In the early 20th century, poliovirus struck fear in the hearts of many parents as wave after wave of infection paralyzed or even lead to the deaths of thousands of children each year. In 1955, following a University of Michigan-led clinical trial involving nearly 2 million children, Jonas Salk, Thomas Francis, Jr., and their colleagues announced the development...
Month: <span>August 2022</span>
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Mapping the brain stem’s control of eating could lead to better treatments for obesity
Every meal you sit down to makes an impression, with foods filed away as something delicious to be sought out again, or to be avoided in disgust if we associate the flavor with gut malaise, colloquially known as a stomach ache. How this decision is made turns out to be so fundamental to our wellbeing—determining what foods...
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Human Sight Could Be Restored for Blind People, Thanks to These 4 New Technologies
BY CONNIE CHANG AUG 25, 2022 Scientists at The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Eye Center are developing goggles that have a camera and processor to translate images from the environment into pulses of light. TIM BETLER, UPMC AND UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH HEALTH SCIENCES Diseases of the retina and age-related degeneration can lead to...
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Brief exposure to rapamycin has the same anti-ageing effects as lifelong treatment
MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGY OF AGEING IMAGE: RAPAMYCIN IS CURRENTLY THE MOST PROMISING ANTI-AGEING DRUG. CREDIT: MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGY OF AGEING Imagine you could take a medicine that prevents the decline that come with age and keeps you healthy. Scientists are trying to find a drug that has these effects. The current...
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Protein ‘traffic jam’ in neurons linked to neurodegeneration
by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease are associated with atypical proteins that form tangles in the brain, killing neurons. Neurobiologists at EPFL have now identified some key mechanisms underlying the formation of these tangles. The researchers were also able to look at cell vulnerability...
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Scientists zero in on antibodies capable of neutralizing HIV
by Delthia Ricks, Medical Xpress Expression and purification of VRC07 IgG subclasses. (A) Schematic representations of the adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors used for in vivo expression of VRC07 IgG subclasses; the vectors include inverted terminal repeats (ITR), CASI promoter, various VRC07 IgG heavy chains (HC) linked to the VRC07 kappa light chain separated by a...
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Can supplements or diet reduce symptoms of arthritis? Here’s what the evidence says
by Clare Collins, The Conversation Credit: Shutterstock Arthritis is a disease that affects body joints. There are more than 100 types of arthritis, with more than 350 million people affected around the globe, including about four million Australians. Arthritis causes pain and disability and commonly reduces quality of life. In Australia in 2015, about 54,000 people aged 45–64 couldn’t work due to severe arthritis....
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Neuronal back-up system discovered
by Johannes Angerer, Medical University of Vienna Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Researchers at MedUni Vienna have discovered that neurons have an emergency back-up system to enable them to remain functional even when their energy supply is disrupted. As in many areas of technology, an emergency back-up serves to compensate for any energy supply failures experienced by...
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Therapeutic viruses help turbocharge the immune system against cancer
by Richard Harth, Arizona State University The illustration shows a cancer cell (center) surrounded by immune T-cells augmented with an oncolytic (cancer-fighting) virus. A new study describes how a combination of immunotherapy and virotherapy, using myxoma virus, provides new hope for patients with treatment resistant cancers. Credit: Jason Drees The immune system has evolved to...
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Analysis hints at sudden cardiac death reduction with finerenone
by European Society of Cardiology Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Finerenone does not reduce the risk of all-cause death in patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease but does lower the likelihood of sudden cardiac death, according to late breaking research presented in a Hot Line session on 29 August at ESC Congress 2022. It is estimated...