A blind tadpole with an eyeball grafted onto its tail While transplants involving organs such as the heart and lungs have been conducted successfully for years now, those involving sensory organs like the eyeballs are yet to become a reality because scientists have not figured out how to reconnect them to the brain. However,...
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Five of the best apps to train your brain
It is no secret that as we age, our brain function declines. However, studies have suggested that keeping mentally active – particularly when older – can help to maintain cognitive functioning. Brain training apps are considered a useful aid for mental stimulation, but which one is right for you? We present our pick of five...
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Discovery may help patients beat deadly pneumonia
Researchers have found that a hormone responsible for controlling iron metabolism helps fight off a severe form of bacterial pneumonia, and that discovery may offer a simple way to help vulnerable patients. The researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have identified a key hormone critical for preventing pneumonia bacteria from spreading throughout the...
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Multiple sclerosis: Novel immunotherapy reverses paralysis in mice
Researchers may be one step closer to developing new treatments for multiple sclerosis, after discovering a way to tame the erratic immune response that triggers the disease and reverse paralysis in mouse models of the disease. The picture on the left shows a paralyzed mouse model of MS prior to treatment. The picture on the...
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Study finds ethnic differences in effect of age-related macular degeneration on visual function
In study that included Chinese, Malay, and Indian participants, researchers found that among those with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) there were ethnic differences in visual function, such as the ability to read a newspaper or labels on medication bottles, according to a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology. Understanding the link between ethnicity and health is critical to...
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Girls are better at masking autism than boys
Girls with autism have relatively good social skills, which means that their autism is often not recognised. Autism manifests itself in girls differently from in boys. Psychologist Carolien Rieffe and colleagues from the Autism Centre and INTER-PSY (Groningen) report their findings in scientific journal Autism. Information about autism in girls is scarce. What we know about autism is mainly based...
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Healthier gut bacteria and weight loss achieved through magnetic brain stimulation
A new study shows that a person’s gut microbiota can be positively altered through non-invasive transcranial magnetic stimulation For several years now, researchers have been building on a series of studies that have displayed links between non-invasive, deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (dTMS) and reduced food cravings. Now, for the first time, research has shown that...
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Discovery of ‘mini-brains’ could change understanding of pain medication
The human body’s peripheral nervous system could be capable of interpreting its environment and modulating pain, neuroscientists have established, after successfully studying how rodents reacted to stimulation. Until now, accepted scientific theory has held that only the central nervous system – the brain and spinal cord – could actually interpret and analyse sensations like pain or heat....
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New type of insulin-producing cell discovered
Insulin is made in pancreatic islets by beta cells. In type I diabetes, these cells are lost. Now UC Davis researchers have identified another type of insulin-producing cell in the islets, which appears to be an immature beta cell (shown in …more In people with type I diabetes, insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas die...
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New interferon shows promise against hepatitis B in cell culture, and animal model
Hepatitis B is notoriously difficult to eradicate with currently available agents.. Now, in a new study, a novel form of “pegylated” interferon-β has reduced hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in experimental human-derived cells and in mice more effectively than the conventional pegylated interferon-α2a, suggesting that it could lead to improved treatment for hepatitis B infection in humans....