Posted Today This news or article is intended for readers with certain scientific or professional knowledge in the field. Researchers studied how oral bacteria adhere to and develop biofilms (plaque) in the oral cavity. The team wanted to learn whether and how the bacterial cells might adjust their adhesive surface proteins. They discovered a previously unknown circuit that is embedded in the...
Post
Phage therapy treats patient with drug-resistant bacterial infection
by Howard Hughes Medical Institute The patient, a 15-year-old girl, had come to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for a double lung transplant. It was the summer of 2017, and her lungs were struggling to reach even a third of their normal function. She had cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that clogs lungs with mucus and plagues...
Post
Can diabetes influence cancer’s spread?
Published Today By Maria Cohut Fact checked by Carolyn Robertson Some researchers argue that there may be a direct link between having diabetes and exposure to an increased risk of metastasis in cancer. New research validates this idea, explaining how diabetes can elevate this risk. Hundreds of millions of people across the globe live with...
Post
How genetically engineered viruses — and a rotten eggplant — prolonged a teenager’s life
In 2010, an undergraduate in Durban, South Africa, found herself scraping muck from the underside of a partially decomposed eggplant. It was, in a sense, homework. She was taking a University of KwaZulu-Natal course on viruses that attack bacteria, and a semi-rotten vegetable seemed like a good place to find them. The “enriched soil sample,”...
Post
Machine Learning Helps Design Complex Immunotherapies
Researchers from Northwestern University have leveraged machine learning to aid in the design of nano-medicines for immunotherapy. They utilized a high-throughput method to synthesize 800 unique immunostimulatory nanoparticles called Spherical Nucleic Acids (SNAs). “Spherical nucleic acids represent an exciting new class of medicines that are already in five human clinical trials for treating diseases, including...
Post
Like submicroscopic spacecrafts: graphene flakes to control neuron activity
Selective, safe and with a reversible effect: they are the nanomaterials, protagonists of a new study which has shed light on their ability to reach specific sites and affect the action of brain cells SCUOLA INTERNAZIONALE SUPERIORE DI STUDI AVANZATI Like in a science fiction novel, miniscule spacecrafts able to reach a specific site of the brain and...
Post
Researchers advance understandings of the cellular mechanisms driving rheumatoid arthritis
Newly identified subsets of cell types present in joint tissue in people with rheumatoid arthritis and how they interact may explain why only some people respond to existing medications, according to two studies by co-senior author Laura Donlin, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Derfner Foundation Precision Medicine Laboratory at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and collaborating colleagues. The findings...
Post
Health check: Why do we get motion sickness and what’s the best way to treat it?
by Ric Day And Andrew Mclachlan, The Conversation Motion sickness can be mild, but in some people it’s debilitating, and takes the fun out of a holiday. We think it’s caused by temporary dysfunction of our brain’s balance centres. The perception of motion of any sort can bring on symptoms of travel sickness. These include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, excessive saliva, rapid breathing and cold sweats....
Post
What is dermatophagia?
By Timothy Huzar Reviewed by Stacy Sampson, DO Dermatophagia is a psychological condition in which a person compulsively bites, chews, gnaws, or eats their skin. It often affects the skin around people’s fingers. Dermatophagia is an emerging concept in mental health research. For this reason, there have been few studies into precisely what it is and how it differs from other conditions. According to...
Post
Montmorency tart cherries may provide benefits for adults with metabolic syndrome
Suggests new pilot study WEBER SHANDWICK CHICAGO LANSING, Mich. May 7, 2019 – Montmorency tart cherries reduced systolic blood pressure, insulin levels and insulin concentrations in adults with metabolic syndrome participating in a small pilot study published in the Journal of Functional Foods. [1] While previous studies on Montmorency tart cherries have explored individual aspects of metabolic syndrome – such as blood...