For patients suffering from acute liver failure (ALF), inhibiting infections is the key for survival.
Researchers have discovered a vital protein that plays a crucial role in spreading infections in patients with liver failure.
A team of scientists at King’s College London and Imperial College London studied 98 patients with liver failure as well as 24 healthy volunteers.
We rely on antibiotics to defend us against common bacterial infections. But a few cells can escape treatment by becoming persisters that allows the infection to come back.
Scientists have now made a key discovery in understanding how a subset of bacterial cells escape being killed by many antibiotics.
Cells become ‘persisters’ by entering a state in which they stop replicating and are able to tolerate antibiotics.
Currently, there is no predictive test for patients who exhibit symptoms but are yet to experience a heart attack.
This could change soon.
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in California, US, have invented a new ‘fluid biopsy’ technique that could identify patients at high risk of a heart attack by identifying specific cells as markers in the bloodstream.
The technique works by identifying circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and has been successful in distinguishing patients undergoing treatment for a recent heart attack with a healthy control group.
In a path-breaking discovery for kidney patients, a new research revealed that certain cells contribute to kidney function decline – making them attractive targets for treatments against kidney failure.
The blood-filtering cells in the kidneys – called podocytes – are critical to kidney function, and kidney failure can occur when as little as about 20 percent to 30 percent of them are lost, said a new study that appeared in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
In a new study from South Korea, people with worsening glaucoma on just one side were also more likely to sleep with the affected eye facing downward.
The researchers say that position raises the eye’s internal pressure and probably hastens deterioration of the eye.
In glaucoma, the optic nerve is often damaged by increased intraocular pressure. The damage causes tunnel vision and eventual blindness.
According to the World Health Organization, glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness around the world, after cataracts.
An Indian origin researcher has found that a form of malaria, which is common in India, Southeast Asia and South America, attacks human red blood cells by clamping down on the cells with a pair of proteins.
New study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides details that will help scientists design better vaccines and drug treatments for the strain, Plasmodium vivax.
The human microbiome, the collection of trillions of microbes living in and on the human body, plays a crucial role in our overall well being, says a new research.
“Scientists are experiencing startling insights into the role that microorganisms play, not only in disease, but more importantly in our health and well-being,” said Lita Proctor of the National Human Genome Research Institute in the US.
Patients with potentially fatal “superbug” forms of tuberculosis (TB) could in future be treated using stem cells taken from their own bone marrow, according to the results of an early-stage trial of the technique.
The finding, made by British and Swedish scientists, could pave the way for the development of a new treatment for the estimated 450,000 people worldwide who have multi drug-resistant (MDR) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB.
A new study has revealed that physical fitness in your teens can reduce the risk of heart attack later in life, suggesting that unfit, lean men are better protected against heart attacks than fit, obese people.
In the study, Gabriel Hogstrom, Anna Nordstrom and professor at the Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Geriatrics, at Umea University, Peter Nordstrom, analyzed data from 743,498 Swedish men who received a medical examination at the age of 18 when they were conscripted into national service from 1969 to 1984.
A new study has shown that very low doses of a cancer drug protect the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and prevent the development of diabetes mellitus type 1 in mice.
Researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen also found that at the same time, the medicine protects the insulin-producing cells from being destroyed.
A common but dangerous strain of malaria that hides in the liver, re-emerging years later to trigger new infections and is harder to prevent, diagnose and treat, can soon be treated.
According to Niraj Tolia, assistant professor of molecular microbiology and biochemistry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, they have found how a form of malaria – common in India, southeast asia and south America – attacks red blood cells by clamping down on the cells with a pair of proteins.
Researchers have dispelled the myth that coffee consumption can cause dehydration, as they have found that drinking moderate amounts of coffee does not result in dehydration and contributes to daily fluid requirements in regular coffee drinkers just as other fluids do.
New study by the researchers at the University of Birmingham School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, UK, is the first study to directly assess the effects of a moderate consumption of coffee compared to equal volumes of water.
According to the American Association of Ophthalmology, approximately 3.2 million women and 1.7 million men over the age of 50 suffer from chronic dry eyes. So, it’s time to react. Experts suggest that use of lubricating ointment and fish oil supplements can help in curing the condition.
The surface of eye is always covered with a thin layer of liquid known as the tear film, essential for health of eye.
