Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.,Nov 6 2020 A new study has found that a commonly prescribed anti-depressant may halt growth of a type of cancer known as childhood sarcoma, at least in mice and laboratory cell experiments. The findings, from researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Texas, ignite hope of novel...
Month: <span>November 2020</span>
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Climate Change Will Give Rise to More Cancers
Climate change will bring an acute toll worldwide, with rising temperatures, wildfires and poor air quality, accompanied by higher rates of cancer, especially lung, skin and gastrointestinal cancers, according to a new report from UC San Francisco. In an analysis of nearly five dozen published scientific papers, the researchers provided a synopsis of future effects from global...
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Blood cell mutations confound prostate cancer liquid biopsy
Unrelated mutations, when present in the blood, can lead to false positive results in men with advanced prostate cancer who are undergoing liquid biopsies. Such tests, which look for variants in the cell-free DNA that tumors shed into the blood plasma, help determine suitable treatment options. “You can actually measure what’s happening with a patient’s...
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Black patients with lupus have three times higher risk of stroke
AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RHEUMATOLOGY ATLANTA — New research reveals that, in the U.S., Black patients with lupus have a threefold higher risk of stroke and a 24-fold higher risk of ischemic heart disease. The study also found several lupus-specific symptoms that predict stroke and IHD in these patients. Details of the study was presented at ACR Convergence,...
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New study reveals undetected rare neurodegenerative disorder that looks like Parkinson’s disease
SINGHEALTH A joint study by the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) and Singapore General Hospital (SGH) revealed that patients who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease might actually have NIID instead. NIID is a disabling neurodegenerative condition due to a gene mutation and has no effective treatment. Symptoms of NIID include dementia, Parkinsonism, poor balance, as...
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COVID-19 is making tinnitus worse, new study finds
by Anglia Ruskin University New research reveals that tinnitus, a common condition that causes the perception of noise in the ear and head, is being exacerbated by COVID-19—as well as the measures helping to keep us safe. The study of 3,103 people with tinnitus was led by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), with support from the British Tinnitus Association...
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Vaccine shows promise against herpes virus
by University of Nebraska-Lincoln A genetically edited form of a herpes simplex virus has outperformed a leading vaccine candidate in a study published Nov. 6. Nebraska researchers Patricia Sollars (left) and Gary Pickard teamed with colleagues from the University of Cincinnati and Northwestern University to develop and test a form of HSV that generates high levels...
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Learning disorders and Parkinson’s disease: Tremor predicts effects of medication
by Radboud University Nijmegen Immunohistochemistry for alpha-synuclein showing positive staining (brown) of an intraneural Lewy-body in the Substantia nigra in Parkinson’s disease. The effect of dopaminergic medication on the learning abilities of patients with Parkinson’s disease turns out to be linked to the presence of tremor symptoms. In patients who do not experience tremor, dopaminergic medication...
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New strategies for restoring myelin on damaged nerve cells
by Alice McCarthy, Children’s Hospital Boston Myelin sheath. Loss of myelin—the fatty substance that surrounds the axons of nerve cells—is one of the reasons nerve cells fail to recover after injury and in some diseases. Myelin acts like insulation, covering the long axon threads that enable high-speed communication between neurons. Without myelin, the neurons may not...
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Llama nanobodies could be a powerful weapon against COVID-19
by University of Pittsburgh Wally the Llama. Today in Science, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine describe a new method to extract tiny but extremely powerful SARS-CoV-2 antibody fragments from llamas, which could be fashioned into inhalable therapeutics with the potential to prevent and treat COVID-19. These special llama antibodies, called “nanobodies,” are much smaller than...