Gizmorama - November 16, 2015

Good Morning,

New research has suggested that prescription drugs don't degrade any faster in space than they do here on Earth. But, the only drawback is that it takes a heck of a long time to get a refill up there.

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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* Study: Medicines don't degrade faster in space *
HOUSTON - Drugs in space are the same as drugs on Earth, new research suggests -- prescription drugs, that is.

Scientists recently ran tests on a number of medications returned to Earth after a stay of 550 days on the International Space Station. The medicines -- which included sleeping aids, pain relievers, antihistamines, an antidiarrheal and an alertness drug -- showed no signs of accelerated degradation.

All drugs degrade over time. How fast they degrade is affected by a mix of environmental factors. Exposure to light and oxygen, for example, can promote a drug's breakdown.

Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, home of the Center for Space Medicine and Department of Pharmacology, wanted to find out whether higher levels of radiation or microgravity might have an adverse affect on the medicines stored on ISS. The answer, it turns out, is not.

Most of the drugs tested were expired, returned home to Earth after being replaced with fresh pills. But testing at Baylor showed four of the nine drugs still met United States Pharmacopeia standards for viability nine months after their expiration date.

Researchers published their findings this week in The AAPS Journal.

More work is needed, scientists say, to determine which medicines are safe for longer trips to deep space. Study authors warned against using the data to make inferences about other drugs.

"The results are based only on measurements made at a single point in time, for a handful of medications," researchers explained in a press release. "The findings cannot, therefore, be applied to gauge the safety and effectiveness of other medicines, or extrapolated to other storage times."


*-- Researchers design implantable device that may block pain --*
ST. LOUIS - Researchers used small, flexible implants in mice to activate pain signals in the body and spinal cord, leading them to believe they may also be able to use them to block pain in cases where the body does not respond to other treatments.

The devices use microLED lights to activate nerve cells and, because of their size and pliability, it is though they may have uses in or near the bladder, stomach, heart and other organs.

"Our eventual goal is to use this technology to treat pain in very specific locations by providing a kind of 'switch' to turn off the pain signals long before they reach the brain," said Dr. Robert Gereau, director of the Washington University Pain Center, in a press release.

The researchers worked with mice genetically engineered to have light-sensitive proteins on some of their nerve cells, with the intention of activating pain in nerve cells using light. When mice walked through a maze, certain areas caused the devices to light up and cause pain to the mice. The devices would turn off when the mice walked away from that area.

Previous versions of the device had to be anchored to bone, however the version tested in the new study can be anchored using sutures, allowing it to be placed a much wider number of places in the body.

Gereau, who has launched a company with other researchers to bring the implants to develop the implants for commercial use, said flexible implants that don't need to be anchored are necessary when not working in parts of the body close to bone.

"They provide unique, biocompatible platforms for wireless delivery of light to virtually any targeted organ in the body," he said.

The study is published in Nature Biotechnology.

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