Post traumatic stress disorder could soon be diagnosed with simple blood test after scientists found crucial genetic changes in soldiers suffering from trauma after serving in Afghanistan. PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by stressful or frightening events which can cause flashbacks, nightmares, depression, sleep problems and guilt. Until now it could only be diagnosed through self-reported...
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New Study Offers Support for Prostate Testing
For men who are weighing the pros and cons of prostate cancer screening, a new study strengthens the evidence that testing can reduce deaths from this cancer, something two earlier large landmark clinical trials appeared to reach different conclusions about. The findings do not resolve many of the questions that remain about prostate cancer screening,...
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Tantalizing Clues Point to Inflammation’s Role in an Array of Diseases
Inflammation has become one of the hottest buzzwords in medical science, pointed to as a culprit in causing or aggravating conditions ranging from allergy to autism to Alzheimer’s disease. But it’s far from clear that standard anti-inflammatory drugs, which have been around for decades, will help patients with those conditions, especially since they often come...
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Soluble and insoluble fiber: What is the difference?
Dietary fiber, the indigestible part of plant material, is made up of two main types. Soluble fiber easily dissolves in water and is broken down into a gel-like substance in the part of the gut known as the colon. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water and is left intact as food moves through the...
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Hypnosis: What is it, and does it work?
Hypnosis has been treading the line between quackery and therapy since around the 18th century, but recently it has been picking up steam as an alternative treatment for many disorders. What is hypnosis, does it work, and if so, how? We investigate. Is hypnosis real? If so, what does it actually do? Since the 18th...
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Monkeys with Parkinson’s disease benefit from human stem cells
Monkeys show reduced Parkinsonian symptoms following a donor-matched iPS cell-based therapy. One of the last steps before treating patients with an experimental cell therapy for the brain is confirmation that the therapy works in monkeys. Today, scientists at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, Japan, report monkeys with Parkinson’s...
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Fetal membranes may help transform regenerative medicine
A new review looks at the potential of fetal membranes, which make up the amniotic sac surrounding the fetus during pregnancy, for regenerative medicine. Fetal membranes have been used as biological bandages for skin grafts as well as for serious burns. They may also have numerous other applications because they contain a variety of stem cells, which might...
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Recapitulation of Human Retinal Development from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Generates Transplantable Populations of Cone Photoreceptors
Highlights hPSC-derived photoreceptors express markers in a pattern similar to human development 2D/3D differentiation protocol generates sufficient cones for transplantation hPSC-derived cones incorporate into the adult retina following transplantation Summary Transplantation of rod photoreceptors, derived either from neonatal retinae or pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), can restore rod-mediated visual function in murine models of inherited blindness....
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Scientists devise ‘promising’ new stem cell treatment that has the ‘potential to cure Parkinson’s disease’ and stop tremors
In trials on laboratory monkeys, researchers were able to restore nerve cells In humans, the disease causes a loss of neurons, which affects movement Experts hailed the findings of the Japanese study to be ‘extremely promising’ A pioneering new stem cell treatment with the ‘potential to cure Parkinson’s disease’ has been crafted by researchers. In...
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Here’s someone to blame for skyrocketing drug prices
They operate in secret. They have no laboratories or research centers, and produce nothing. But they control a critical intersection of our health care system, influencing the price we pay for prescription drugs and skimming off billions of dollars for themselves. OPINION They are called “pharmacy benefit managers,” or PBMs. From their creation in the...