September 24, 2024 by Lori Solomon Long-term use of skeletal muscle relaxants (SMRs) for chronic pain is only effective for certain conditions, such as painful spasms, painful cramps, and neck pain, according to a review published online Sept. 19 in JAMA Network Open. Benjamin J. Oldfield, M.D., from the Yale School of Medicine in New...
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Psychedelics excite cells in hippocampus to reduce anxiety, study finds
September 24, 2024 by Krishna Ramanujan, Cornell University A classic psychedelic, similar to LSD, psilocybin and mescalin, was found to activate a cell type in the brain that silences other neighboring neurons, a result that provides insight into how such drugs reduce anxiety, according to a new study. The findings show the psychedelic DOI (2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine)...
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Reduced sialylation of mucin impairs mucus transport in lungs, study shows
September 24, 2024 by A. Paul, University of Alabama at Birmingham Reducing the sialylation of secreted mucin contributes to a low charge form of MUC5B. Agarose-PAGE western blots of partially purified mucin from non-CF HBEC secretions. Mucin was treated with increasing concentrations of neuraminidase, ranging from 0 to 25 mu/mL, to remove sialic acid and...
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Clinical trial results show low-intensity therapy can achieve positive outcomes for certain pediatric leukemia subtypes
September 24, 2024 by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Clinical trial results from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital demonstrate the benefits of using genomics and early treatment response to guide risk classification of children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Traditionally, the intensity of a patient’s chemotherapy regime is guided by the National Cancer Institute...
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Preclinical studies suggest a drug-free nasal spray could ward off respiratory infections
September 25, 2024 by Brigham and Women’s Hospital Pathogens inhaled along with respiratory droplets enter through the nasal lining, causing respiratory infections. Brigham researchers have developed a pathogen capture and neutralizing spray (PCANS), which coats the nasal cavity, capturing large respiratory droplets and serving as a physical barrier against a broad spectrum of viruses and...
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Biomarkers for psychiatric illness? Study gets researchers one step closer
September 25, 2024 by Mallory Locklear, Yale University A reproducible set of CAPs in the whole-brain rs-fMRI involve recurring mixed representations of canonical resting-state networks. Credit: PLOS Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002808A key challenge in the effort to link brain activity with behavior is that brain activity, measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), for instance,...
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How do rare genetic variants affect health? AI provides more accurate predictions
September 25, 2024 by German Cancer Research Center Whether we are predisposed to particular diseases depends to a large extent on the countless variants in our genome. However, particularly in the case of genetic variants that only rarely occur in the population, the influence on the presentation of certain pathological traits has so far been...
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Combination treatment improves response to immunotherapy for lung cancer, mouse study shows
September 25, 2024 by The Francis Crick Institute Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public DomainResearchers at the Francis Crick Institute, in collaboration with Revolution Medicines, have tested a combination of treatments in mice with lung cancer and shown that these allow immunotherapies to target non-responsive tumors. Their findings show that targeting tumors in different ways simultaneously might increase...
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How AI could monitor brain health and find dementia sooner
By Marlene CimonsSeptember 24, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. EDT Using advanced artificial intelligence algorithms, scientists are hoping to identify brain wave patterns associated with the risk of dementia. Imagine a sleek, portable home device that resembles a headband or cap, embedded with tiny electrodes. Placed on the head, these sensors detect subtle brain wave activity,...
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Q&A: New tech could improve care for Parkinson’s patients
September 24, 2024 by Stanford University The device being developed by Stanford Medicine researchers to enable remote Parkinson’s monitoring. It’s called the KeyDuo. Credit: Helen Bronte-StewartThe number of people living with Parkinson’s disease globally has doubled in the past 25 years. Yet the treatment and monitoring of the neurological disease seems many decades behind. Clinicians...