not sufficiently proven effective, especially when applied in the context of a vaccination strategy. Also, the protective effects of lockdowns of schools, universities, and other institutions and the restrictions on travel and personal visits to hospitals or old-age homes are not precisely known. Preparedness is still a demand for a future pandemic. Clinical trials should determine the comparative effectiveness of such public health measures, especially for their use as a combination strategy with vaccination and individual testing of asymptomatic individuals. It is important for neurologists to realize that during a pandemic the treatment possibilities for acute stroke and other neurological emergencies are reduced, which has previously led to an increase of mortality and suffering. To increase preparedness for a future pandemic, neurologists play an important role, as the case load of acute and chronic neurological patients will be higher as well as the needs for rehabilitation. Finally, new chronic forms of postviral disease will likely be added, as was the case for postencephalitic parkinsonism a century ago and now has occurred as long COVID.

Hydrogel Breakthroughs in Biomedicine: Recent Advances and Implications.

The objective of this review is to present a succinct summary of the latest advancements in the utilization of hydrogels for diverse biomedical applications, with a particular focus on their revolutionary impact in augmenting the delivery of drugs, tissue engineering, along with diagnostic methodologies. Using a meticulous examination of current literary works, this review systematically scrutinizes the nascent patterns in applying hydrogels for biomedical progress, condensing crucial discoveries to offer a comprehensive outlook on their ever-changing importance. The analysis presents compelling evidence regarding the growing importance of hydrogels in biomedicine. It highlights their potential to significantly enhance drug delivery accuracy, redefine tissue engineering strategies, and advance diagnostic techniques. This substantiates their position as a fundamental element in the progress of modern medicine. In summary, the constantly evolving advancement of hydrogel applications in biomedicine calls for ongoing investigation and resources, given their diverse contributions that can revolutionize therapeutic approaches and diagnostic methods, thereby paving the way for improved patient well-being.

"It's a Lot of Closets to Come Out of in This Life": Experiences of Brazilian Gay Men Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus at the Time of Diagnosis and Its Biopsychosocial Impacts.

We investigated the experiences of Brazilian gay men with HIV, focusing on the moment of diagnosis and its potential biopsychosocial impacts. This clinical-qualitative study involved 15 participants interviewed online and synchronously by a clinical psychologist in 2021. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. Interpretations were grounded in Minority Stress Theory. Four thematic axes emerged, including "Diagnostic Revelation", "Social and Internalized Stigma", "Biopsychosocial Effects of Living with HIV", and "Gratitude for Treatment Advances and the Brazilian Health System". The diagnosis was often experienced as traumatic, exacerbated by the absence of empathy and emotional support from healthcare providers. Participants commonly reported guilt, fear upon learning of their HIV status, social isolation, loneliness, lack of social support, and damage to affective-sexual relationships. Many also noted a decline in mental health, even those without HIV-related medical complications. Despite over 40 years since the HIV epidemic began, the prevalence of homophobia and serophobia among gay men remains widespread, including within the multidisciplinary teams of specialized services. This indicates that the stigma associated with homosexuality and HIV persists, despite significant biomedical progress in the diagnosis and treatment of the infection, particularly in Brazil.

Standardization of next-generation sequencing for detecting mutations associated with targeted therapy and immunotherapy based on dynamic pattern of expandable detection range

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has laid the foundation for precision oncology care. NGS technologynot only represents an innovation in the methodology but also brings about a revolution in the concept of detecting gene alterations for targeted therapy and immunotherapy of cancers. As basic biomedical research and drug development progress, the landscape of biomarkers associated with gene alterations continues to evolve. Thus, the standardization of NGS-based gene alterations detection should take into account the characteristics of NGS methods and the gene alteration biomarkers. To be specific, whether employed as in vitro diagnostic products or laboratory-developed tests, the detection range can be expanded in response to changes in the clinical evidence level of biomarkers during the process of assay development and clinical application. Such adjustment needs the analytical validation results for supplemented genes or mutant sites within a predefined detection system, which will maximally fulfill the evolving clinical demands in cancer diagnosis and treatment, simultaneously mitigate potential risks effectively. This article primarily discusses the standardization pathway for NGS testing of gene alterations in cancer by focusing on the characteristics of NGS methods, gene alteration biomarkers, and the current status of the standardization of NGS application.

