We love spending time learning about the latest medical breakthroughs and spotlighting research that piques our interest, may influence future research directions, or inform healthcare conversations. Here's what we found this week.
Meet an experimental toothbrush designed to literally zap bacteria from your mouth with its own self-generated electric charge.
Science Advances | Yanhui Lu, Jia Song, et al. Modern toothbrushes use nylon monofilament bristles, but Chinese researchers created a proof-of-concept brush with a polymer that generates electricity as the bristles move against the teeth. (More)
> Daily toothbrushing didn't really catch on in the US until after WWII.
Three adult men had their seizures drop by more than 90% after receiving an experimental gene therapy affecting the brain.
Nature | Mariana Lenharo. The novel gene therapy made the brain more responsive to an antipsychotic drug used alongside it—a medication that could reduce the activity of certain neurons, which, in turn, helps to suppress brain activity that triggers seizures. Scientists need to scale up the work and investigate longer-term health risks of the therapy and the antipsychotic. (More, paywall may apply)
> No, you can't swallow your tongue during a seizure, but involuntary muscle tightening during a seizure can cause a person to bite down.
In late-stage trials, two major heart drugs did not perform any better than placebos in preventing cardiovascular events.
The findings were presented over the weekend and published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The failure of the drugs, pelacarsen and ziltivekimab, was stunning since researchers indicated that no patients had been helped by the medications, and the findings also raised questions about whether targeting inflammation to help prevent heart disease is a valid approach. (More)
> See human hearts and other 3D organs photographed using a method that involves a particle accelerator.
Several minutes of wall squats, performed three times per week, can lower blood pressure.
Newsweek | Melissa Fleur Afshar. The isometric exercise, which involves contracting muscles while keeping the body in a fixed position, can trigger the release of chemicals that keep blood vessels supple and help them dilate, functions that help regulate blood pressure. (More)
> Blood pressure readings correspond to our heartbeat peaks and valleys.
Babies born to moms in Louisiana's industrial zone were about 4 times more likely to have severe congenital heart problems compared with those in low-pollution areas.
The Guardian | Sara Sneath. That's the conclusion from an analysis of maternal toxin exposure and infants' heart health between 2018 and 2021. The study included 454 babies with heart defects; 194 of the cases were severe, and 38 of the babies died during the study’s time frame. (More)
> Louisiana's industrial zone is sometimes called "cancer alley"—it has cancer rates roughly seven times the national average.
