An antibody appears to make a big difference between multiple sclerosis and other disorders affecting the protective myelin sheath around nerve fibres, report Tohoku University scientists and colleagues in the journal Brain. The finding suggests that some of these ‘inflammatory demyelinating diseases’ belong to a different category than multiple sclerosis, and should be treated according...
by eLife Scientists have revealed how common respiratory bugs that cause serious infections in people with cystic fibrosis interact together, according to a new study in eLife. The results provide insights into how bacterial pathogens wrestle each other for territory that could open avenues for new antibacterial treatments. Studies of microbes from mouths, intestines, chronic...
by Experimental Biology and Medicine An article published in Experimental Biology and Medicine identifies a new target for the treatment of idiopathicpulmonary fibrosis. The study, led by Dr. Huaping Dai in the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Center of Respiratory Medicine at China-Japan Friendship Hospital and the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease in Beijing, China, reports that interleukin-25, an inflammatory...
Scleroderma is a rare autoimmune disease, affecting about 300,000 Americans, but for those it affects it can be challenging to manage. The disease is associated with chronic inflammation and fibrosis in the connective tissues and visibly results in hardening and tightening of the skin, among other symptoms. Depending on the severity, patients can also experience issues with internal organs....
by Andrew Camilli And Minmin Yen, The Conversation In the latest of a string of high-profile cases in the U.S., a cocktail of bacteria-killing viruses successfully treated a cystic fibrosis patient suffering from a deadly infection caused by a pathogen that was resistant to multiple forms of antibiotics. Curing infections is great, of course. But what about using these bacteria-killing viruses – bacteriophages – to prevent infections in the...
by Howard Hughes Medical Institute The patient, a 15-year-old girl, had come to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for a double lung transplant. It was the summer of 2017, and her lungs were struggling to reach even a third of their normal function. She had cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that clogs lungs with mucus and plagues...
KANAZAWA UNIVERSITY [Background] Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with liver inflammation in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and it can progress to liver fibrosis at an advanced stage, and also to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and portal hypertension. Although liver fibrosis is considered to be accurately diagnosed via biopsy, noninvasive methods are preferable. Aldo-keto...
by Julie Parry, Yale University Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that the progression of acute kidney injury to chronic kidney disease (CKD) caused by use of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin is due to unresolved injury and sustained activation of regulated necrosis pathways rather than fibrosis. The new study is highlighted on the cover of...
Maybe you’ve had the experience of wading in a stream and struggling to keep your balance on the slick rocks or forgetting to brush your teeth in the morning and feeling a slimy coating in your mouth. These are examples of bacterial biofilms that are found anywhere a surface is exposed to bacteria in a...
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an incurable lung disease of unknown origin with limited treatment options. Research suggests that the signaling molecule WNT5A plays a key role in the pathogenic process. Now, a group of scientists from Helmholtz Center Munich, working with colleagues from the University of Denver, have taken a further step toward uncovering...
