A user-friendly open-source web tool for analyzing WES and WGS in the diagnosis of patients with Mendelian disorders. An open-source software tool called Mendel,MD could help doctors analyze patients’ genetic data in order to diagnose diseases caused by mutations. Developed by Raony Cardenas and colleagues at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil, the tool...
Post
Keep well hydrated to help keep kidney stones away
Each year, more than a million people in the U.S. will seek treatment for mild to severe pain caused by a kidney stone. Overall, one in 11 individuals in the U.S. will be affected by kidney stones at some time in their life. But one of the most common times to form kidney stones is...
Post
Exercises and postures for ankylosing spondylitis
Exercise and posture control are two of the most important aspects of treatment for anyone with ankylosing spondylitis. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a type of inflammatory arthritis that can last for life. It is painful and progressive. It mainly affects the spine, but it can also affect joints, tendons, ligaments, the eyes, and the bowel. The condition is...
Post
Study shows texting as good as medication at improving type 2 diabetes management
Dulce Digital clinical trial participant Gloria Favela significantly improved her blood sugar control thanks to text message reminders that arrived while she was busy working as a mural artist. Low-income Hispanics with Type 2 diabetes who received health-related text messages every day for six months saw improvements in their blood sugar levels that equaled...
Post
Stem Cells May Be the Key to Staying Strong in Old Age
University of Rochester Medical Center researchers have discovered that loss of muscle stem cells is the main driving force behind muscle decline in old age in mice. Their finding challenges the current prevailing theory that age-related muscle decline is primarily caused by loss of motor neurons. Study authors hope to develop a drug or...
Post
Doctors use magnetic stimulation to ‘rewire’ the brain for people with depression
Dr. Andrew Leuchter talks with a patient who is about to undergo transcranial magnetic stimulation, which treats depression by sending magnetic pulses to a specific area of the brain. Americans spend billions of dollars each year on antidepressants, but the National Institutes of Health estimates that those medications work for only 60 percent to...
Post
Regenerating damaged nerves with ‘Pac-Man’ cells
Very small tubes filled with two kinds of growth factors show the regrowth of damaged nerve fibers (central area). On the right is a chemical signal that transforms immune system macrophages into healing cells. On the left is a more robust …more Biomedical engineers have found an unlikely ally in the struggle to regrow damaged...
Post
Molecule may help maintain brain’s synaptic balance
A receptor involved in creating one type of synaptic junctions offers a new way to examine how the brain forms Many neurological diseases are malfunctions of synapses, or the points of contact between neurons that allow senses and other information to pass from finger to brain. In the brain, there is a careful balance between...
Post
Potential therapeutic target for Parkinson’s disease
Investigations by scientists in Japan illustrate how the loss of a key mitochondrial protein facilitates the progression of Parkinson’s disease. The findings are published in Nature Communications (June 2017). There is much evidence to suggest that dysfunction within cellular components contributes to the development and progression of the neurodegenerative disorder Parkinson’s disease. However, exactly how individual genes...
Post
Culprit hidden in plain sight in Alzheimer’s disease development
Exposure chamber in Mexico. A new study by researchers at the University of Montana, Universidad del Valle de México, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, Boise State, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, heightens concerns over the detrimental short- and long-term impact of airborne iron-rich strongly magnetic combustion-derived nanoparticles (CDNPs) present in young urbanites’ brains. Using...