Month: <span>December 2020</span>

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‘Hearing’ Autism

Autism spectrum disorder, estimated to affect one in 54 children in the United States, encompasses a range of complex neurodevelopmental conditions that typically emerge in the first few years of life. Yet for a variety of reasons, these conditions could be challenging to diagnose early when interventions are most likely to avert or mitigate some of the more...

Smartphone camera used to diagnose viral infections
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Smartphone camera used to diagnose viral infections

by Bob Yirka , Medical Xpress Three-dimensional schematic of the CNN–nanoparticle-enabled smartphone for virus detection. The detection process comprises three main steps. (A) Virus capture and labeling using Pt-nanoprobes. The samples are loaded into microchips modified with mAbs against the virus envelope protein and incubated to allow the capture of target virus for 20 min....

Could neurological complications be common even in mild COVID-19?
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Could neurological complications be common even in mild COVID-19?

Interview conducted by Emily Henderson, B.Sc., Dec 18 2020 Thought Leaders Dr. Pria Anand, Chief, Division of Hospitalist Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine News-Medical talks to Dr. Pria Anand about her research into COVID-19 that suggests neurologic complications are common even in mild infections. What led to your research into COVID-19 and its complications?...

Scientists assemble human nerve circuit driving voluntary movement
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Scientists assemble human nerve circuit driving voluntary movement

by Bruce Goldman,  Stanford University Medical Center Researchers assembled a working model of a human brain-to-muscle nerve circuit in a dish.  Credit: Jimena Anderson/Pasca lab In a first for science, researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine have assembled a working model of the human nerve-cell circuit responsible for voluntary movement. The researchers generated the circuit’s three component pieces—tissue representing the...

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Antifungal drug improves key cystic fibrosis biomarkers in clinical study

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, NEWS BUREAU CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A drug widely used to treat fungal infections improved key biomarkers in lung tissue cultures as well as in the noses of patients with cystic fibrosis, a clinical study by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Iowa found. Cystic fibrosis is caused...

Blood pressure drug may be key to increasing lifespan, new study shows
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Blood pressure drug may be key to increasing lifespan, new study shows

by Osaka City University  Credit: Eriko Kage-Nakadai, Osaka City University Since time immemorial, people have been fascinated by ways to stop aging. Nearly every culture has stories to tell about people who lived for thousands of years, showing that extending lifespan has always been a deep desire across humanity. While modern medicine does not strive...

Senescent Cells Fail to Maintain Proteostasis
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Senescent Cells Fail to Maintain Proteostasis

Given the newfound consensus in the research community regarding the importance of senescent cells to degenerative aging, it isn’t surprising to see a great deal more fundamental research into the biochemistry of cellular senescence now taking place than was previously the case. In many cases it isn’t all that clear as to whether an incrementally greater understanding of mechanism A or mechanism...

Inhibiting protein in pancreatic tumors slows down cancer growth and increases survival rates
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Inhibiting protein in pancreatic tumors slows down cancer growth and increases survival rates

Georgetown University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators have identified a protein that when removed from the body may help pancreatic cancer patients live longer. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal forms of the disease and has the lowest survival rate. Because the tumors are solid, many modern chemotherapies to destroy the tumor...

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Nanotechnology — nanoparticles as weapons against cancer

LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITÄT MÜNCHEN Many chemotherapeutic agents used to treat cancers are associated with side-effects of varying severity, because they are toxic to normal cells as well as malignant tumors. This has motivated the search for effective alternatives to the synthetic pharmaceuticals with which most cancers are currently treated. The use of calcium phosphate and citrate for...

Protein linked to progressive lung scarring in scleroderma patients
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Protein linked to progressive lung scarring in scleroderma patients

by  University of Michigan Credit: CC0 Public Domain Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease associated with inflammation and fibrosis, or scarring, that affects organs including the skin, heart, kidney and lungs. This form of scleroderma, this tightening and thickening of the skin, is a progressive, orphan illness that affects approximately 80,000 Americans and has no clear...