There are a lot of diseases and conditions within the body that may be treated if only mechanical devices would be small enough and powered for long enough to do their job. Engineers at MIT have created a class of magnetically activated bug-like microdevices that may foreshadow remote-controlled surgical tools and externally powered heart-assist pumps....
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Removing barriers to healing
Severe inflammation caused by a patient’s immune system can be deadly, but stem cells found in human fat could provide new ways to protect against this toxic reaction. Fat has a higher ratio of stem cells than other tissues such as bone marrow. Credit: Robert M. Hunt, licensed under CC BY 3.0 (image was cropped,...
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Mapping the brain with data science
Patients with dementia and other neural diseases show physical symptoms such as stumbling and confusion, but identifying the problem isn’t as simple as taking an X-ray. A group of researchers at Purdue University are designing data-driven tools that will help clinicians better understand the progression of neurodegenerative diseases by identifying and tracking changes in the brain. A...
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Scientists can predict intelligence from brain scans
If you’ve ever lied about your IQ to seem more intelligent, it’s time to fess up. Scientists can now tell how smart you are just by looking at a scan of your brain. Actually, to be more precise, the scientists themselves aren’t looking at your brain scan; a machine-learning algorithm they’ve developed is. In a...
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Link between autoimmune disorders and psychosis confirmed in new study
People with autoimmune disorders, a collection of diseases where the body’s immune system attacks its own cells, are more likely to have psychosis, according to our latest research. Lid retraction is a typical symptoms of Graves’ disease. Credit: Jonathan Trobe/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY Previous research found that rates of rheumatoid arthritis were lower in people with psychosis than would be expected in the general population....
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HKUST scientists discover autophagy inhibitory peptides from giant ankyrins
HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Autophagy, meaning “self-eating” in Greek, is a general metabolic mechanism adopted by nearly all the eukaryotic species, from the single cell yeast to humans. It is a process that cells degrade unnecessary components for materials recycling and energy generation to survive against stress or maintain homeostasis. On the...
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Some existing anti-cancer drugs may act in part by targeting RNA, study shows
SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE JUPITER, FL – June 28, 2018 – Bolstering the notion that RNA should be considered an important drug-discovery target, scientists at Scripps Research have found that several existing, FDA-approved anti-cancer drugs may work, in part, by binding tightly to RNA, the regulators of the basic activities of life within cells. The research offers another approach for tackling diseases...
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CAR-T immunotherapies may have a new player
Emerging CAR-T immunotherapies leverage modified versions of patient’s T-cells to target and kill cancer cells. In a new study, published June 28 online in Cell Stem Cell, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and University of Minnesota report that similarly modified natural killer (NK) cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) also...
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Is ultrasound treatment the key to treating prostate cancer? Study finds it is just as effective as surgery or radiotherapy but does not cause ‘life-changing’ side effects
All patients having the ultrasound to their prostates are still alive five years later This is the same survival rate as those undergoing surgery or radiotherapy Yet ultrasound treatment causes 2% lower urinary-incontinence rates It also reduces the risk of suffering erectile dysfunction by 15% Prostate cancer affects one in every eight men in the UK and 11% in...
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Study shows BPA risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease
A recent study in a preclinical model of inflammatory bowel disease shows dietary exposure to bisphenol-A, or BPA, found in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, can increase mortality and worsen its symptoms. Dr. Clint Allred (second from left) and colleagues in the laboratory. Credit: Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dr. Clint Allred,...