Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public DomainIt’s well known that getting a good night’s sleep becomes more difficult as we age, but the underlying biology for why this happens has remained poorly understood. A team of US scientists has now identified how the brain circuitry involved in regulating sleepfulness and wakefulness degrades over time in mice, which they say paves...
Trigger finger: 7 home remedies
Trigger finger is a condition in which a person’s finger locks or catches if they try to straighten or bend it. Depending on the condition’s severity, doctors will recommend either surgical treatments, medications, or some home remedies. Most people experience trigger finger in the fourth (ring) finger or the thumb, but the condition can affect...
Smart packaging could improve how older adults take medication
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO Older adults are open to using smart packaging to improve their medication-taking experience, a new study finds. Smart packages are used to electronically monitor when patients take their medication. When the prescription is not followed as advised by their physician the smart system can notify patients and their caregivers. Approximately half of...
Herbs that protect the heart: Bilobalide reduces cardiac damage in myocardial ischemia, says new study in Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis
CACTUS COMMUNICATIONS IMAGE: SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED THE MECHANISM BEHIND THE CARDIO-PROTECTIVE PROPERTIES OF GINGKO BILOBA EXTRACTS CONTAINING THE ACTIVE COMPONENT BILOBALIDE, WHICH COULD BE A NEW HERBAL TREATMENT FOR HEART-RELATED DISORDERS. CREDIT: JINLAN ZHANG FROM INSTITUTE OF MATERIA MEDICA AT PEKING UNION MEDICAL COLLEGE The normal functioning of human body requires a steady flow of...
Make no bones about it: How our bodies shift between making bones and breaking them down
OSAKA UNIVERSITY IMAGE: A, SCHEMATIC SHOWING INTRAVITAL IMAGING ANALYSIS OF SKULL BONE OF MICE. CYAN SHOWS OSTEOBLASTS AND THEIR EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES; BLUE SHOWS BONE TISSUE. B, REPRESENTATIVE CONSECUTIVE IMAGES OF OSTEOBLAST VESICLES RELEASED AND CAPTURED BY OSTEOBLASTS. CREDIT: OSAKA UNIVERSITY Osaka, Japan – Osteoblasts act in a group to make bone over the course of...
Cancer: When viruses and bacteria cooperate
UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG IMAGE: IMAGE OF PATIENT-DERIVED ECTOCERVICAL STRATIFIED SQUAMOUS ORGANOIDS (GREEN) INFECTED WITH CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS (RED). CREDIT: TEAM CHUMDURI Patients who develop cervical cancer are often infected not only with the human papillomavirus (HPV) but also simultaneously with the bacterial pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis. The suspicion is, therefore, that the two pathogens work together in a...
Humanoid Robot Measures Blood Pressure with a Touch
FEBRUARY 23RD, 2022 CONN HASTINGS CARDIOLOGY, GERIATRICS, MEDICINE Researchers at Simon Fraser University in Canada unveiled a humanoid robot that can measure blood pressure by touching a patient’s chest. The robot uses sensors on its fingertips to perform the measurements. Inspired by blood-sucking leeches, the dry electrode sensors infer blood pressure by combining electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmogram...
New treatment could benefit up to 45 percent of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy
by Gillian Rutherford, University of Alberta Toshifumi Yokota led research to develop and test a new “cocktail” drug that may be beneficial for up to 45 per cent of patients with a common form of muscular dystrophy — a significantly higher proportion than currently available treatments. Credit: University of Alberta Up to 45% of patients...
Osteomodulin is a novel biomarker of vascular calcification
by Karolinska Institutet Figure 1. Plasma and tissue osteomodulin (OMD) protein analyses in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) patients. (A) Spearman correlation between plasma OMD levels and aortic valve calcification (in Agatston scoring units) in CKD patients (n = 65). (B) OMD protein measurements in plasma from CKD patients stratified in groups...
Touch sensitive brain cells controlled by micromagnets
by University College London Graphic illustration of magnetomechanical stimulation. Credit: Yichao Yu and Mark Lythgoe at UCL Scientists at UCL have developed a new technique that uses microscopic magnetic particles to remotely activate brain cells; researchers say the discovery in rats could potentially lead to the development of a new class of non-invasive therapies for...