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Showing posts from September, 2017

New diagnosis for Alzheimer's

In the largest and most conclusive study of its kind , researchers have analysed blood samples to create a novel and non-invasive way of helping to diagnose Alzheimer's disease and distinguishing between different types of neurodegenerative disorders. Following this breakthrough discovery, Alzheimer's sufferers may now have an additional test to improve the accuracy of diagnosis in order to better tailor appropriate treatment. The research also offers a valuable opportunity to monitor the progression of the disease. The international study in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  USA used sensor-based technology with a diamond core to analyse approximately 550 blood samples. By passing light through the diamond and observing its interactions with the blood plasma, researchers were able to identify specific chemical bonds within the blood. This biochemical data was used to compare blood samples from cases of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegen...

New diagnosis for Alzheimer's

In the largest and most conclusive study of its kind , researchers have analysed blood samples to create a novel and non-invasive way of helping to diagnose Alzheimer's disease and distinguishing between different types of neurodegenerative disorders. Following this breakthrough discovery, Alzheimer's sufferers may now have an additional test to improve the accuracy of diagnosis in order to better tailor appropriate treatment. The research also offers a valuable opportunity to monitor the progression of the disease. The international study in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  USA used sensor-based technology with a diamond core to analyse approximately 550 blood samples. By passing light through the diamond and observing its interactions with the blood plasma, researchers were able to identify specific chemical bonds within the blood. This biochemical data was used to compare blood samples from cases of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegen...

Three-quarters of Americans see head injuries in football as major problem

Three-quarters of fans say head injuries in football are a major problem and another six in 10 are worried about off-field violence involving players. Despite that, football remains America's favorite professional sport, according to results of a UMass Lowell-Washington Post poll released today. The survey of 1,000 Americans finds 77 percent of those who consider themselves professional football fans said that head injuries causing long-term health issues for players are a major problem, compared with only 15 percent who said it is a minor problem and 6 percent who do not consider it a problem. The long-term effects of head injuries among football players has been the topic of much debate in recent years, including whether Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) -- a neurological condition that can mimic Alzheimer's disease -- occurs more often among NFL players. In July, the  Journal of the American Medical Association  reported that a recent study of brains donated ...

Health of more than half of US adults affected by obesity

Considering weight across the life course, the prevalence of obesity among adults in the US rises considerably, suggesting that the effects on population health may be even more pervasive than previously understood, according to a new study led by a Boston university School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher. Writing in the  American Journal of Preventative Medicine , A ndrew Stokes, assistant professor of global health at BUSPH, and colleagues said their findings "highlight the importance" of considering the previously obese subpopulation when monitoring the obesity epidemic. "The results suggest that a much larger fraction of the population is affected by obesity than is reflected by statistics on current weight status alone," the researchers wrote. The researchers expanded the scope of their study to include all US adults who were ever obese as well as the currently obese. They found that 50.8 percent of American men and 51.6 percent of American women...

Why redheads are more prone to melanoma

Red-haired people are known for pale skin , freckles, poor tanning ability and unfortunately, an increased risk for developing skin cancer. Research has shown that they have variants in Melanocortin 1 Receptor (MC1R), a protein crucial for pigmentation in humans, but how this translates to increased risk for cancer and whether that risk can be reversed has remained an active area of investigation -- until now. For the first time, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have shown that there is a way to reduce cancer risk in redheads. These findings appear in the journal  Nature . Specifically they proved that MC1R, the protein involved in pigmentation , is affected by a special modification process called palmitoylation that is critical for its function. By enhancing palmitoylation in the variant MC1R proteins of redheads cancer risk can be reduced. Making up one to two percent of the world's population, redheads carry variants of MC1R which are respon...

Blood tumor markers may warn when lung cancer patients are progressing

For many years, oncologists have known that cancers can secrete complex molecules into the blood and that levels of these molecules can be easily measured. These so-called 'tumor markers' are traditionally associated with a single dominant cancer type, for example Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) linked to prostate cancer, Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) to colorectal cancer, CA125 to ovarian cancer, CA19.9 to pancreatic cancer and CA27.29 to breast cancer. However, the real challenge has been to determine a practical use for these markers. They don't appear to be useful as a means of screening otherwise healthy people for evidence of underlying cancers. Now a University of Colorado Cancer Center study has begun to further define the potential of these markers by looking in a type of cancer not normally associated with them -- non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The study suggests that rather than screening for disease, these tumor markers could be useful in monitoring...

