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GATE opens for generic equivalent to glatiramer acetate in MS

Findings from the GATE study have shown equivalent efficacy and tolerability for a generic version of glatiramer acetate to that of the original brand version in the treatment of relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis.

15 Oct 2015

EKF’s PointMan™ used in cancer biopsy research

EKF, announces results from a study involving EKF Molecular’s PointMan™ DNA enrichment technology have been published in Clinical Cancer Research.

From EKF Diagnostics 15 Oct 2015

Discovery may pave way for addressing different forms of child abuse

Emotional abuse may be as harmful as physical abuse and neglect. This finding led by a team of researchers at McGill University complements previous imaging research showing that emotional and physical pain both activate the same parts of the brain.

15 Oct 2015

Researchers successfully convert skin cells into fully functional placenta-generating cells

Regenerative medicine is a new and expanding area that aims to replace lost or damaged cells, tissues or organs in the human body through cellular transplantation. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent cells that are capable of long-term growth, self-renewal, and can give rise to every cell, tissue and organ in the fetus's body.

15 Oct 2015

Researchers uncover how small heat shock protein interacts with other proteins

In Alzheimer's disease proteins clump together to long fibrils causing the death of nerve cells. Small heat shock proteins can counteract this effect. Scientists, therefore, hope to deploy them as agents in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Using the example of a small heat shock protein, researchers at the Technical University of Munich and the Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen have now uncovered how the protein interacts with other proteins.

15 Oct 2015

Nonmedical use of prescription opioids drops but overdose death rates rise in U.S.

From 2003 to 2013, the percentage of nonmedical use of prescription opioids decreased among adults in the U.S., while the prevalence of prescription opioid use disorders, frequency of use, and related deaths increased, according to a study in the October 13 issue of JAMA.

15 Oct 2015

Traces of Ebola can linger in semen for nine months

Fragments of the Ebola virus can persist in the semen of survivors for as long as nine months after symptoms first develop, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

15 Oct 2015

New approaches to treating amblyopia

Amblyopia, commonly known as "lazy-eye," has been classically treated by patching the strong eye to force the weaker eye to be used. However, the concept of binocular dysfunction, in which the brain suppresses the image from the weaker eye in favor of the stronger eye, has motivated new approaches to amblyopia treatment.

15 Oct 2015

Sleep deprivation can impact outcome of stem cell transplantation, study finds

Drowsy mice make poor stem cell donors, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

15 Oct 2015

Simple tool can predict individual's life support needs five years in advance

It is now possible to determine which patients have an increased chance of one day needing life support with mechanical ventilation. Researchers have developed a simple tool to predict an individual's five-year risk of requiring this care.

15 Oct 2015

New method uses advanced noninvasive neuroimaging to localize and identify epileptic lesions

Epilepsy affects more than 65 million people worldwide. One-third of these patients have seizures that are not controlled by medications. In addition, one-third have brain lesions, the hallmark of the disease, which cannot be located by conventional imaging methods.

15 Oct 2015

Neutrophils kill invading microorganisms, starve microbes to death

The most frequent immune cells in the human blood, so-called neutrophils, efficiently kill invading microorganisms and slowly starve microbes to death by removing crucial trace elements. This is shown by researchers from Umeå University in Sweden in a study published in a special issue of Metallomics.

15 Oct 2015

Women with Type 2 diabetes face barrier to physical activity

Women with Type 2 diabetes experience a barrier to physical activity that threatens to make them more sedentary and cause their health to worsen, according to a new study by Amy Huebschmann, MD, MS of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

15 Oct 2015

Developing tailored interventions for cognitive and behavioral symptoms key to improving outcomes after TBI

Kessler researchers assessed moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) for frontal behavioral syndromes and cognitive function. Their finding suggest that adding the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale to neuropsychological assessment may yield useful information about the behavioral sequelae of TBI.

15 Oct 2015

Researchers report weak association between brain size and IQ

As early as 1836, the German physiologist and anatomist Friedrich Tiedemann, in an article in the Philosophical Transactions, expressed his opinion that "there is undoubtedly a connection between the absolute size of the brain and the intellectual powers and functions of the mind". With the advent of brain imaging methods (e.g., MRI, PET), reliable assessments of in-vivo brain volume and investigations of its association with IQ are now possible.

15 Oct 2015

Drug interactions in placenta may increase risk of birth defects or stunting fetal growth

To date, studies in pregnant women examining transport of drugs across the placenta are rare and inadequate, said Tomo Nabekura, PhD. Such knowledge could be vital to preserving fetal health. In a new laboratory study, Nabekura and colleagues have illuminated a piece of this puzzle, and the results hint that mothers taking new anti-hepatitis C and/or anti-HIV drugs along with anti-hypertensives or non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) could be raising the risk of birth defects or stunting fetal growth, respectively.

15 Oct 2015

Perimenopausal women at greater risk for developing insomnia

Millions of women may likely be sleep-deprived. It's already a known fact that women are more predisposed to insomnia. Now a new study presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of The North American Menopause Society earlier this month suggests that perimenopausal women have an even greater risk for developing insomnia. Considering that perimenopause will affect roughly 500 million women within the next decade, that's a lot of tired women.

15 Oct 2015

Gene therapy preserves vision in canine model of late-stage retinitis pigmentosa

Gene therapy preserved vision in a study involving dogs with naturally occurring, late-stage retinitis pigmentosa, according to research funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The findings contribute to the groundwork needed to move gene therapy forward into clinical trials for people with the blinding eye disorder, for which there is currently no cure.

15 Oct 2015

Poorly-designed animal study threatens validity of preclinical research

Badly designed studies may lead to the efficacy of drugs being overestimated and money being wasted on trials that prove fruitless, according to new a study from McGill University in Canada.

15 Oct 2015

Specific gene signature could help predict survival outcomes among children with intermediate-risk RMS

Among children with intermediate-risk rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) that is negative for a fusion gene, those who had a high score of a specific gene signature called MG5 had poorer survival outcomes compared with those who had a low score of MG5.

15 Oct 2015