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Nanoparticle chomps away plaques that cause heart attacks:
Michigan State University and Stanford University scientists have invented a nanoparticle that eats away—from the inside out—portions of plaques that cause heart attacks.
Bryan Smith, associate professor of biomedical engineering at MSU, and a team of scientists created a "Trojan Horse" nanoparticle that can be directed to eat debris, reducing and stabilizing plaque. The discovery could be a potential treatment for atherosclerosis, a leading cause of death in the United States.
The results, published in the current issue of Nature Nanotechnology, showcases the nanoparticle that homes in on atherosclerotic plaque due to its high selectivity to a particular immune cell type—monocytes and macrophages. Once inside the macrophages in those plaques, it delivers a drug agent that stimulates the cell to engulf and eat cellular debris. Basically, it removes the diseased/dead cells in the plaque core. By reinvigorating the macrophages, plaque size is reduced and stabilized.
[...] "We found we could stimulate the macrophages to selectively eat dead and dying cells—these inflammatory cells are precursor cells to atherosclerosis—that are part of the cause of heart attacks," Smith said. "We could deliver a small molecule inside the macrophages to tell them to begin eating again."
[...] "We were able to marry a groundbreaking finding in atherosclerosis by our collaborators with the state-of-the-art selectivity and delivery capabilities of our advanced nanomaterial platform. We demonstrated the nanomaterials were able to selectively seek out and deliver a message to the very cells needed," Smith said. "It gives a particular energy to our future work, which will include clinical translation of these nanomaterials using large animal models and human tissue tests. We believe it is better than previous methods."
Smith has filed a provisional patent and will begin marketing it later this year.
Journal Reference:
Alyssa M. Flores et al. Pro-efferocytic nanoparticles are specifically taken up by lesional macrophages and prevent atherosclerosis$, Nature Nanotechnology (DOI: 10.1038/s41565-019-0619-3)
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:15AM (6 children)
Look for a poster named Aristarchus, and peruse his journals, especially the ones where he discourses on moral philosophy. Compare that to many of the posts (as he has an account), and see if any AC posts look suspiciously like his posting style.
He has some serious mental firepower and seems to be a decent human being as well, but also tends to troll and shitpost. His "brand" as it were is tarnished, which is a crying tragedy as he could have been a strong weapon against the rising tide of RWNJ insanity. So could you.
I never, ever post AC (I did once accidentally, but replied to it correcting that) and don't troll. I *do* get incredibly confrontational, personal, and profane even by the standards of a native New Yorker, but there is a kind of consistency to it and it helps I'm not exactly in the habit of entering battles of wits unarmed, either. I see serious potential in you, and you could get your posts seen more by default with a registered account. No one says you can't also post AC, and if you're clever about it you can disguise your posting style.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:15AM (1 child)
Oh, he's still at it. Forcing me to a VPN for TOR, and he's created a message storage so he can flag posts and prevent me from re-posting.
So I very openly admitted I copy/pasted the trump criticisms from the beginning, and it hardly qualified by this site's standards "Posts so offtopic and lacking value to even be a troll."
At worst I trolled TMB, and since he does that all the time and proudly admits it I don't see why I should be barred from using his tactics. Apparently the freedom of speech around here is "so long as you don't annoy the council." Not to mention that since he updated his journal I have not once repeated the call out. Also I never once copy/pasted the call out, manually typed every one.
That was the purpose of this particular thread, to highlight that he is going above and beyond to punish someone who has stopped the supposed spamming. Any time someone complains about racist garbage TMB says "that is what the moderation system is there for" and let me repeat, not once have I complained about being downmodded.
I do take offense to your characterization of spam, especially given the quality of posts that so frequently inhabit this site. I understand your point of view, but not the vehemence you're heaping on me.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:23AM
Believe me, it did *not* escape my notice that there was no formal rule against what you were doing until after-the-fact. Notice how in that snippet from IRC I got right up his beak to clarify exactly what "the same content over and over" would mean, because holy *fuck* would that one ever be abusable if it were "substantially the same ideas" rather than "this is damn near the same post byte-for-byte and in the same order."
The only way to change a system that can't be changed from within is to change it from without. Problem is, I'm not sure how to do that in a way that's legal. Doxxing and blackmail, for example, would work (or just get the place canned on the spot out of fear), but they're not legal and would expose you to significant liability. Ditto hacking, though it would be side-splittingly hilarious if someone were to get into whatever SQL tables held the user accounts and locked certain people out of it! Still, the law's the law; no sense getting jailed for forum drama.
At this point all I could suggest would be popping into #soylent and #editorial to have a word with the saner members of the team, which set I'm sorry to say at this point consists of "MartyB and no one bloody else." Please do get a registered nick, as well. Submit stories (something I should do more often too).
And never, ever back down. Uzzard hates my guts (much as he'll deny it, it's frickin' obvious) because I have absolutely zero filters and will get right in his ugly carrion-molesting face when he fucks up. Maybe trying to change the public opinion here on the forums is a fool's errand, but I suspect #editorial to be a point where skillfully-applied pressure might produce much greater RoI.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:22AM (3 children)
Damn, well I had a reply to you Azuma and fucked up posting properly and posted the message to Barbara since I have to copy my writing in the event of invalid form keys or IP ban messages.
The gist was that I used to post thoughtful replies, attempt to provide sources, the whole nine. After years of being shat on by ignoramuses who insist their ignorance is as good as my facts, with a heap of insults on top, I have had enough.
I don't see how my posting is much different than yours, you frequently go on tirades without actually educating the person you're replying to. I do try not to troll, but I no longer have a problem with just calling someone an idiot when I think they are being one. Please give me some quotes of something you consider like Aristarchus' trolling otherwise I have no idea which parts are so reprehensible.
Also, did you catch that this is a new effort at preventing me from posting that I can only assume TMB is coding? I am not repeating my rant for simple attention.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:15AM (2 children)
Honestly, there are times I wonder if this site deserves to disappear. It's been taken over by some real dirtbags, and your observation of "...ignoramuses who insist their ignorance is as good as my facts..." is spot-on. It's beyond infuriating; it's actually a powerful inductive argument for certain forms of atheism, in that if there were truly a good, loving, and just God that interfered in human affairs in real time, these peoples' heads would explode.
If I might ask, who were you before? Did you have a named account? And, I don't think what you post is reprehensible, but I do think it runs into the "civility trap" whereby people with no actual morals hide behind "butbut MUH CIVIL DISCOURSE!" and feel justified ignoring or excoriating your content (facts) for its lack of civility (t3h feelz). Ironic, isn't it?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @06:31AM (1 child)
Well as far as horror shows goes this site is probably the best intersection we can hope for between the partisan divide. The real civility trap is in allowing the assholes to laugh their asses off as they push their dumb narratives, it ropes in the human that doesn't have enough knowledge to see through the bullshit.
I was nobody, king of the cowards. Highest upvoted AC around!
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:35PM
No one says you can't both register an account and post AC.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...