The study looked at recently approved major changes to critical devices such as blood-sugar monitors, stents, and defibrillators meant to restart the heart. In May of 2015, the Food and Drug Administration approved a software update for a blood-sugar-monitoring system for children with diabetes, made by a California-based company called Dexcom. The system has a sensor that goes...
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Questions remain about the benefits and harms of cannabis
Despite dramatic changes in the legal landscape and usage rates of cannabis, evidence is still lacking regarding its potential health and therapeutic effects. Recently, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released its third comprehensive review of the literature surrounding cannabis and made recommendations for future research. The authors of an Ideas and Opinions...
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Dallas doctor finds the root of balding and graying hair and is working on treatment FILED UNDERSCIENCE AND MEDICINE AT AUG 10
When the mice went gray and bald, the doctor knew he was onto something. For more than 10 years, Dr. Lu Le had studied cells and genes, hoping to understand the roots of cancer and further the search for a cure. Instead, in his lab at UT Southwestern Medical Center, he discovered something unexpected —...
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Dogma overturned: New studies into inflammation in the infarcted heart could lead to changes in therapy
The results are published in 2 independent articles in the leading journals Circulation and Circulation Research Scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) and the Fundación Jiménez Díaz (FJD) and Salamanca University Hospitals have demonstrated that the response of the human heart to an infarction is very different to what was...
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Research reveals potential target for alcohol liver disease
Drinking too much alcohol can damage the liver, but investigators have discovered a protective response in the organ that might be targeted to help treat alcoholic liver disease. The team—led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania—also found that the same protective response may...
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People who hear voices can detect hidden speech in unusual sounds
People who hear voices that other people can’t hear may use unusual skills when their brains process new sounds, according to research led by Durham University and University College London (UCL). The study, published in the academic journal Brain, found that voice-hearers could detect disguised speech-like sounds more quickly and easily than people who had never...
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Chronic stress induces fatal organ dysfunctions via a new neural circuit
Micro inflammation developed at specific sites in the brain (top panel). Pathological analysis of the stomach showed damage to tissues in the stomach (bottom right) compared to mice not under stressful conditions (bottom left). New research reveals the mechanisms behind the effects of chronic stress and tiny inflammations in the brain on fatal gut failure....
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Scientists make autism advance using monkey model
Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social communication and restricted and repetitive behavior or interests. The reported prevalence of autism has been rising worldwide. Due to the application of large-scale exome sequencing in recent years, hundreds of novel autism-associated genes have been identified. Mutations in SHANK3 remain one of the best characterized...
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New molecule may hold the key to triggering the regeneration and repair of damaged heart cells
New research has discovered a potential means to trigger damaged heart cells to self-heal. The discovery could lead to groundbreaking forms of treatment for heart diseases. For the first time, researchers have identified a long non-coding ribonucleic acid (ncRNA) that regulates genes controlling the ability of heart cells to undergo repair or regeneration. This novel...
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Make way for hemoglobin
Every cell in the body, whether skin or muscle or brain, starts out as a generic cell that acquires its unique characteristics after undergoing a process of specialization. Nowhere is this process more dramatic than it is in red blood cells. In order to make as much room as possible for the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin,...