Understanding the strategies and unmet needs of caregivers managing medications for people with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias may improve the lives of both caregivers and patients. A recent study describes the strategies and the unmet needs of caregivers managing medications for people with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias. The researchers identified three distinct caregiver personas: “Checklist Cheryl,” “Social Sam,” and “Responsive Rhonda.” Each persona embodies a different approach to medication management, varying in organization, technology use, collaboration and response to challenges. These nuanced personas can guide the design of customized caregiver support and digital health tools.

Multisystemic smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome (MSMDS) is a rare condition associated with stroke, aortic dissection (tearing) and death in childhood. Currently, there is no effective treatment or cure for MSMDS. A single error in the genetic code of the ACTA2 gene, which encodes the smooth muscle actin protein, is the most common cause of MSMDS. To directly target this mutation, researchers from Mass General Brigham engineered a bespoke CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing enzyme to develop a potential therapy for MSMDS, which substantially prolonged survival and reduced vascular disease and neurodegeneration in mouse models of MSMDS. Findings are published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

In a new study tracking the movement of fluorescent particles inside the cells of microscopic worms shows that the cytoplasm inside the worms was significantly more crowded and compartmentalized than in single-celled yeast or mammalian tissue culture cells, which are more commonly used to gauge internal cellular dynamics. The difference highlights the importance of studying cellular processes in living animals rather than cell culture.