One highly effective cell makes or breaks your habits

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A extremely magnified view of the striatum of a mouse mind reveals a comparatively uncommon sort of cell referred to as the fast-spiking interneuron (purple), which is accountable for orchestrating the mind circuits that management our habits. Credit score: Justin O'Hare, Duke College Some habits are useful, resembling mechanically washing your arms earlier than a meal or driving the identical path to work on daily basis. They accomplish an vital job whereas liberating up priceless mind house. However different habits -- like consuming a cookie on daily basis after work -- appear to stay round even when the outcomes aren't so good. Duke College neuroscientists have pinpointed a single sort of neuron deep throughout the mind that serves as a "grasp controller" of habits. The workforce discovered that behavior formation boosts the exercise of this influential cell, and that shutting it down with a drug is sufficient to break habits in sugar-seeking...

CBD could shield towards psychiatric danger from high-THC hashish strains

A research reported Sept. 5 by neuroscientists at Indiana College finds non-psychoactive compound in hashish known as cannabidiol, or CBD, seems to guard towards the long-term unfavourable psychiatric results of THC , the first psychoactive ingredient in hashish. Different analysis has proven that long-term use of hashish will increase adolescent drug customers' danger for sure psychiatric and neurological problems, akin to schizophrenia. The danger to teenagers is larger than ever since selective breeding of vegetation to provide larger ranges of THC over the previous a number of many years has considerably elevated publicity to the compound. "This research confirms in an animal mannequin that high-THC hashish use by adolescents could have long-lasting behavioral results," mentioned lead creator Dr. Ken Mackie, professor within the IU Faculty of Arts and Sciences' Division of Psychological and Mind Sciences and director of the Linda and Jack Gill Middle for Biom...

Frequent cerebral white matter abnormalities present in kids with autistic traits

Structural abnormalities within the mind's white matter match up constantly with the severity of autistic signs not solely in kids with autism spectrum dysfunction (ASD), but additionally, to a point, in these with attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD) who even have autistic traits. That is the discovering of a brand new research, printed September 6 in  JAMA Psychiatry , which highlights proof supporting the speculation that frequent, underlying mind mechanisms could also be accountable for autistic traits seen in each diagnoses. Led by researchers within the Division of Little one and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU College of Drugs, the brand new research targeted on white matter -- nerve bundles that transmit info between mind areas. Researchers say the hyperlink between symptom severity and white matter structural patterns was most evident within the area of the mind referred to as the corpus callosum, which connects the left and proper cerebral hemispheres an...

Artificial model of standard anticoagulant poised for medical trials

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Artificial low molecular weight heparin confirmed secure and efficient in preclinical trials. Credit score: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute An artificial model of low molecular weight heparin is poised for medical trials and growth as a drug for sufferers with clotting issues, and people present process procedures similar to kidney dialysis, coronary heart bypass surgical procedure, stent implantation, and knee and hip substitute. Naturally derived low molecular weight heparin is extracted from pig intestines and the artificial model affords a number of benefits: a synthesized model poses much less threat for contamination in manufacturing, and, not like its pure counterpart, it has been engineered to be safer for sufferers with poor kidney perform and reversible in instances of complication. Outcomes of preclinical research, which display the compounds' security and efficacy in animal fashions of deep vein thrombosis and sickle cell illness, seem within the journ...

Concussions in ladies: Charges, signs and restoration are completely different than males

Scientists have identified for greater than a decade that feminine athletes maintain concussions at the next fee than males when taking part in sports activities with comparable guidelines, reminiscent of soccer, basketball and baseball/softball. Females additionally are likely to report extra signs -- and extra extreme ones -- and may additionally take longer to recuperate from mind accidents than their male counterparts. Regardless of that data, comparatively little is understood about how females expertise concussions in another way as a result of there was scant analysis on the subject. However scientists try to hoping to alter that, says Dr. Mayumi Prins, a professor of neurosurgery on the David Geffen Faculty of Medication at UCLA and director of the UCLA Mind Harm Analysis Heart training program. "A lot of the analysis up to now has targeted on males, and there is been little primary science analysis completed on adolescents, females and concussions," Prins says...