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Investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have determined that in children receiving gadolinium as a contrast agent to enhance MRI examinations, signal changes attributed solely to deposition of this material in the brain are not dependent on the amount of gadolinium administered but rather these changes are seen in association with other factors such as

Kidney cancer, one of the ten most prevalent malignancies in the world, has increased in incidence over the last decade, likely due to rising obesity rates. The most common subtype of this cancer is “clear cell” renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), which exhibits multiple metabolic abnormalities, such as highly elevated stored sugar and fat deposition. By

Imagine how much patients could benefit if you could discover the presence of cancer, and even how that cancer develops over time, with a simple blood test. There is vast potential in precision-medicine methods of both detecting and monitoring disease by looking for indications of cancer mutations in cell-free DNA (cfDNA), found floating in the

Older Americans are often at a high risk for obstructive sleep apnea, yet this illness remains vastly underdiagnosed, a new study finds. University of Michigan researchers found evidence that more than half (56 percent) of persons ages 65 and older have a high risk of OSA, a sleep disorder in which the throat collapses during

While living in a mother’s womb, cushioned by amniotic fluid and protected from the outside world, babies have only minimal exposure to microorganisms like bacteria and viruses. Shortly after birth, a newborn’s collection of microorganisms – their microbiome – begins to develop as a succession of bacteria colonizes their gut. A variety of factors, such

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a genetic disease that can leave infants with weak muscles and trouble breathing. Many with the disease die before age two. To help these patients, doctors need therapies that target the genetic mutation and stop its progression. Now, scientists at the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr) and The Scripps

In public on the job, doctors and nurses are trained to stay stoic. But behind the scenes, after comforting accident victims, the terminally ill, and others with a life-threatening health crisis, they can feel deep emotion for their patients.  And thanks to a now-viral Twitter thread, health professionals are letting it all out, sharing the

Illnesses caused by disease-infected ticks, mosquitoes and fleas have tripled in the U.S. in recent years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lyme disease is the most common illness attributed to ticks. “It’s the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere and in North America, in

(HealthDay)—A community health worker (CHW)-led diabetes self-management education (DSME) program is associated with sustained improvement in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), according to a study published online April 27 in Diabetes Care. Michael S. Spencer, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues randomized 222 Latino adults with type 2 diabetes and poor glycemic

The discovery of a new mechanism involved in depression – and a way to target it with a drug as effective as classical antidepressants—provides new understanding of this illness and could pave the way for treatments with fewer side effects. In a study published in Nature Medicine, a team of scientists at McGill University and

The percentage of people who died by suicide and who had opiates in their system more than doubled from 2006 to 2017, particularly in the most recent years, according to new research being presented today at the American Psychiatric Association’s Annual Meeting here. The rate of suicide in the U.S. is on the rise; about

University of Auckland academics have developed new equations to predict the risk of cardiovascular disease (mainly heart attacks and strokes) in New Zealanders that has just been published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. The study is significant for New Zealanders as it is the first of its kind derived from local data and

(HealthDay)—As the number of older people in the United States continues to increase, pharmacists and health care professionals need to recognize and address the health care challenges associated with age, including frailty, according to an article published in Drug Topics. Noting that standardized and validated screenings to diagnose frailty are lacking, health care providers must

During a stroke or an epileptic seizure, neurons in affected parts of the brain fire at an abnormally rapid rate. One byproduct of this condition is that the pH of the brain drops markedly, rendering the local environment inhospitably acidic. Using a powerful microscopy method called cryo-EM, biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have

While there is no demonstrable difference in initiation of breastfeeding between six-week and 12-week maternity leave policies, there is a significant increase in breastfeeding duration and exclusivity through nine months for active duty mothers under the 12 week policy, according to a new study being presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2018 Meeting. The

(HealthDay)—For patients with ocular surface disease (OSD) using prostaglandin analogue monotherapy, a punctal plug improves OSD and reduces intraocular pressure (IOP), according to a study published online April 26 in Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology. Justin C. Sherwin, M.B., B.S., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial

Advances in our understanding of the development and persistence of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) have the potential to improve treatment according to a new study by the University of Waterloo. The study found that fear of guilt evokes feelings of doubt in decision-making, with greater fear of guilt being associated with greater self-reported difficulty making decisions,

The public alcohol and drug system is chronically underfunded. About 200,000 people receive treatment for alcohol or other drug problems each year in Australia, but the demand is estimated at closer to 500,000. The result is long waiting lists for some publicly funded treatment, or people choosing private services to fill the gap. But there

In the U.S., if you want a face lift or a tummy tuck, it’s generally assumed that you’ll be paying out of pocket. Insurance will tend to cover plastic surgery only when the surgery is deemed “medically necessary” and not merely aesthetic. In Brazil, however, patients are thought of as having the “right to beauty.”

Researchers at Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute have shown a novel relationship between the intestinal microbiome and atherosclerosis, one of the major causes of heart attack and stroke. This was measured as the burden of plaque in the carotid arteries. In order to understand the role that bacteria in the gut may play