The malfunctioning brain cells are not the only ones to be blamed for depression. Other non-neuronal brain cells also play a key role in depression – a discovery that may go a long way in understanding, and curing, depression.
Researchers at Hebrew University of Jerusalem have shown that changes in one type of non-neuronal brain cells – called microglia – underlie the depressive symptoms brought on by exposure to chronic stress.
The lemon detox diet – a two-week water, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup fad – has been called the worst diet for the third year in a row, a survey has revealed.
According to a Dietitians Association of Australia survey of 200 members, the SkinnyMe tea and the Ashy Bines Bikini Body Challenge were placed in second and third positions.
On the same day that this research was released, the US News and World Report revealed their pick of the best and worst diets of 2014.
Weight-stigmatizing messages shown by media – ones characterizing overweight individuals as lazy, weak-willed, self-indulgent and contributing to rising health care costs – could be tipping the scales in the wrong direction, a new research has suggested.
According to UC Santa Barbara psychology professor Brenda Major’s research, when women who perceive themselves as overweight are exposed to weight-stigmatizing news articles, they are less able to control their eating afterward than are women who don’t perceive themselves that way.
Scientists claimed to have developed waterproof and light-activated bio-inspired glue that can literally mend broken hearts and treat congenital heart defects without the hassles of highly invasive therapies.
In the preclinical study, researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital, BWH and Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a adhesive that could rapidly attach biodegradable patches inside a beating heart-in the exact place where congenital holes in the heart occur, such as with ventricular heart defects.
Researchers have developed a new device called Inspire® Upper Airway Stimulation (UAS), implantation of which can lead to significant improvements for patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It was found that after one year, patients using the device had an approximately 70 percent reduction in sleep apnea severity, as well as significant reductions in daytime sleepiness.
A new research has shown for the first time that green space does appear to improve mental health in a sustained way.
Mathew P. White and colleagues note that mental well-being is a major public health issue, with unipolar depressive disorder the leading cause of disability in middle- to high-income countries.
Some research suggests that part of the blame for this unhappiness lies in increased urbanization – nearly 80 percent of the world’s population in more developed regions live in city environments, which tend to have little room for nature.
Soon, get stomach ulcer diagnosed without that painful endoscopy session.
Researchers have developed a safer and non-invasive diagnostic technique for detecting ulcers in the stomach.
How?
By sending some molecules to the gut to make the ulcer-causing bacteria light up in fluorescent green, said scientists from University of Southern Denmark.
“Early diagnosis does not only prevent ulcers from developing, it can also prevent the development of cancer,” said lead author Silvia Fontenete at University of Southern Denmark.
Timely action in case of a stroke and continuous screening for risk factors can effectively reduce the burden of this disease in India that has turned out to be a major killer, a medical expert here said.
A stroke is a condition in which the brain cells suddenly die because of lack of oxygen. It can be caused by an obstruction in the blood flow or the rupture of an artery that feeds the brain.
Amit Aslam Khan, an intervention neuro-radiologist dealing with strokes, listed two categories of risk factors for strokes.
Researchers including an Indian-origin scientist have suggested that it’s possible that a simple blood test could be developed to see if gene mutations associated with pancreatic cancer exist without the need of locating and testing tumor tissue.
This appears possible following the discovery that tiny particles the size of viruses called ‘exosomes,’ which are shed by cancer cells into the blood, contain the entire genetic blueprint of cancer cells.
A path-breaking research by an Indian-American scientist suggests that a simple blood test may determine whether gene mutations associated with pancreatic cancer exist without the need of locating tumour tissue.
The research takes into account tiny particles called ‘exosomes’ that are shed by cancer cells into the blood and contain the entire genetic blueprint of cancer cells.
Using a new stem cell model, researchers have identified 14 genes that may be implicated in familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD).
One gene in particular shows the importance that inflammation may play in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients, said a study.
Scientists at the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) research institute, in collaboration with scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), have successfully generated a stem cell model of FAD.
A new study has linked tree nut intake with lower risks of obesity.
Researchers at Loma Linda University studied 803 Seventh-day Adventist adults using a validated food frequency questionnaire and assessed both tree nut and peanut intake together and separately.
Mean tree nut (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts), intake was 16 grams/day among the high tree nut consumers and 5 grams/day among low tree nut consumers.