New research by the University of Bristol has found that the microscopic structure of human kidney is different to what was previously known. Multiphoton imaging of glomeruli. Images were obtained by combining two photon fluorescence (TPF) signal images with second harmonic generation (SHG) images of an unfixed human glomerulus. Credit: University of Bristol The kidney...
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Watching the immune system in action reveals what happens when things goes wrong
Scientists are unveiling how our immune system works – and malfunctions – thanks to an innovative technology that tracks immune cells. Image: ‘Timer’ protein fluorescence across time. Credit: Imperial College LondonThe technology has already been used to look at immune cells involved in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis and could provide valuable insights into autoimmune diseases. As immune cells travel...
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They Told Her She Had Flu; Years Later, The Real Illness Was Discovered
Diane Bates lay on the floor of her bathroom in the middle of the afternoon – weak, disoriented and afraid that she might die before someone found her. Bates had been battling what she had been told was a bad case of the flu for weeks. She hoped a bath might make her feel better,...
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First marijuana-derived drug is on the verge of approval
At 3 months old, Marissa Parsons began having frequent seizures, some lasting a half-hour. For almost two decades, her desperate parents tried drug after drug to treat her rare type of childhood epilepsy, but the medications mostly produced side effects – pancreatitis, hives and extreme drowsiness – and she was frequently hospitalized. Family outings became...
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Men tolerate stress incontinence years before seeking help
UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER DALLAS – June 22, 2018 – Men often tolerate stress urinary incontinence for more than two years before seeking medical help – and one-third put up with it for more than five years, making it important for doctors to check for this problem, a new study from UT Southwestern researchers advises....
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Billing strategies for cash-pay patients
A variety of factors—such as market competition, high deductible health plans, and lack of transparency from insurers—is driving more patients to pay for healthcare with cash, says Sean McSweeney, president of Apache Health, a medical billing company based in Santa Monica, Calif. Cash pay creates its own set of problems that physician practices need to consider in...
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It’s not ‘all in your head’: When other doctors give up on patients, a boundary-breaking neurologist treats them
BOSTON — Even beforehand — before the compulsive writing and the bipolar diagnosis, before the niche medical practice and the best-selling book — Dr. Alice Flaherty stuck out. She had grown up beside a duckweed-filled pond in rural New Jersey, and by the time she was a young adult, she’d become a neuroscientist in a family of...
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Autism traits could be ‘edited’ out genetic trial suggests
Researchers are hailing a breakthrough after they used cutting-edge gene editing to significantly reduce repetitive behavior associated with the disorder. The study on mice used gold nanoparticles to target genes causing repetitive behaviour. CREDIT: SOLOMON BANDA The technique, which was performed on mice, could also be developed to treat conditions ranging from opioid addiction and neuropathic pain to schizophrenia...
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Heart failure: The Alzheimer’s disease of the heart?
Protein clumping may contribute to heart failure development and could be used as a diagnostic tool for testing therapies or disease progression Date: May 9, 2018 Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine Summary: Similar to how protein clumps build up in the brain in people with some neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, protein clumps appear to accumulate...
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Marshall School of Medicine research team defines possible anti-aging intervention
MARSHALL UNIVERSITY JOAN C. EDWARDS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — New research from a team at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine demonstrates that the Na/K-ATPase oxidant amplification loop (NAKL) is intimately involved in the aging process and may serve as a target for anti-aging interventions. The researchers were also able to successfully demonstrate the therapeutic potential...