(HealthDay)—Compared to treatment with an inhaled glucocorticoid alone, combination therapy with a long-acting β2-agonist (LABA) and an inhaled glucocorticoid is not associated with a significantly higher risk of serious asthma-related events, according to a study published online June 27 in the New England Journal of Medicine. William W. Busse, M.D., from the University of Wisconsin School...
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Study debunks notion that large chunks of Medicare go to lost causes
June 28, 2018, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Around 25 percent of Medicare spending in the U.S. occurs in the last year of people’s lives. This is sometimes discussed as a questionable use of resources: Is society throwing large amounts of medical treatment at some patients in a futile, if noble, effort to extend lives that are...
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New study reveals the function of a mysterious component of the inner ear
A few years ago, Ian Swinburne, HMS research fellow in systems biology, noticed something odd while conducting a time-lapse microscopy study of the inner ear of zebrafish. A tiny structure in the inner ear was pulsing like clockwork, inflating and deflating over and over. The human inner ear illustrated in a textbook circa 1897. The...
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Cancer immunotherapy ‘could be safer’ with natural killer cells
Scientists have developed an immunotherapy that uses immune cells cultured from stem cells instead of cells that are taken from patients to seek and destroy cancer cells. The approach may lead to “off-the-shelf” stocks of cancer-killing cells, say researchers from the University of California, San Diego and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In a paper now published in...
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Through the use of self-stopping enzymes, DNA synthesis has become faster, cheaper and better
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) based at the University of California, Berkeley (CA, USA) have developed a new way to synthesize DNA through the creative use of enzymes. The discovery, published in Nature Biotechnology, has the potential to revolutionize the fields of DNA synthesis and biological engineering. Until now, the...
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Postage stamp-sized skin patch that only needs changing once a week could revolutionise treatment of Alzheimer’s, experts claim
The patch, worn on the upper arm, contains the same active medicine as Aricept The drug is already taken in tablet form by thousands of dementia sufferers It is not a cure but does ease symptoms and slows down the rate of progression The patch releases a round-the-clock flow of medicine through the skin A...
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New cancer immunotherapy shows promise in early tests
Much cancer immunotherapy research has focused on harnessing the immune system’s T cells to fight tumors, “but we knew that other types of immune cells could be important in fighting cancer too,” says Ashish Kulkarni at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Now he and colleagues at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, with others, report that in preclinical models...
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Huge meta-study confirms link between autoimmune disorders and psychosis
One of the most compelling hypotheses in scientific research today is the growing belief that psychiatric disorders are potentially related to immune system irregularities. A team from King’s College London has added substantial weight to that idea with a massive meta-analysis confirming that people with autoimmune disorders are consistently more likely to develop psychotic disorders. A study...
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3D-printed living tissues could spell the end of arthritis
Bioinks containing stem cells are being used to 3-D print living tissues that can be inserted into the body and provoke a damaged joint to heal itself. Arthritis breaks down the cartilage between joints, leading to pain, stiffness and swelling. Credit: Jojo, picture is in the public domainIt’s a development that could reduce the discomfort...
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Direct conversion of non-neuronal cells into nerve cells
In 2012, a team of scientists headed by Professor Benedikt Berninger first succeeded in reprogramming connective tissue cells present in the brain into neurons. Until now, however, it was completely unknown which intermediate states these pericytes pass through in the process, and how relevant these states are for successful reprogramming. Berninger and his team have...