Medical Thought Leaders

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News Medical's "Thought Leaders" series is a selection of articles written by national and international experts and trusted advisers in health and medicine. All the articles are written by experts who have been invited as recognised leaders in their fields to provide a "state of the art" contribution.

Preclinical research using 1 Tesla desktop MRI

I'm an MR imaging scientist in the preclinical field. I'm a team leader of the functional and molecular imaging team at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in QST.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 17 Aug 2017

Understanding the rise in NTM infections

It is important to keep in mind that nontuberculous mycobacteria are environmental, and so unlike mycobacterial tuberculosis, generally this is not a person to person transmitted disease. The organisms are found universally in water and soil and so most people are exposed on a daily basis.

16 Aug 2017

Counteracting premature aging

Aging is the continuing process of such stress exposures, and with advancing age (normal aging), we must carry lots of senescent cells within our bodies. Senescent cells also often provide some ‘bad influences’ to surrounding healthy cells; such as chronic inflammation and tumorigenesis

14 Aug 2017

Tackling food allergies: is immunotherapy the answer?

Food allergies affect approximately 8% of school children in the United States and the United Kingdom. The highest prevalence of food allergies is in Australia affecting approximately 10% of young children. It is lower in the developing world.

7 Aug 2017

Specialist Training in Perioperative Practice

Perioperative practice is quite a specialised area focused on patients who are undergoing surgery. Patients come to theatre for a reason, usually to have an operation or procedure that will correct a condition or perhaps alleviate discomfort.

From University of Derby Online Learning 31 Jul 2017

Genetic test to predict IBD severity in children

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic relapsing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract with abdominal pain and diarrhea being the most common symptoms. It can be challenging to diagnose as gastrointestinal complaints mimicking IBD are common.

26 Jul 2017

Zika: costs of prevention and control

They undertook a modelling study based on six states in the US in areas that are at risk of Zika emergence. The main finding of this study was that the total cost of Zika in these sates had a range that went from approximately 183.4 million dollars to 1.2 billion dollars.

6 Jul 2017

Schistosomiasis: the biggest killer you’ve never heard of?

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease, sometimes called bilharzia or snail fever. The disease impacts a huge number of people around the world, over 230 million people are infected with one of the schistosome species, the parasitic worms that causes the disease.

4 Jul 2017

Identifying overactive bladder syndrome

Unfortunately, studies show that only about 5 million people living with OAB seek care from a doctor, and only half of those patients seek a specialist like a urologist or urogynecologist for treatment. It’s time to see a doctor if you’re using multiple leakage pads per day, not doing things you like because of the fear of leakage, planning all your travel around bathroom locations, or are worried about the problem every day.

28 Jun 2017

Antibiotic resistance: a healthcare emergency?

Antibiotic resistance is happening in hospitals quite frequently. Probably the main place where resistant organisms and pathogens are acquired is in intensive care units (ICUs).

26 Jun 2017

Could the mTOR pathway be used to protect against cancer?

The mTOR pathway is probably the main pathway in humans and other animals that drives growth. That is, the accumulation of mass and adding mass to make an organism bigger by both making more cells, and making cells grow and become bigger.

22 Jun 2017

Could a blood test predict how cancer spreads in children?

Traditionally, we use biopsies to try to predict how cancer spreads. There are a number of molecular markers that are used, but biopsy is a limited approach. Now, the current trend is to use liquid biopsy, which is basically a blood sample.

21 Jun 2017

Cryopreservation of Embryos to Improve Assisted Reproductive Technology

If we were to compare the progression of cryopreservation technology during recent years, we would find that from 2004 to 2013 over a timeframe of a decade, there has been around a 2.5 times increase in the rate of frozen-thawed embryo transfers (FETs) that were reported to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART). While the rate of fresh embryo transfers (ET) that were completed was the same.

From Sofia Hospital of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine 19 Jun 2017

Cluster headaches: searching for effective therapies

Cluster headaches are probably the most painful types of pain a human can suffer and it is for no small reason that this condition is also sometimes referred to as suicide headache.

25 May 2017

Finding a cure for ALS

ALS is a neurodegenerative disease in which motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. As ALS progresses, neurons are unable to send impulses to muscles, making voluntary muscle movement difficult, including standing, walking and sitting, as well as speaking and swallowing.

22 May 2017

History of sleep: what was normal?

We used to sleep in two phases, with a first sleep and then a second sleep. Arguably from time immemorial to the nineteenth century, the dominant pattern of sleep in Western societies was biphasic, whereby most preindustrial households retired between 9 and 10pm, slept for 3 to 3 ½ hours during their “first sleep,”

17 May 2017

Depression in elite athletes

Our main findings showed that high-performance athletes were just as likely as non-athletes to report mild or more severe depressive symptoms.

16 May 2017

Analyzing single-cell RNA data in pre-malignant tumors

RNA sequencing is basically the isolation of RNA from cells and the use of reverse transcriptase to turn the RNA into DNA. You can then use your standard DNA sequencing technologies to quantify the cDNA that you obtained from the reverse transcription reaction.

12 May 2017

How does acne affect self-confidence?

Three in five teenagers surveyed by the British Skin Foundation reported ‘a fall in self-confidence’ as the biggest impact that acne has on their lives. From my experience as a dermatologist I find that those with acne can often feel unsupported, socially isolated and become withdrawn.

8 May 2017

Healthcare cuts linked to spike in mortality in England and Wales?

Deaths in 2015 increased by 5.6% compared to 2014, with 28,231 more deaths recorded. This is the biggest percentage increase for over 50 years, and third biggest since WWII.

3 May 2017