by Deborah Kotz, University of Maryland School of Medicine A new landmark study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) found that patients with a vascular condition, called abdominal aortic aneurysm, received no benefits from taking a common antibiotic drug to reduce inflammation. Patients who took the antibiotic doxycycline experienced no...
by University of North Carolina Health Care Hepatitus A virus particles (pink) trapped in lysosomes (yellow intracellular organelles), unable to initiate replication in the cytoplasm of cells due to UCGC enzyme being knocked out. Credit: Maryna Kapustina, PhD, UNC School of Medicine How hepatitis A virus (HAV) manages to enter liver cells called hepatocytes and...
by Emily Ayshford, University of Chicago More than 1.7 million Americans develop sepsis each year, and more than 270,000 die from it. The condition—which happens when the body has an extreme response to a bacterial or viral infection, causing a chain reaction that can lead to organ failure and death—has few strategies for treatment. That’s...
by Katherine Unger Baillie, University of Pennsylvania By mimicking the cellular cleanup process known as efferocytosis, researchers from the School of Dental Medicine have identified a new strategy for addressing a rare genetic disease that causes inflammation around the body. Credit: George Hajishengallis Owing to a rare genetic mutation, individuals with leukocyte adhesion deficiency type...
by University of Chicago Medical Center A new study shows that people with a rare genetic disease that causes bleeding in the brain have gut microbiomes distinct from those without the disease. Moreover, it is the molecules produced by this bacterial imbalance that cause lesions to form in the brains of these patients. The results...
by Lancet Older age, being male, deprivation, living in a densely populated area, ethnicity, obesity, and chronic kidney disease are associated with a positive test for COVID-19, according to results from 3,802 people tested for SARS-CoV-2 (including 587 positive tests) in the UK. The observational study was conducted in between Jan 28 and April 4 using...
Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that develops from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). It has many subtypes. A rare subtype, called intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (or IVLBCL) is notably hard to diagnose accurately because the cancerous lymphocytes grow inside small blood vessels, instead of at lymph nodes, and there is no...
After 17 years underground, cicadas will make their return in 2020—amassing in the millions in parks, woods, and other outdoor spaces. While the numbers might seem alarming, never fear. The critters may prove a nuisance, but they’re actually harmless, says Gary Parsons, an entomologist at Michigan State University. Here, Parsons digs into the life of...
U of A PhD candidate studies and participates in grassroots movement to hack diabetes equipment. People with Type 1 diabetes—including U of A graduate student Jonathan Garfinkel—are using free instructions from the internet to build an artificial pancreas. The patient-led movement is pushing pharmaceutical companies to improve the treatments they offer, according to U of...
May 28, 2020 – For a while now, some plastic surgeons have been using stem cells to treat aging, sun-damaged skin. But while they’ve been getting good results, it’s been unclear exactly how these treatments – using adult stem cells harvested from the patient’s own body – work to rejuvenate “photoaged” facial skin. A new...
