“IN THEORY, YOU CAN GO AFTER ALMOST ANYTHING. POISONS, PATHOGENS, VIRUSES, BACTERIA…” BY KRISTIN HOUSER A British engineer has found a way to filter unwanted cells from blood using magnets — and his tool could be used in clinical trials as soon as next year. Thanks to existing research, biochemical scientist George Frodsham knew it...
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Driver found for more deadly prostate cancer
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA AT AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY AUGUSTA, Ga. (Nov. 13, 2019) – A transcription factor that aids neuron function also appears to enable a cell conversion in the prostate gland that can make an already recurrent cancer even more deadly, scientists say. BRN4 is mostly expressed in the central nervous system and inner ear,...
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Taller people have increased risk for developing atrial fibrillation
Penn Medicine study shows height is a causal risk factor for AFib UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE PHILADELPHIA — Taller people have an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AFib), an irregular and often rapid heartbeat that can lead to stroke, heart failure and other complications, according to a new Penn Medicine study. The...
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Research points to possible target to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF
This study included preclinical experiments and use of bronchoalveolar cells from IPF patients UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Long-held dogma says lung fibrosis in diseases like idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF, results from recurrent injury to alveolar epithelium that is followed by dysregulated repair. Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham uproots that paradigm, and it suggests a possible treatment target for IPF. A....
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Why only some post-stroke survivors can ‘copy what I say’
Certain brain regions must be intact in stroke survivors with aphasia if they are to copy what another speaker says, report researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina and elsewhere in Brain MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA In an article in Brain, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and elsewhere report which...
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Nutrition or pathogen? Balancing healthy metabolism and stress resistance
by Beth Newcomb, University of Southern California A new study led by the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology indicates that the negative long-term metabolic effects of fighting off infections could be mitigated by tweaking how a gene called SKN-1 directs cells to respond to stressors. A previous study in Caenorhabditis elegans in the laboratory...
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Could cytotoxic T-cells be a key to longevity?
by RIKEN Scientists from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Science (IMS) and Keio University School of Medicine in Japan have used single-cell RNA analysis to find that supercentenarians—meaning people over the age of 110—have an excess of a type of immune cell called cytotoxic CD4 T-cells. Supercentenarians are a unique group of people. First,...
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Scientists crack rabies virus weaponry
by University of Melbourne Researchers have found a way to stop the rabies virus shutting down the body’s immune defence against it. In doing so they have solved a key scientific puzzle and have laid the foundation for the development of new anti-rabies vaccines. Rabies kills an estimated 60,000 people a year, most of them...
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NASA, industry partner for space-based study of potential Alzheimer’s key
by Jennifer Harbaugh, NASA An innovative experiment underway on the International Space Station could help researchers make new progress in the fight against aggressive neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The Ring-Sheared Drop experiment, developed and led by Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Alabama, will be housed in the station’s Microgravity Science Glovebox to...
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Quadriplegics Can Grasp, Lift Objects Using Transcutaneous Neurostimulation
MEDGADGET EDITORS NEUROLOGY, REHAB Transcutaneous electrical muscle stimulation is used in a variety of clinical applications, including as a rehabilitation tool to help people with limited mobility. It is effective for maladies such as certain types of urinary incontinence, for example, but getting the muscles of the arm to move in unison and with appropriate...