he barrier between mind and body appears to be crumbling. Clinical practice and public perception need to catch up. The GuardianEdward Bullmore Unlikely as it may seem, #inflammation has become a hashtag. It seems to be everywhere suddenly, up to all sorts of tricks. Rather than simply being on our side, fighting infections and healing...
Month: <span>May 2020</span>
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Soft exosuit improves walking speed and endurance for stroke survivors
By Paul Ridden May 12, 2020 In 2017, researchers from Harvard’s Wyss Institute, the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science and Boston University demonstrated a soft robotic exosuit designed to help stroke patients improve their mobility. Now an untethered version of the lightweight ankle-assisting device has been shown to increase walking speed...
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Scientists develop new method to synthesize cotylenin A
Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych. (Editor) An anticancer drug of fungal origin could be the way. Scientists at Waseda University succeeded in developing a method for a total synthesis of cotylenin A, a plant growth regulator which has attracted considerable attention from the scientific community due to its promising bioactivity as an anti-cancer agent. This...
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Vitamin D could improve outcomes in COVID-19
By Dr. Liji Thomas, MD A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in May 2020 shows that vitamin D could have a beneficial effect on the course of illness for COVID-19 patients. What decides COVID-19 outcomes? Even as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to cost lives and cause tremendous sickness in almost every country...
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SARS-CoV-2 cell entry affinity varies across different host species
By Dr. Tomislav Meštrović, MD, Ph.D A new study from India, currently available on the preprint server bioRxiv*, estimated the probability and readiness of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to infect cells of different animal species – and revealed many of them that could act as disease carriers. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused...
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Adult skates can spontaneously repair cartilage injuries
Researchers have found that adult skates have the ability to spontaneously repair injured cartilage, using a type of cartilage stem cell. Human cartilage has very limited capacity for repair, and the finding may lead to new stem cell treatments for human cartilage injuries. Published in the journal eLife, the study identified a new type of...
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Eyes send an unexpected signal to the brain
The eyes have a surprise. For decades, biology textbooks have stated that eyes communicate with the brain exclusively through one type of signaling pathway. But a new discovery shows that some retinal neurons take a road less traveled. New research, led by Northwestern University, has found that a subset of retinal neurons sends inhibitory signals...
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Activating an Estrogen Receptor Can Stop Pancreatic Cancer Cells from Growing
Penn study shows GPER activation in mice can also make tumors more visible to immune system. Activating the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) – a receptor found on the surface of many normal and cancer tissues – has been shown to stop pancreatic cancer from growing, but may also make tumors more visible to the...
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Mice with patchy coats lay bare how stem cells endure
Whether we like it or not, our hair continually grows. Its regenerative powers reside deep inside each hair follicle, in a cluster of dividing stem cells—some of which will specialize and eventually give rise to new hair while others will produce new stem cells. Scientists have delineated numerous mechanisms that guide stem cells toward particular...
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Could a drug combination prevent people with the eye disease uveitis lose their sight?
Two in 10,000 people are at risk of serious sight loss from a form of eye inflammation known as uveitis. A new clinical research study, led by the University of Bristol and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW), will evaluate a drug combination treatment for the eye disease thanks to the funding...