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Mathematics in the service of medicine

A joint study by the Institute of Evolution at the University of Haifa and Indiana University led to the discovery of a mathematical method that can identify the genes in the body that are responsible for fighting various viruses that attack it

A joint study by the Institute of Evolution at the University of Haifa and Indiana University resulted in the discovery of a mathematical method that can identify the genes in the body that are responsible for fighting various viruses that attack it. In a study by Dr. Leonid Brodsky from the Institute of Evolution at Haifa University and Dr. Milton Taylor from Indiana University, 37 genes out of 22 thousand possible genes were found that fight the hepatitis C virus that damages the liver.

"Once we can know which genes are responsible for fighting various disorders in our body, we can search for the drugs that will activate these genes in a better way," said Dr. Brodsky. The research of the two included clinical studies among 400 patients from eight medical centers throughout the United States and is supported by the NIH (US National Institutes of Health). The study will be published in the prestigious magazine plosone.

The hepatitis C virus damages the liver mainly among people who have had blood transfusions and in the extreme case may develop liver cancer. Today there is a well-known drug for the treatment of the virus called interferon, but the patients are divided into two groups: a group that responds well to the treatment and a group that does not respond at all. During the study, the clinical research in the patients themselves was combined with the innovative mathematical method developed by Dr. Burdsky and it turned out that there are only 37 genes that respond well to treatment and are actually the ones that fight the virus. For some reason, these 37 genes respond less well in the patients who did not respond to treatment.

"In the specific case of the research on hepatitis C, the mathematical method can determine in a very short time whether the person will respond properly to the drug treatment or not, when until today all patients would receive the treatment for a long time without knowing who would respond well and who would not. The hope is that in the longer term, it will be possible to find other drugs that will better activate these genes in different people," said Dr. Brodsky.

According to him, the mathematical method that was developed is not limited only to the virus that damages the liver and it can reveal how our genetic system reacts to various disorders, so that this method can be used in the fields of medicine, biology, agriculture and more.

6 תגובות

  1. We both have the same color because we both entered a web address in the address box while writing the message. In my opinion, the person who built this system for you can add an option that will allow only you to enter here with a password and mark the name in some unique way.

    Maybe I'm wrong but you should talk to him.

  2. I don't have an administrator, it's an open source system, it's a fact that you and I have exactly the same color in the name. Anyway, I'm the manager here, but I don't know the whole system. I have activated all the possible filters, but even in this I am limited because otherwise it will be impossible to write comments at all.

  3. Hello Abi, it is generally accepted that the site administrator has some distinct identification mark that does not allow impersonation, for example if a red asterisk appears next to your messages, or some other mark that will identify you as an administrator and will not allow people to post so-called confessions on your behalf (I don't know if this was the case here) You should talk to the administrator of the site, in the forums of Tafoz, for example, only the name of the forum administrator is highlighted in blue and the other names are in black and without emphasis, this is A. B. Yehoshua.

  4. It's hard for me to believe that Avi Blizovsky really wrote this comment, it's not his style, probably an impostor.

  5. Models models models….
    There was a great promise with such a model in the early XNUMXs regarding the treatment of the HIV virus. A study with the participation of immunologists and modelers, among them Dr. Avidan from Bar Ilan University. At the time, when I was still sitting in lectures, the mathematical models were very promising and we already thought that this was it, he had passed AIDS from the world. But today, seven years later, this patient is still alive and kicking with all his might. Respect for the cooperation and the finding - but allow me to be a little skeptical about the bottom line and it is an actual cure.

    Good luck to all those involved in the craft.
    Ami

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