Transgender individuals may be at higher risk for myocardial infarction and death due to cardiovascular disease, according to several studies. This increased risk may be due to the hormone therapy that transgender patients take for masculinization or feminization. A review authored by Michael S. Irwig, MD, associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine…
A new augmented reality system to guide procedures in interventional oncology is currently taking its first steps. A three-step experiment proves this system to be precise and reliable enough to facilitate image guidance critical to the success of interventional oncology procedures. Using a back-face camera and a tablet PC to visualise the patient, the system projects 3D images of body structures…
People who abstain from alcohol or consume more than 14 units a week during middle age (midlife) are at increased risk of developing dementia, finds a study in The BMJ today. However, the underlying mechanisms are likely to be different in the two groups. As people live longer, the number living with dementia is expected to triple by 2050. So understanding the impact of alcohol consumption on…
It doesn’t often happen that army generals switch sides in the middle of a war, but when cancer is attacking, it may cause even a gene that acts as the body’s master defender to change allegiance. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered that this gene’s betrayal can occur in more ways than previously appreciated – and might even return the renegade cells to their…
Scientists conducting the first comprehensive study of key immune system cells—collected from West African Ebola survivors— have made a surprising discovery that provides important clues to developing effective vaccines against the infection.
Austrian researchers have accomplished an astounding feat: They created organoids that mimic the onset of brain cancer. This method not only sheds light on the complex biology of human brain tumors but could also pave the way for new medical applications.
A scientist has discovered a gene-editing technology that could efficiently and accurately correct the genetic defects that underlie certain diseases, positioning the new tool as the basis for the next generation of genetic therapies.
The electromagnetic radiation emitted from smartphones and similar devices may have negative effects on the memory of young people. Research conducted in Switzerland suggests that it might be a good idea to get rid of your smartphone from time to time.
Antibiotics are mostly prescribed for acute respiratory infections (ARIs), yet most of these infections are viral. A new study shows that inappropriate antibiotics prescriptions are widespread, contributing dangerously helping antibiotic-resistant organisms to grow. Overuse could be due to attitudes among patients and clinicians, current George Washington University research suggests.
The idea of testing blood or urine to find markers that help diagnose or treat disease holds great promise. A new study helps set standards for RNA sequencing, improving consistency and laying the foundation to move the field forward.
For the first time, a team of international researchers have mapped the family trees of cancer cells in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) to understand how this blood cancer responds to a new drug, enasidenib. The work also explains what happens when a patient stops responding to the treatment, providing important clues about how to combine enasidenib with other anti-cancer drugs to produce…
While soccer fans want to see which team really has their head in the game, the players themselves might want to watch out for the consequences of headers. They may be more likely to experience short-term balance problems, suggesting that repetitive head impacts could have the potential to cause subtle neurological deficits not previously known, according to a preliminary study.
CRISPR has recently become synonymous with precise genetic editing. However, the mighty tool has been known to fail from time to time. Now, researchers have found out why.
An unexpected discovery that could bring new hope to cancer patients worldwide: Researchers from the University of California San Diego have identified a mechanism that could predict response to immunotherapy. The most effective weapon against the tumors may be handed to the scientists by the cancer cells themselves.
Imagine a pathogen that infects completely healthy people and can cause blindness in one day and flesh-eating infections, brain abscesses and death in just a few days. Now imagine that this pathogen is also resistant to all antibiotics.
Researchers at the Kennedy Institute and Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, working with clinicians at NHS Lothian, have found that injection of the anti-TNF drug adalimumab into Dupuytren's disease nodules results in the reduction of the cell characteristics responsible for progression of Dupuytren's disease.
Confirming or infirming hypotheses has long driven scientific research; however, this traditional and costly approach is giving way to data-driven initiatives, according to Prof. Laure Fournier, a leading radiologist at Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris. “Usually we formulate the hypothesis first, then take an image and analyze it. We like that in France, it comes from Descartes. The…
The UNESCO World Heritage City Bergen is seen as the gateway to the fiords of Norway. However, for radiologists the city offers an even more interesting attraction than Scandinavian landscapes. Bergen features one of the largest randomised control trials to compare digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) with digital mammography (DM): the To-Be trial. Professor Solveig Hofvind, head of BreastScreen…
Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix are cross-utilizing plant biology, medicine and engineering to create a novel platform. They have developed a revolutionary "lung on a leaf" to study pulmonary diseases.
Another piece in the puzzle that is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has been solved by a University of Queensland researcher in a step towards developing treatments for a disease that affects about one in every five Australians. PhD student Laurence Britton has discovered a pivotal mechanism by which iron is able to make the liver more vulnerable to the injury and metabolic dysfunction that…
Australia's national science agency CSIRO has identified a new gene that plays a critical role in regulating the body's immune response to infection and disease.
A team of neurobiologists has identified a novel neuronal circuit in the midbrain that gates fear learning. They think that associative learning of fear is mediated by a novel dopamine circui.
Canadian researchers have found a promising way to stop tumour cells from multiplying. In disrupting the composition of ribosomes, the team from Université de Montréal (UdeM) discovered a direct molecular mechanism to stop cancer cells from proliferating, which is called senescence. Their results have been published in Nature Cell Biology. “Ribosomes are complex machines composed of both…
LC/MS, i.e. the combination of liquid chromatography (LC) with mass spectrometry (MS) – an analytical method developed primarily for environmental analysis and live science – remains a keen topic in the medical laboratory. In recent European Hospital issues, we have outlined various reasons why this procedure is in increasingly popular in the medical lab. Here we continue with an interview…
Every cell and every organism ages sooner or later. But why is this so? Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg have now discovered for the first time a protein that represents a central switching point in the aging process. It controls the life span of an individual - from the fly to the human being. This opens up new possibilities for developing therapies against…
