News • Fighting cancer
Light-triggered nanoparticles show promise against metastatic cancer
Tumor imaging technique has potential as anti-cancer weapon, mouse study shows.
News • Risk assessment
Can a colonoscopy cause appendicitis?
Although the incidence of appendicitis in the United States has been in decline for many years, the condition still affects approximately seven percent of Americans annually. A research team at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, found that there is evidence to suggest that a colonoscopy can “prompt” appendicitis up to one week after the procedure, in at least certain patients.
News • Regulatory B cells
Researchers identify new marker for autoimmune disorders
The immune system is a complex and precisely regulated system. Various activating and inhibiting signals ensure that the immune cells combat pathogenic agents without eliciting a potentially harmful response to its own structures and cells. However, if those two forces are imbalanced, the immune cells may attack and damage cells and tissue of the body itself, which will result in the development…
News • Research
High-cholesterol diet leads to colon cancer – let's find out why
New research from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) could help explain the link between a high-cholesterol diet and an elevated risk for colon cancer. In a study of mice, scientists from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA discovered that boosting the animals’ cholesterol levels spurred intestinal stem cells to divide more quickly, enabling tumors to form 100 times…
News • Cardiovascular risk
One cigarette a day can't do much harm – or can it?
Smoking just one cigarette a day carries a much higher risk of developing coronary heart disease and stroke than expected – about half the risk of smoking 20 per day –concludes a University College London (UCL)-led review of the evidence. The researchers say their findings, published in the BMJ, have important consequences for many smokers and health professionals who believe that smoking…
News • Stealthy survivors
Tracing the evolution of E. coli
Bacteria are stealthy organisms. They can multiply in minutes and evolve to survive what we throw at them—including antibiotics. The World Health Organization calls antibiotic resistance “one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today.” Each year, about 2 million people in the United States become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to…
News • Pulmonary complications
Simple breathing training before surgery prevents postoperative pneumonia
Pneumonia, and other serious lung complications, after major abdominal surgery were halved when patients were seen by a physiotherapist before surgery and taught breathing exercises that the patient needed to start performing immediately on waking from the operation, finds a trial published by The BMJ today. The researchers say their results “are directly applicable to the tens of millions of…
Video • Drug manufacturing
3D printing pharmaceuticals with this chemical ‘MP3 player’
A new method of drug manufacture which uses 3D printers to create pharmaceuticals on demand could lead to a ‘Spotify for chemistry’, scientists claim. In a new paper published in the journal Science, researchers from the University of Glasgow present for the first time a new approach to the manufacture of pharmaceuticals which can be made using a digital code. This code is used by a 3D…
News • Microbubbles
Bracco Imaging to innovate ultrasound for new personalized gene therapy
Bracco Imaging S.p.A., a global leader in diagnostic imaging, announced that it has initiated new experimental activities in its R&D Center in Geneva, Switzerland, to explore a new application for gas-filled microbubbles in the development of personalized gene therapy for treatment of chronic dysfunctional diseases related to lipid metabolism. Microbubbles have already revolutionized medical…
News • CancerSEEK
Single blood test screens for 8 cancer types
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers developed a single blood test that screens for eight common cancer types and helps identify the location of the cancer. The test, called CancerSEEK, is a unique noninvasive, multianalyte test that simultaneously evaluates levels of eight cancer proteins and the presence of cancer gene mutations from circulating DNA in the blood. The test is aimed at…
News • Primary ciliary dyskinesia
Molecular roots of genetic lung disease identified
Respiratory infections peak during the winter months, and most people recover within a few weeks. But for those with a rare genetic lung disease, the sniffling, coughing and congestion never end. The tiny hairlike structures called cilia that normally sweep mucus through the airways don’t work properly in people with what’s known as primary ciliary dyskinesia. When the cilia don’t brush…
News • Language acquisition
Deaf children learn words faster than hearing children – here's why
Each year up to two thousand hearing impaired children are born in Germany. For some of them a cochlear implant can offer relief. So far, it was not clear which processes take place in these children when they start to learn language later than their contemporaries with normal hearing—and why they differ in their success to reach a normal level of language. The Max Planck Institute for Human…
News • Discovery
‘Hijacker’ drives cancer in some patients with high-risk neuroblastoma
Researchers have identified mechanisms that drive about 10 percent of high-risk neuroblastoma cases and have used a new approach to show how the cancer genome “hijacks” DNA that regulates other genes. The resulting insights may help scientists develop more effective therapies, including precision medicines. The research involved investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital;…
News • Speech analysis
Psychotic or not? Software can tell by listening to your voice
Computer-based analyses of speech transcripts obtained from interviews with at-risk youths were able to predict which youths would later develop psychosis within two years, with an accuracy of up to 83 percent. In two independent cohorts of young people at risk for psychosis, a disturbance in the flow of meaning when speaking, otherwise known as being tangential or going off track, predicted who…
News • Efferocytosis
Can stem cell exosome therapy reduce fatal heart disease in diabetes?