Advancements in multi-material additive manufacturing of advanced ceramics: A review of strategies, techniques and equipment

Ceramics possess notable attributes including excellent wear resistance, exceptional high-temperature strength, superior hardness, and outstanding biocompatibility, rendering them indispensable for the fabrication of key industrial components. Additive manufacturing presents significant benefits such as precise fabrication, design flexibility, and the ability for mass customization. This technology facilitates the creation of intricate structural or functional ceramic components with complex geometries, effectively addressing issues that are inadequately managed by conventional methods, such as the inherent brittleness of ceramics and challenges associated with ceramic machining. As advancements in aerospace, special industry, and biomedical sectors progress, the performance limitations of uniform ceramic materials and structures have emerged as a bottleneck constraining the broadening of their application range. There is a pressing need to transition from single-material ceramic additive manufacturing to multi-material printing. This paper highlights and compares various notable advancements in typical single-material ceramic additive manufacturing. In addition, it delves into the present status of multi-material ceramic additive continuous forming and the development of associated equipment, focusing on different forming mechanisms. Finally, the paper concludes by identifying the primary challenges and research priorities in multi-material ceramic additive manufacturing, and suggests potential directions for future development.

Preparation, properties and biomedical applications progress of 1D magnetic nanomaterials with iron

Abstract1D magnetic nanomaterials with iron, with the special physical properties and biological behaviour, have been found to possess the great promising applications in many fields. In this review, the components, structure, physicochemical properties, biocompatibility and in vitro and in vivo biomedical functions of magnetic nanowires (MNWs), nanorods (MNRs) with iron are summarised, especially their anisotropy shape and magnetism result in their many applications in biodetections and medical treatment fields. The potential future functions of these 1D magnetic nanomaterials compared to magnetic nanoparticles also is discussed by highlighting the possibility of integration with other metal‐compositions or bio‐compositions and with existing biotechnology as well as by pointing out their specific properties. Current limitations in the property improvement and issues related with the outcome of the MNRs in the body are also summarised in order to address the remaining challenge for the extended biomedical functions of MNRs in the clinical application field.

The scientific lab: sacrifice zones as contact zones

ABSTRACT The scientific laboratory is often construed as a space in which laboratory animals are sacrificed on the altar of biomedical progress. However, this understanding of nonhuman animals raises significant ethical concerns and appears complicit in the anthropocentric and colonial violence that creates sacrifice zones in Naomi Klein’s sense. In this article, we argue that contemporary literature can work towards an imaginative and affective reframing of the lab, which is no longer seen as a sacrifice zone but as a contact zone—a space of relationality and entanglement across the human-nonhuman divide. To explore this shift, we offer close readings of two contemporary narratives that centre on the lab: Tania Hershman’s short story ‘Grounded’ and Jeff VanderMeer’s The Strange Bird. In both of these texts, animals refuse to be made data through sacrifice and instead affirm, if in a limited sense, their own autonomy and vitality. Literary experimentation on a stylistic level plays a key role in this process: our readings highlight how both narratives evoke embodied (and more specifically haptic) connectedness with animals by deploying literary strategies that deconstruct the visual language associated with scientific objectivity.

Performance of Smart Materials-Based Instrumentation for Force Measurements in Biomedical Applications: A Methodological Review

The introduction of smart materials will become increasingly relevant as biomedical technologies progress. Smart materials sense and respond to external stimuli (e.g., chemical, electrical, mechanical, or magnetic signals) or environmental circumstances (e.g., temperature, illuminance, acidity, or humidity), and provide versatile platforms for studying various biological processes because of the numerous analogies between smart materials and biological systems. Several applications based on this class of materials are being developed using different sensing principles and fabrication technologies. In the biomedical field, force sensors are used to characterize tissues and cells, as feedback to develop smart surgical instruments in order to carry out minimally invasive surgery. In this regard, the present work provides an overview of the recent scientific literature regarding the developments in force measurement methods for biomedical applications involving smart materials. In particular, performance evaluation of the main methods proposed in the literature is reviewed on the basis of their results and applications, focusing on their metrological characteristics, such as measuring range, linearity, and measurement accuracy. Classification of smart materials-based force measurement methods is proposed according to their potential applications, highlighting advantages and disadvantages.

The Recent Development of Acoustic Sensors as Effective Chemical Detecting Tools for Biological Cells and Their Bioactivities.

