Cephalopod-inspired microjet delivery systems; Nobel Prize winners honored; wildfire smoke could increase risk of dementia – Morning Medical Update

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Cephalopod-inspired jetting devices deliver drugs to the gastrointestinal tract

Hypodermic needles have been used for the administration of a wide range of biomacromolecule therapies across the body for years. Generally, though, needles require training, sharps management and disposal and can post a challenge for autonomous ingestible systems. According to an article published in Nature, scientists, inspired by the jetting systems of cephalopods, have developed microjet delivery systems that can deliver jets in axial and radial directions into tissue, thereby making them suitable for tubular and globular segments of the gastrointestinal tract.

“Drawing inspiration from the unique locomotion and ink-expulsion capabilities exhibited by cephalopods, we recognized the potential of directional jet delivery in the gastrointestinal tract,” the authors of the article wrote. “Cephalopods use pressure augmentation in their mantle to propel water and ink through a maneuverable siphon, creating directional thrust or ink clouds to assist in the distraction and evasion of predators. We took inspiration from this natural phenomenon to design different microjet delivery (MiDe) systems…”

U.S. winners of 2024 Nobel Prizes honored

A number of U.S.-based winners of the 2024 Nobel Prizes were celebrated at a scientific symposium in Washington, D.C. Among honorees present at the symposium were John Humper, David Baker and Demis Hassibis, who share this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Simon Johnson, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, who received the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences and Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, who share this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.

“Watching Nobel laureates share their work with depth, humor and authenticity showed how science thrives when it’s accessible, engaging and trusted by all,” said Kiana Aran, a professor of bioengineering and medicine and a participant in the National Academies’ New Voices in Sciences, Engineering and Medicine program.

Exposure to wildfire smoke could increase risk of dementia

Research from the University of Washington (UW), presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in July and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology in November, found that wildfire smoke is an especially hazardous source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which has been linked to an increased risk of dementia. An analysis of 1.2 million Southern California residents aged 60 and older and found that long-term smoke exposure was associated with a significant increase in the odds that a person would be diagnosed with dementia.

“There have been studies that have found total PM2.5 is related to people developing dementia, but no one had looked specifically at wildfire PM2.5,” Joan Casey, lead author of the study and a UW associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, said in a UW release. “Wildfire smoke is a different animal, in that it’s much spikier. There are many days where there’s no wildlife smoke, and there are some days where exposure is really, really extreme.”