A computer-assisted needle misses its target, puncturing the spine. A diabetic patient goes rapidly downhill after a computer recommends an incorrect insulin dosage. An ultrasound fails to diagnose an obvious heart condition that is ultimately fatal. These are just a few examples of incidents reported to the United States’ Food and Drug Administration involving [...]
A study from Cedars-Sinai’s Smidt Heart Institute suggests that immune system dysfunction could be causing long COVID-19. The study found that patients with long COVID-19 produced antibodies against the virus for an extended period after vaccination, with especially high levels of nucleocapsid antibodies. The implications of this sustained immune response are still unclear, and [...]
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a novel hydrogel that has successfully cured 100% of mice with aggressive brain cancer, specifically glioblastoma. The hydrogel combines an anticancer drug and an antibody, and is applied to the brain after the surgical removal of a tumor. This treatment reaches areas that surgery might miss and [...]
Cancer is a complex systemic disease, with accompanying secondary effects that can result in debilitating effects on the human body. Cancer-associated skeletal muscle weakening or loss, also called "cancer cachexia," is a prevalent and serious condition responsible for 20%–30% of the deaths in affected cancer patients. In current treatments for cancer cachexia, there are [...]
Bird flu is transmitted mainly by wild birds, like these snow geese. The H5N1 avian influenza virus is causing the largest bird flu outbreak in history, infecting millions of birds and a growing range of mammal species. Though human infection is currently rare, efficient transmission between farmed minks in Spain raises concerns about potential [...]
An international team led by scientists at the University of Sydney has demonstrated nanowire networks can exhibit both short- and long-term memory like the human brain. The research has been published today in the journal Science Advances, led by Dr. Alon Loeffler, who received his Ph.D. in the School of Physics, with collaborators [...]
Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are novel therapeutics that can be used to treat a wide range of diseases. This has led to a growing demand for selective, efficient, and safe ways of delivering siRNA in cells. Now, in a cooperation between the Universities of Amsterdam and Leiden, researchers have developed dedicated molecular nanocages for [...]
This is the most detailed image ever taken of a brain - 64 million times sharper than current technology allows. The picture was taken of a mouse brain using a high-powered magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device with an unprecedented level of detail. Scientists have yet to repeat the highly detailed scans on human brains, which [...]
A new rapid test for the early diagnosis of preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening complication of pregnancy, has been developed by a team of researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The test is significantly faster and more accurate than current methods. Preeclampsia is a condition that affects around 4%–8% of all pregnancies and [...]
A team of global biomedical researchers, co-led by Alexander Bick, MD, Ph.D. of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has found a new method for assessing the growth rate of of precancerous clones of blood stem cells. This breakthrough has the potential to assist physicians in reducing their patients’ probability of developing blood cancer in the future. [...]
