Tag: Diseases and Conditions

When it comes to transplant rejection, some organs are far trickier than others. Some transplantable organs, such as the liver, are readily accepted by the recipient’s immune system, rarely triggering an immune response and rejection. But the skin is a very different matter: Skin grafts have a high rate of rejection for unknown reasons. Investigators

An international research team led by the University of California, Irvine has identified a system of communication networks that exists among organs and tissues that regulate metabolism. Findings from their study provide, for the first time, a detailed “atlas” illustrating how the body creates and uses energy, and how imbalances in the networks may impact

Consumers can go to Google, Yelp and Facebook for crowdsourced insight about the experiences they’ll have at a hospital, but they shouldn’t expect foolproof guidance on the quality of care they will receive, according to new Indiana University research. Researchers Victoria Perez and Seth Freedman of IU’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs compared social

Routine testing for prostate cancer is not recommended for most men because the benefit is small and uncertain and there are clear harms, say a panel of international experts in The BMJ today. But they acknowledge that some men, such as those with a family history of prostate cancer, may be more likely to consider

A model developed using artificial intelligence (AI) is better at predicting risk of death in patients with heart disease than models designed by medical experts, a new study from the Francis Crick Institute shows. The study, published in PLOS One, adds to the growing evidence that AI could revolutionise healthcare in the UK and beyond.

Newborns require special diagnosis and treatment considerations for an infectious diarrhea known as Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infection, according to a new evidence-based white paper published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The publication is in conjunction with the release of a companion review

A clinical trial of more than 1,000 patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) found that the drug ranolazine (commonly used to treat chest pain; brand name Ranexa®) was safe but didn’t significantly decrease the likelihood of the first occurrence of ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation or death in this high-risk population. The study was published recently

Testing how well people remember past events in their lives could help medical professionals make early predictions about who is at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from the University of Arizona. Researchers administered an “autobiographical memory” test to a group of 35 healthy adults, about half of whom carry the

The world’s first baby born via in-vitro fertilization turned 40 years old this summer. Still, after four decades, IVF is a relatively new field with ongoing debate on how to get the best results for families who have placed their hopes — and often their personal savings — into fertility treatment. IVF experts disagree about

Lipid droplets: they were long thought of merely as the formless blobs of fat out of which spare tires and muffin tops were made. But these days, they’re “a really hot area of research,” says Michael Welte, professor and chair of biology at the University of Rochester. That’s in part because lipid droplets have been

Poor sleep can literally kill your social life. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that sleep-deprived people feel lonelier and less inclined to engage with others, avoiding close contact in much the same way as people with social anxiety. Worse still, that alienating vibe makes sleep-deprived individuals more socially unattractive to others.

Continuous mass distribution of azithromycin in northern Ethiopia, where the childhood eye infection trachoma is a major cause of blindness, is effective in preventing recurrence of trachoma but does not eliminate the infection entirely, according to a new study in PLOS Medicine by Jeremy Keenan and colleagues from the University of California in San Francisco,

Married people who fight nastily are more likely to suffer from leaky guts — a problem that unleashes bacteria into the blood and can drive up disease-causing inflammation, new research suggests. It’s the first study to illuminate this particular pathway between bad marriages and poor health, said lead author Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, director of the Institute

With increasing efforts being made to address the current global obesity epidemic, wearable devices and mobile health (“mHealth”) technology have emerged as promising tools for promoting physical activity. However, current literature seems to indicate that these new technologies may serve best as part of a larger overall health plan, rather than working alone to encourage

Childhood leukemia is a diagnosis that no family ever wants to endure. While the treatment of most types of leukemia has improved steadily over the years, a few specific types remain very difficult to treat. One of these is called “mixed lineage leukemia,” and for children affected by this cancer, their chance of survival is

In the first experiment of its kind, scientists have revealed the precise identity of cancer cells of the most common childhood and adult kidney cancers. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge, University of Newcastle and their collaborators showed that the cancer cells are versions of specific healthy cells from developing or

Certain molecular drivers of cancer growth are “undruggable” — it’s been nearly impossible to develop chemicals that would block their action and prevent cancer growth. Many of these molecules function by passing cancer-promoting information through a gate in the nucleus, where the instructions are carried out. Researchers at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center — Jefferson

A newly published study by researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine has identified a potential therapeutic target for treating obesity and diabetes. The scientists studied the biological function of an epigenetic modifier known as histone deacetylase 11 (HDAC11), and determined that deleting it in mice stimulates the formation of brown adipose tissue.

UCLA bioengineers have demonstrated that a gel-like material containing tiny magnetic particles could be used to manage chronic pain from disease or injury. Broadly, the study demonstrates the promising use of biomechanical forces that push and pull on cells to treat disease. “Much of mainstream modern medicine centers on using pharmaceuticals to make chemical or

Studying transthyretin amyloidoses-a group of progressive nerve and cardiac degenerative diseases caused by the buildup of misfolded transthyretin (TTR) proteins in the body-has long been hampered by the lack of animal models of the disease. Mice, for instance, don’t show the same symptoms as humans, even when misfolded TTR accumulates in their organs. Now, scientists