One of the most significant developed technologies is the use of acoustic waves to determine the chemical structures of biological tissues and their bioactivities. In addition, the use of new acoustic techniques for in vivo visualizing and imaging of animal and plant cellular chemical compositions could significantly help pave the way toward advanced analytical technologies. For instance, acoustic wave sensors (AWSs) based on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) were used to identify the aromas of fermenting tea such as linalool, geraniol, and trans-2-hexenal. Therefore, this review focuses on the use of advanced acoustic technologies for tracking the composition changes in plant and animal tissues. In addition, a few key configurations of the AWS sensors and their different wave pattern applications in biomedical and microfluidic media progress are discussed.

Remote decentralized clinical trials: a new opportunity for laboratory medicine.

The traditional venue of clinical trials has been hospitals or specialized research units, usually requiring participants to come on-site. Although their contribution to biomedical progress is beyond dispute, they are characterised by two crucial logistical and ultimately scientifical limitations: poor retention and poor generalizability of results, as patients often have problems in concluding the investigation on-site. Remote Decentralised Clinical Trials (RDCTs) take advantage of digital technologies to design trial activities closer to the home of participants, with the aims of minimizing travel to health facilities and the risk of infections, improving the quality of life of participants and caregivers, reducing work absenteeism, including broader cohorts of patients and possibly reducing costs. RDCTs represent a minority of current global research, but the Covid-19 pandemic brought them to the fore. The authors of this paper promote the spread of RDCTs, building on early recommendations from international institutions, and provide some examples of their use and potential benefits in laboratory medicine.

The landscape of biomedical research progress, challenges and prospects in Saudi Arabia-A systematic review.

The main objective of this review was to synthesize the progress, challenges and prospects of biomedical research in Saudi Arabia in order to provide a holistic view to all stakeholders, such as policy makers, decision makers, and local researchers along with external collaborators interested in the field of biomedical research in this region. A systematic review was conducted using the scientific literature for bibliometric studies in the field of biomedical research in Saudi Arabia that comprehensively covered past few decades using PubMed. The search was performed by combining verified Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms: "biomedical research", "bibliometrics", "Saudi Arabia" using boolean operator "AND". The data collection was done from January to June 2022 by both authors. Out of 202 articles yielded from initial search, 13 articles met all of the inclusion criteria and were examined in details. The outcome of analysis showed that with the augmentation of Research and Development (R&D) globalization in Saudi Arabia, researchers are publishing internationally and collaborating globally, academic and research centers are enriching research environment and policies, and government is taking many initiatives to bolster biomedical research; but still more improvements needs to be achieved by Saudi Arabia to be in the list of strong competitive leading nations in the global biomedical research field. There were various key challenges related to biomedical publications and bibliometric aspects for Saudi Arabia that included: publishing preferences, quality of publications, indexing services, international scientific community, and importantly barriers related to planning, funding, training, resources and support at institutional and national levels. This review provided some insights and recommendations to enhance biomedical research in Saudi Arabia that included: effective policies, health priorities, building infrastructures, greater investments, high incentives, skilled recruitment, competitive training and engagement of community that can play a vital role in this context.

Trends of Medicinal Plant Use over the Last 2000 Years in Central Europe.

Medicinal plant knowledge in Central Europe can be traced back from the present to antiquity, through written sources. Approximately 100 medicinal plant taxa have a history of continuous use. In this paper, we focus on use patterns over time and the link between historical and traditional uses with the current scientific evidence. We discuss our findings against the backdrop of changing eras and medicinal concepts. Based on use-records from totally 16 historical, popular and scientific herbals, we analyze how use categories of 102 medicinal plant taxa developed over time. Overall, 56 of the 102 taxa maintained continuous use throughout all time periods. For approximately 30% of the continuous uses, scientific evidence supporting their use exists, compared to 11% for recently added uses and 6% for discontinuous uses. Dermatology and gastroenterology are use categories that are relevant across all time periods. They are associated with a high diversity of medicinal taxa and continuously used medicinal species with scientific evidence. Antidotes, apotropaic (protective) magic, and humoral detoxification were important use categories in the past. New applications reflecting biomedical progress and epidemiological challenges are cardiovascular and tonic uses. Changes in medicinal concepts are mirrored in plant use and specifically in changes in the importance of use categories. Our finding supports the concept of social validation of plant uses, i.e., the assumption that longstanding use practice and tradition may suggest efficacy and safety.

