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Researchers win $2.5 million DARPA contract to study prosthetic limb technology

A research team led by Paul Marasco, Ph.D., of Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute, has won a $2.5 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The contract was awarded through DARPA's new Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces (HAPTIX) program, which aims to deliver naturalistic sensations to amputees and enable better control over their prosthetic limbs through direct connections to users' nervous systems.

10 Feb 2015

Only 65% of breast cancer patients who undergo mastectomy receive postmastectomy radiation therapy

Breast cancer patients who undergo a mastectomy should receive subsequent radiation treatment if their cancer has spread to four or more nearby lymph nodes, however, according to a new study, only 65 percent of these women are getting the recommended postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT).

10 Feb 2015

New study reveals eight highly specific physical signs associated with death in cancer patients

While the diagnosis of an impending death is always sad, it can be important for patients, families, and clinicians as they make decisions related to hospital discharge, hospice referral, and treatments. Now a new study published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, has revealed eight highly specific physical signs associated with death within three days in cancer patients.

10 Feb 2015

CWRU researcher receives $3.9 million grant for HIV research

A researcher at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has been awarded $3.9 million to determine if the combination of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and drug abuse is a double kick in the gut, leading to organ damage throughout the body.

10 Feb 2015

Study: Simple blood test could predict risk of developing dementia

Scientists at Rigshopitalet, Herlev Hospital and the University of Copenhagen identify a new biomarker that can predict the risk of developing dementia by way of a simple blood test. In the long term, this could mean better prevention and thus at least postponement of the illness and at best evading the development all together.

10 Feb 2015

Utah researchers receive $1.4 million to develop implantable neural interface

University of Utah researchers have received $1.4 million to further develop an implantable neural interface that will allow an amputee to move an advanced prosthetic hand with just his or her thoughts. The neural interface will also convey feelings of touch and movement.

9 Feb 2015

Duke University researchers devise new method to activate genes with light

Duke University researchers have devised a method to activate genes in any specific location or pattern in a lab dish with the flip of a light switch by crossing a bacterium's viral defense system with a flower's response to sunlight.

9 Feb 2015

Researchers document pathological progress of multiple sclerosis

The Centre for Brain Research at the MedUni Vienna is regarded as a world leader in researching the mechanisms involved with multiple sclerosis (MS). Now, in a paper published in the highly respected journal Lancet Neurology, an international team of researchers from Edinburgh, Cleveland and Vienna, under the leadership of Hans Lassmann, Head of the Department of Neuroimmunology at the MedUni Vienna, has for the first time documented the pathological progress of the disease from its early to late stage and also shown that inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes have a role to play.

9 Feb 2015

Study reveals mechanical forces that drive epithelial wound healing

A collaborative study led by scientists from the Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore has revealed the mechanical forces that drive epithelial wound healing in the absence of cell supporting environment. This research was published in Nature Communications in January 2015.

9 Feb 2015

Gramicidin-Based Fluorescence Assay can help predict drug toxicity

Sometimes, toxic side effects aren't discovered until fairly late in the drug development process, when substantial amounts of time and money have already been invested in clinical trials.

9 Feb 2015

New findings could pave way to develop drug therapies for necrosis-related diseases

Strokes, heart attacks and traumatic brain injuries are separate diseases with certain shared pathologies that achieve a common end - cell death and human injury due to hypoxia, or lack of oxygen.

9 Feb 2015

Chili peppers show promise as diet-based supplement

Don't go chomping on a handful of chili peppers just yet, but there may be help for hopeful dieters in those fiery little Native American fruits.

9 Feb 2015

Physical, psychosocial factors can significantly increase risk of low back pain

New research reveals the physical and psychosocial factors that significantly increase the risk of low back pain onset. In fact results published in Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology, show that being engaged in manual tasks involving awkward positions will increase the risk of low back pain by eight times. Those who are distracted during activities or fatigued also significantly increase their risk of acute low back pain.

9 Feb 2015

Risks and benefits of fecal microbiota transplant

A woman successfully treated for a recurrent Clostridium difficile infection with stool from an overweight donor rapidly gained weight herself afterwards, becoming obese, according to a case report published in the new journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

9 Feb 2015

Discovery improves understanding of factors that trigger allergic asthma

When the mucosal surfaces in the lungs of healthy people come into contact with allergenic substances, so-called regulatory T cells also known as Treg cells, are activated. These are capable of actively preventing the development of allergies.

9 Feb 2015

Study: Modulation of alpha waves influences speech comprehension in everyday hearing situations

The elderly often complain about hearing difficulties, especially when several people are talking all at once.

9 Feb 2015

Research finding could help predict the next outbreak of plague

Biologists at the University of Oslo, Norway, are now making a giant effort to identify the relationship between climate change, rat infestations, and the many major plague epidemics throughout history. The knowledge may be used to predict the next plague outbreak.

9 Feb 2015

Preclinical testing of anti-Ebola antibodies can lead to universal flu vaccine

Does the blood of Ebola virus disease survivors contain antibodies and immune cells that could help doctors fight Ebola infections in other people?

9 Feb 2015

Scientists show pattern of connectivity in newly-generated hippocampal neurons

Research by a team of scientists from Cologne, Munich and Mainz has shown an unprecedented degree of connectivity reorganization in newly-generated hippocampal neurons in response to experience, suggesting their direct contribution to the processing of complex information in the adult brain.

9 Feb 2015