Care models that go beyond rehabilitation services and are aimed at a smooth transition from intensive to aftercare are not established in Germany. A working group around Professor Dr Christian Apfelbacher at the Institute for Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Regensburg University, is currently developing a concept for intensive out-patient aftercare. ‘The project is to help improve the…
In general, women who have had children have a lower risk of breast cancer compared to women who have never given birth. However, new research has found that moms don’t experience this breast cancer protection until many years later and may face elevated risk for more than 20 years after their last pregnancy. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health, along with members of the…
Christmas cookies, mulled wine and an extensive family feast - it seems impossible not to gain weight during the holidays. But there's hope: A study by the University of Birmingham and Loughborough University has shown that regular weighing at home and simple tips to curb excess eating and drinking can prevent people from piling on the pounds at Christmas. Researchers, supported by the National…
When infants are playing with objects, their early attempts to pay attention to things are accompanied by bursts of high-frequency activity in their brain. But what happens when parents play together with them? New research, published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, by Dr Sam Wass of the University of East London in collaboration with Dr Victoria Leong (Cambridge University and Nanyang…
Obstetricians and midwives often warn new mothers about postpartum depression. They might mention what symptoms women should look out for—such as crying spells or extreme irritability—and where they can turn for help. But people who have strokes may not learn that they, too, are at risk for depression. Post-stroke depression stems from the cardiovascular changes in the brain that lead to a…
Portland State University (PSU) researchers have made a significant breakthrough by developing the 3-D structure of proteins from inside the eye lens that control how cells communicate with each other, which could open the door to treating diseases such as cataracts, stroke and cancer. The PSU research team, led by chemistry professor Steve Reichow, used a multimillion-dollar microscope and a…
The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson announced results from the ECLIPSE study demonstrating that Tremfya® (guselkumab) was superior to Cosentyx® (secukinumab)* in treating adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis for the primary endpoint assessed at week 48. Data from the multicentre, randomised, double-blind head-to-head Phase 3 study demonstrated that 84.5…
Traumatic experiences can become deeply entrenched in a person's memory. How can fears following a traumatic event be reduced in the long term and prevented from becoming a permanent stress-related disorder? Researchers at the Mainz University Medical Center have recently shed new light on these questions. The key to their approach lies in firmly anchoring new, positive experiences in the…
Many people who are diagnosed with cancer will undergo some type of surgery to treat their disease — almost 95 percent of people with early-diagnosed breast cancer will require surgery and it’s often the first line of treatment for people with brain tumors, for example. But despite improvements in surgical techniques over the past decade, the cancer often comes back after the procedure. Now,…
Younger women who have recently had a child may have a higher risk of breast cancer than their peers of the same age who do not have children, according to a large-scale analysis co-led by a University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher. The findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, may seem contrary to conventional wisdom that childbirth is…
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have identified in live human brains new radioactive “tracer” molecules that bind to and “light up” tau tangles, a protein associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias.
New research from the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute supports the need for dietary and lifestyle interventions before overweight and obese women become pregnant. The researchers have reported the results of a large study of birth outcomes in more than 500 overweight or obese women from three public maternity units in Adelaide, Australia.
Current treatment options for the parasitic disease leishmaniasis are largely ineffective, expensive, and tend to be plagued by resistant parasites and side effects. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have showed that a natural flavonoid is effective at treating Leishmania amazonensis infections. Leishmaniasis is endemic to 98 countries and affects more than 12 million…
A collaborative study led by a neurologist at Rush University Medical Center and an environmental scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago suggests that weather patterns that cause dramatic changes in barometric pressure may increase the incidence of a type of stroke known as spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, that is, the rupture of a blood vessel in the brain. The researchers…
A research team led by Tufts University engineers has developed a non-invasive method for detecting bladder cancer that might make screening easier and more accurate than current invasive clinical tests involving visual inspection of bladder. In the first successful use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) for clinical diagnostic purposes, the researchers have been able to identify signature features…
Mariette Barbier, an assistant professor in the West Virginia University School of Medicine, and her research team are investigating ways to keep cystic fibrosis patients and other at-risk populations—including patients hospitalized for severe burns or recovering from major surgery—from catching this deadly illness.
People who underwent larynx surgery face a necessity of a voice prosthesis implantation, but such artificial windpipes are only produced abroad. Scientists at the South Ural State University (SUSU) are developing a Russian analogue of such an apparatus which will be several times cheaper than the imported products. The problem of vocal rehabilitation after larynx is removed has been an issue ever…
The claim of a chinese professor has caused quite a controversy: He Jiankui announced that he successfully modified human DNA to prevent two girls from contracting HIV. Upon the leak of this research, ethicists and scientists alike condemned Jiankui's gene editing in humans. West Virginia University Vice President and Executive Dean for Health Sciences Dr. Clay Marsh says that although “a lot…
New accelerator-based technology being developed by the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University aims to reduce the side effects of cancer radiation therapy by shrinking its duration from minutes to under a second. Built into future compact medical devices, technology developed for high-energy physics could also help make radiation therapy more…
This could be a major step towards a better understanding of the functions of deeply hidden brain compartments, such as the formation of memories, as well as related dysfunctions, including Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) in Jena and the University of Edinburgh have succeeded in using a hair-thin fibre endoscope to gain insights…
With Artificial Intelligence (AI) able to deliver diagnostic advances for clinicians and patients, the focus has shifted towards ensuring the technology is used in an ethical and responsible way. As evidence emerges of a gap in research on ethical deployment of AI, Dr Gopal Ramchurn is embarking on a three-year research project that will look at setting parameters for AI usage, with a key aspect…
One of the downsides to getting older is that skeletal muscle loses its ability to heal after injury. New research from the University of Pittsburgh implicates the so-called “longevity protein” Klotho, both as culprit and therapeutic target. The paper, published this week in Nature Communications, showed that, in young animals, Klotho expression soars after a muscle injury, whereas in old…
Women who work intermittent night shifts and do not follow a healthy lifestyle face an especially high risk of type 2 diabetes, suggests a study published by The BMJ. The researchers found that the risk of type 2 diabetes is actually higher than simply adding the individual risks associated with unhealthy lifestyle and shift work together, indicating that combining an unhealthy lifestyle with…
Using technology similar to the type that powers facial and speech recognition on a smartphone, researchers at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have trained a computer to analyze breast cancer images and then classify the tumors with high accuracy. In a study published in the journal NPJ Breast Cancer, researchers reported they used a form of artificial…
One day, MRI brain scans may help predict whether older people will develop dementia, new research suggests. In a small study, MRI brain scans predicted with 89 percent accuracy who would go on to develop dementia within three years, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California San Francisco. The findings, presented at the…