2024-04-16 12:49:47
Organ transplants have been in medical practice for four decades, and scientists have yet to solve their main problem: that the immune system tends to reject the transplant as a foreign body. To date, the treatment of the problem is done by life-long suppression of the immune system with medication. But what would happen if simply, one day, our body stopped seeing grafts as an enemy?
The answer is provided by pioneering scientists from the British King’s College, who seem to have succeeded in solving the Gordian link of organ transplantation. That is, they found, as they announced, the way to “reprogram” the immune system so that it sees the transplant as another body organ! To achieve this they mixed donor and recipient immune system cells in the laboratory and produced a hybrid, which they then multiplied into millions of cells. The purpose of the treatment is to administer the hybrids into the recipient’s body, so that they reshape their “perception” for life.
So far the technique has been successfully tested in laboratory animals and clinical trials in humans are expected to begin by the end of the year. The scientists intend to implement the method within the next decade.
“We hope that this is the holy grail in relevant research, which will mean that the organ recipient will now be fully tolerant of the transplant for the rest of his life,” says Dr. Pervinder Sagu. According to the associate director of the university’s Department of Health, Professor Robert Lechler, “this research is a promising step forward, which may lead to dramatic scientific advances that will prevent organ rejection and improve quality of life.” of transplant patients”.
The tomato is most beneficial when it is cooked
Red sauces, tomato juices and any form of cooked tomato in the daily diet lowers cholesterol and blood pressure and protects against heart attacks and strokes, effectively replacing statin medication. Australian scientists who researched the beneficial properties of tomatoes estimate that 50 grams of tomato juice in sauce daily can reduce “bad” cholesterol by 10%.
The secret lies in lycopene, the antioxidant that gives tomatoes their red color and is best released in grated and cooked tomatoes. Australian researchers analyzed the results of 14 international studies on the properties of lycopene, carried out over the past 55 years, finally justifying the Mediterranean diet, in which the cooked tomato occupies a prominent place.
According to Dr Karin Reed from the University of Adelaide, apart from the tomato, watermelon, papaya, grapefruit, apricot and guava also contain lycopene, but not in such high levels. The researcher estimates that the 25 milligrams of lycopene per day offered to the body by a cooked sauce or a mug of tomato juice have the same effect as a small dose of statins in the body’s armor. At the same time, they save us from the side effects of drugs.
Myrto Butsis
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