Scientists believe they have found a reliable way to transform donor blood into the universal type needed for safe, emergency blood transfusions. The discovery is enzymes from gut bacteria that can efficiently turn type-A human blood into type-O. Type-O blood is special because it can be donated to anyone without the risk of a bad...
Category: <span>Research Updates</span>
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A universal vaccine to protect people from most strains of flu may be a step closer to reality
A universal vaccine to protect people from most strains of flu may be a step closer to reality. Scientists say they have developed a vaccine which may only need to be given a few times over someone’s life, instead of a new one each year. Current vaccines, offered during flu seasons, can become outdated quickly...
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New method grows brain cells from stem cells quickly and efficiently
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a faster method to generate functional brain cells, called astrocytes, from embryonic stem cells. Astrocytes play a significant role in neurodegenerative diseases. The new method reduces the time required to produce the cells from months to two weeks, and the study has been published in Nature Methods. “This means...
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Neuroscientists restore significant bladder control to 5 men with spinal cord injuries
Magnetic stimulation of lower spine eliminates need of catheter for up to 4 weeks UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – LOS ANGELES HEALTH SCIENCES More than 80 percent of the 250,000 Americans living with a spinal cord injury lose the ability to urinate voluntarily after their injury. According to a 2012 study, the desire to regain bladder...
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Researchers demonstrate safe, non-invasive way to open blood-brain barrier in Alzheimer’s patients
In the first peer-reviewed published report of its kind, University of Toronto researchers have demonstrated that focused ultrasound can be used to safely open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. “We are pioneering exciting potential innovative treatment options for patients,” says Professor Sandra Black. Credit: University of Toronto The study, “Blood-brain barrier opening in...
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New antibiotic candidates were inside us all along
With bacteria rapidly evolving resistance to our best antibiotics, scientists are searching high and low for new ones. In recent years promising drug candidates have turned up in some unexpected places, like rattlesnake venom, platypus milk, and tobacco flowers – and now, already inside the human body. Researchers from MIT and the University of Naples Federico II have found that a potent peptide...
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T-Cell Biomarker Predicts Response to CAR T-Cell Therapy in Patients With CLL
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has been hailed as one of the great advances in oncology care, but not all patients will respond. This is particularly the case with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), where durable antitumor complete responses have been observed in only 26% of patients, in contrast to the greater than 90%...
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Artificial Retinas Made Of This Ultra-Thin Super Material Could Help Millions See Again
TRULY SUPER. There’s a reason researchers call graphene a “super material.” Even though it’s just a single layer of carbon atoms thick, it’s super strong, super flexible, and super light. It also conducts electricity and is biodegradable. Now an international team of researchers has found a way to use the super material: to create artificial retinas. They presented their work Monday...
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Combination immunotherapy shrinks melanoma brain metastases
Combination immunotherapy shrank melanoma that has spread to the brain in more than half of the patients in a clinical trial reported in the New England Journal of Medicine led by an investigator at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Hussein Tawbi, M.D., Ph.D. Credit: MD Anderson Cancer Center Of 94 patients in the single-arm study combining...
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Found: A destructive mechanism that blocks the brain from knowing when to stop eating
An international team of researchers has uncovered a destructive mechanism at the molecular level that causes a well-known phenomenon associated with obesity, called leptin resistance. Mice fed a high-fat diet produce an enzyme named MMP-2 that clips receptors for the hormone leptin from the surface of neuronal cells in the hypothalamus. This blocks leptin from binding to...