Macrophage cells routinely remove dead or dying cells to maintain the body homeostasis. Such removal becomes crucial after serious injury, especially the repair of dead heart muscle after a heart attack. University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have preliminary data, with cultured cells or diabetic hearts, that diabetes impairs this removal of dead heart-muscle cells. They believe this…
News • Animal testing
Can mice really mirror humans when it comes to cancer?
A new Michigan State University study is helping to answer a pressing question among scientists of just how close mice are to people when it comes to researching cancer. The findings, now published in PLOS Genetics, reveal how mice can actually mimic human breast cancer tissue and its genes, even more so than previously thought, as well as other cancers including lung, oral and esophagus.…
News • Pressure monitoring
This biodegradable sensor disappears after its job is done
Engineers at the University of Connecticut (UConn) have created a biodegradable pressure sensor that could help doctors monitor chronic lung disease, swelling of the brain, and other medical conditions before dissolving harmlessly in a patient’s body. The UConn research is featured in the current online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The small, flexible sensor is…
News • Detecting bacteria
After joint replacement: Novel method of isolating infecting organisms
Joint replacement surgery carries the risk of developing an infection in the replaced joint, which can lead to a so-called revision or re-do of the joint replacement. However, current diagnostic practices can fail to detect bacteria in 30-50 percent of clinical cases, complicating or delaying appropriate treatment. Thomas Jefferson University researchers have found that genomic analysis using…
News • Cancer research
Bioengineered soft microfibers improve T-cell production
T cells play a key role in the body’s immune response against pathogens. As a new class of therapeutic approaches, T cells are being harnessed to fight cancer, promising more precise, longer-lasting mitigation than traditional, chemical-based approaches. These “living drugs” are poised to transform medicine, with a growing number of cellular therapies receiving FDA-approval. A current…
News • Dual-use technology
From healthcare to warfare: How to regulate brain technology
Ethicists from the University of Basel have outlined a new biosecurity framework specific to neurotechnology. While the researchers declare an outright ban of dual-use technology ethically unjustified, they call for regulations aimed at protecting the mental privacy and integrity of humans. The journal Neuron has published the study. The term “dual-use” refers to technology that can be used…
News • Survival rates
Grim outlook for chronic ischaemic heart disease patients
Nearly a quarter of patients with chronic ischaemic cardiovascular disease are dead or hospitalised within six months, reports a European Society of Cardiology (ESC) study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. “Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death worldwide yet some patients appear to get lost in the system after their initial visit to a hospital or…
News • No more stitches
This surgical glue could transform surgeries and save lives
Sutures and staples are the traditional methods for closing surgical incisions and wounds in emergency situations. However, these methods can be inadequate in complex surgeries and cannot make an air-tight or liquid-tight seal on a lung or artery wound or incision. Now researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) have created a surgical glue that…
News • Melanoma therapy
Why pregnancy could literally save your skin
Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a new therapeutic target for the treatment of melanoma. For decades, research has associated female sex and a history of previous pregnancy with better outcomes after a melanoma diagnosis. Now, a research team from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania says it may have…
News • Nano-scale diagnostics
Researchers are developing a ‘Lab-on-skin’ to monitor biomarkers
Move over, lab-on-a-chip and lab-on-paper. There’s a new diagnostic technology in research labs that is gaining credibility. It is called lab-on-skin technology and some scientists are quite excited about how it might be used for a variety of clinical purposes. A recent story published in ACS Nano titled, “Lab-on-Skin: A Review of Flexible and Stretchable Electronics for Wearable Health…
News • Neurogenesis
These genetic ‘switches’ determine our brain development
UCLA researchers have developed the first map of gene regulation in human neurogenesis, the process by which neural stem cells turn into brain cells and the cerebral cortex expands in size. The scientists identified factors that govern the growth of our brains and, in some cases, set the stage for several brain disorders that appear later in life. The human brain differs from that of mice and…