Research for the Future: An Overview of the FASEB Shared Research Resources Task Force's Finding and Recommendations.

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is composed of 28 member societies, representing over 115,000 individual scientists, including the Association of Biomedical Research Facilities and its members. As part of FASEB's mission to advance awareness and support of biological and biomedical research, the Federation remains committed to sustaining support for the resources that investigators use to conduct rigorous research. This includes shared resources and the core facility staff that enable researchers to have widespread access to state-of-the art technologies and expertise. Recognizing the fundamental role of shared resources in driving biomedical research progress, FASEB established the Shared Research Resources Task Force in June 2020 to discuss ongoing policy challenges related to shared resources and core facilities and identify ways to enhance their recognition and sustainability within the research enterprise. In addition to publishing a report outlining its final recommendations, the Task Force hosted a Virtual Roundtable with external stakeholders to exchange ideas and best practices about strengthening shared resources and elevating team science to its full potential. Taken together, these efforts demonstrate a key initial step toward addressing long-standing challenges and advancing shared priorities.

Zeolites: A series of promising biomaterials in bone tissue engineering.

As an important worldwide medical issue, bone defect exhibits a variety of physical and psychological consequences on sufferers. Some features of clinical treatments including bone grafting and limb shortening are not satisfactory. Recently, bone tissue engineering has been considered as the most effective approach to dealing with the issue of bone deformities. Meanwhile, a variety of biomaterials have been rationally designed and created for the bone regeneration and tissue repairing. Among all these admirable biomaterials for bone remodeling, zeolite-based materials can serve as efficient scaffold candidates with excellent osteo-inductivity. In addition, the porous nature and high biocompatibility of zeolites endow them with the ability as ideal substrates for cell adhesion and proliferation. More importantly, zeolites are investigated as potential coating materials for implants because they have been proven to increase osteo-conductivity and aid in local elastic modeling. Last but not least, zeolites can also be used to treat bone disorders and act as dietary supplements during the practical applications. Accordingly, numerous benefits of zeolite prompt us to summarize their recent biomedical progress including but not limited to the distinguishing characteristics, broad classifications, as well as promising usages in bone tissue engineering.

'Advocacy groups are the connectors': Experiences and contributions of rare disease patient organization leaders in advanced neurotherapeutics.

Biomedical progress has facilitated breakthrough advanced neurotherapeutic interventions, whose potential to improve outcomes in rare neurological diseases has increased hope among people with lived experiences and their carers. Nevertheless, gene, somatic celland other advanced neurotherapeutic interventions carry significant risks. Rare disease patient organizations (RDPOs) may enhance patient experiences, inform expectationsand promote health literacy. However, their perspectives are understudied in paediatric neurology. If advanced neurotherapeutics is to optimize RDPO contributions, it demands further insights into their roles, interactionsand support needs. We used a mixed-methodology approach, interviewing 20 RDPO leaders representing paediatric rare neurological diseasesand following them up with two online surveys featuring closed and open-ended questions on advanced neurotherapeutics (19/20) and negative mood states (17/20). Qualitative and quantitative data were analysed using thematic discourse analysis and basic descriptive statistics, respectively. Leaders perceived their roles to be targeted at educational provision (20/20), community preparation for advanced neurotherapeutic clinical trials (19/20), information simplification (19/20)and focused research pursuits (20/20). Although most leaders perceived the benefits of collaboration between stakeholders, some cited challenges around collaborative engagement under the following subthemes: conflicts of interest, competitionand logistical difficulties. Regarding neurotherapeutics, RDPO leaders identified support needs centred on information provision, valuing access to clinician experts and highlighting a demand for co-developed, centralized, high-leveland understandable, resources that may improve information exchange. Leaders perceived a need for psychosocial support within themselves and their communities, proposing that this would facilitate informed decision-making, reduce associated psychological vulnerabilitiesand maintain hope throughout neurotherapeutic development. This study provides insights into RDPO research activities, interactionsand resource needs. It reveals a demand for collaboration guidelines, central information resourcesand psychosocial supports that may address unmet needs and assist RDPOs in their advocacy. In this study, RDPO leaders were interviewed and surveyed to examine their perspectives and roles in advanced neurotherapeutic development. Some participants sent researchers postinterview clarification emails regarding their responses to questions.

The mechanism of branched-chain amino acid transferases in different diseases: Research progress and future prospects.

