Medical Science News

RSS

Repurposed drug normalizes body weight, reverses metabolic damage in obese mice

An off-label experiment in mice using disulfiram, which has been used to treat alcohol use disorder for more than 50 years, consistently normalized body weight and reversed metabolic damage in obese middle-aged mice of both sexes.

14 May 2020

A 'window of vulnerability' for re-infection with HIV after stem cell transplantation

Some people with HIV need to undergo an allogeneic stem cell transplantation in order to treat different types of blood cancer. Most of the patient's immune cells are eliminated during these transplantations.

14 May 2020

Vitamin B3 has therapeutic effect in progressive muscle disease

An international team of scientists, led by University of Helsinki reported that vitamin B3, niacin, has therapeutic effect in progressive muscle disease.

14 May 2020

A promising treatment for chronic inflammatory liver disease

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare, chronic, inflammatory disease of the bile ducts and is difficult to treat.

14 May 2020

Study provides new insights on mechanisms that promote cancer

Like subway com muters on a crowded train, cells generally prefer not to be packed in too tightly. In fact, they have set up mechanisms to avoid this, a phenomenon called "contact inhibition." A hallmark of cancer cells is that they lack this contact inhibition, and instead become pushy, facilitating their spread.

14 May 2020

Variations in genome’s 'dark matter' region can make patients susceptible to inflammatory diseases

A study led by researchers at the Babraham Institute in collaboration with the Wellcome Sanger Institute has uncovered how variations in a non-protein coding 'dark matter' region of the genome could make patients susceptible to complex autoimmune and allergic diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease.

14 May 2020

LCSB researchers are coordinating to build a COVID-19 Disease Map

In the fight against the current pandemic, researchers of the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourg are coordinating an international collaboration to build a COVID-19 Disease Map: a comprehensive repository incorporating all current knowledge on the virus-host interaction mechanisms. This online tool will support research and improve our understanding of the disease.

14 May 2020

Visual Science designs a scientific model of SARS-Cov-2 virus

The biomedical visualization studio Visual Science has created the most detailed and scientifically accurate 3D model of the full SARS-CoV-2 virus at atomic resolution.

14 May 2020

Researchers develop the most sensitive bioelectronic ammonia gas sensors

Writing in the journal NanoResearch, a team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst reports this week that they have developed bioelectronic ammonia gas sensors that are among the most sensitive ever made.

14 May 2020

Modified tattoo electrodes can be used to measure brain activity

In 2015 Francesco Greco, head of the Laboratory of Applied Materials for Printed and Soft electronics (LAMPSe) at the Institute of Solid State Physics at Graz University of Technology, developed so-called "tattoo electrodes" together with Italian scientists.

14 May 2020

MRI reveals signs of fetal alcohol syndrome in the womb

New images reveal the earliest impairments to nonhuman primate fetal brain development due to alcohol ingested by the mother, in a study led by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University involving rhesus macaques.

13 May 2020

U of A researchers and Tonix Pharmaceuticals join forces to develop, test COVID-19 vaccine

University of Alberta researchers launched a joint effort with U.S.-based Tonix Pharmaceuticals to develop and test a vaccine against COVID-19.

13 May 2020

Adding eccentric exercises could improve outcomes for people with ACL injuries

People with anterior cruciate ligament injuries can lose up to 40% of the muscle strength in the affected leg--with muscle atrophy remaining a big problem even after ACL reconstruction and physical therapy.

13 May 2020

New weight loss amphetamine could potentially avoid harmful side effects

Despite being officially declared a chronic disease there are very few long-lasting and cost-effective treatments for obesity. Amphetamines are one of the few and they reportedly act in the brain to reduce appetite and increase locomotion or stamina.

13 May 2020

Scientists discover how the iron chelator drives immune system to deal with TB

Although COVID-19 commands the headlines today, tuberculosis (TB) remains the biggest infection killer in the world and multiple drug resistant TB, which does not respond to regular antibiotics, continues to be a major threat to global health.

13 May 2020

Research identifies a disease trigger for pancreatitis

One factor contributing to the development of pancreatitis lies in mutations within a cell membrane ion channel that is characterized by its specific permeability for calcium ions.

13 May 2020

Processes underlying the damaging effects of brain injury can preserve memory function

A study examining the effect of the immune receptor known as Toll-like Receptor 4, or TLR4, on how memory functions in both the normal and injured brain has found vastly different cellular pathways contribute to the receptor's effects on excitability in the uninjured and injured brain.

13 May 2020

Researchers identify new therapeutic target to switch-off cancer stem cells

Tumors are not a uniform mass of cells. Colon cancers bear differentiated-like cells, similar to the functional cells of the intestinal wall, and pluripotent cells--the so-called tumour stem cells.

13 May 2020

New study explores brain regions that drive the instinct to form lasting bonds

When it comes to forming a lasting bond, our longing for a partner may be as important as - if not more important than - how we react when we're with them, suggests a surprising new brain imaging study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

13 May 2020

New review summarizes major trends in primary care AI

Artificial intelligence methods are being utilized in radiology, cardiology and other medical specialty fields to quickly and accurately process large quantities of health data to improve the diagnostic and treatment power of health care teams.

13 May 2020