It is well known that the enzyme catalyzes the first step of branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism is branched-chain amino transferase (BCAT), which is involved in the synthesis and degradation of leucine, isoleucine and valine. There are two main subtypes of human branched chain amino transferase (hBCAT), including cytoplasmic BCAT (BCAT1) and mitochondrial BCAT (BCAT2). In recent years, the role of BCAT in tumors has attracted the attention of scientists, and there have been continuous research reports that BCAT plays a role in the tumor, Alzheimer’s disease, myeloid leukaemia and other diseases. It plays a significant role in the growth and development of diseases, and new discoveries about this gene in some diseases are made every year. BCAT usually promotes cancer proliferation and invasion by activating the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin pathway and activating Wnt/β-catenin signal transduction. This article reviews the role and mechanism of BCAT in different diseases, as well as the recent biomedical research progress. This review aims to make a comprehensive summary of the role and mechanism of BCAT in different diseases and to provide new research ideas for the treatment, prognosis and prevention of certain diseases.

Structure and biomedical applications of bioactive polyphenols from food and fruits

AbstractPolyphenols, a class of bioactive compounds existing in food and fruit, play an essential role in anti‐oxidation, anti‐inflammation, anticancer, anti‐atherosclerosis, and antiaging by scavenging free radicals, regulating cellular redox potential, signaling pathways, and so on. Due to the low bioavailability/high activity paradox, the functional mechanism of polyphenols in biomedicine has attracted widespread attention. This review summarizes polyphenols (especially quercetin) chemical structure and bioactive mechanism (signaling pathways, enzyme activity, cell redox potential, and gene expression) to show in‐depth biomedical functional mechanisms for the control of chronic heath diseases such as oxidation, inflammation, cancer, atherosclerosis, and aging. This study can deepen the understanding of polyphenols' effects on human health.Novelty impact statement Providing another perspective for the comprehensive reuse of polyphenols in food and fruit. Summarizing the polyphenols in biomedical research progress of function mechanism. Deeping the understanding of the effects of polyphenols on human health.

Ahead of the Curve: The Arc Institute Aims to Reshape the Biomedical Research Landscape

Ahead of the Curve: The Arc Institute Aims to Reshape the Biomedical Research Landscape

Биологическая недостаточность человека как лимит и как стимул: онтологическое и антропологическое измерение

The article deals with the phenomenon of human biological insufficiency, its essence, consequences and ways of overcoming. Research includes its ontological analysis (concept of bio-ontology is used because it is important to take into account a qualitive specifity of this phenomenon, its connection with biological reality). In modern situation, it is represented primarily by a large-scale epidemic of “diseases of civilization” and a global aging of human population. Due to their multifactorial complex nature, biological insufficiency, indicating the presence of limitations in human organic life, is a challenge for the entire building of biomedicine and, in a broader sense, of the whole technoscience. At the same time, the biological insufficiency of humans is a relative phenomenon in its nature, since it does not imply any fatal flaw in their biology: on the contrary, the latter is optimally developed and representative of the biological as such, and the insufficiency is balanced by its adaptive universality and extreme plasticity. Within the framework of biomedical progress and the broad medicalization of society, there is a gradual convergence of the meanings of “therapy” and “enhancement”, but, due to the relative nature of the insufficiency, the therapeutic vector, the core of which is both normalization and a gradual “evolutionary” expansion of the potential naturally laid down in human biology, should prevail. The radical morphological transformation of humans, advocated by transhumanism, is bio-ontologically not only redundant (due to the relative nature of insufficiency), but also unacceptable, since the biological remains in indissoluble unity with the highest, properly human and social qualities, so that a significant modification of the organic basis would lead to a deformation of the entire essence of a human as a holistic being. The alternative is a gradual, evolutionary improvement of the quality of human biological functioning, the transition of biomedicine to predictive and preventive forms, the rationalization of human lifestyle, the introduction of systems for predicting and planning of biological processes in society. The main conclusion is that the phenomenon of biological insufficiency, being the limit, is relative in its essence. Along with the negative side, it also has the positive one and is a stimulus for further progress. In the course of the progress, humanity will sooner or later move to a rational autopoietic management of its vital foundation without a radical transformation of the latter due to the bio-ontological redundancy and the anthropological danger of this scenario. However, even in the relative format, controlled evolution can create serious risks which will require strong regulators, and a complex anthropological and ontological (including bio-ontological) expertise.