Medical News Observer

Keep updated with latest medical research news

Study finds effectiveness of fasting diet (5:2 diet) in clearing fat

Researchers from the University of Surrey examined the effectiveness of the 5:2 diet vs. daily calorie restriction diet. They found that 5:2 diet clears triglycerides from blood quicker after eating meals. Their findings are published in British Journal of Nutrition reports. The study divided overweight people into two groups. One group was assigned 5:2 diet…
Fatty liver could be caused by E-cigarette smoke.

Researchers found that regular e-cigarette exposure may lead to an accumulation of fat in the liver. Their conclusion was based on an animal study on mice. These research findings are presented at ENDO 2018, the Endocrine Society’s 100th annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. This study was led by Theodore C. Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman of the…
Online depression intervention tool found effective in adolescent mothers

Researchers from the University of Louisville found that using an Internet-based depression intervention tool program found effective in improving treatment rates of adolescent depressed mothers. This study is published in journal Archives of Women’s Mental Health. Roughly half of the 400,000 adolescents 18 and younger who give birth annually in the United States experience depressive symptoms, but…
Smartphone app to reliably diagnose irregular heartbeat or atrial fibrillation

Researchers from the University of Turku developed a smartphone app to detect atrial fibrillation with phone alone, without any extra equipment. This application provides a potential tool for timely diagnosis of atrial fibrillation as it is crucial for effective stroke prevention. The results of the study were published in the journal Circulation. Smartphone app to…
Potential treatment for Alzheimer’s dementia using cell therapy

Researchers from Gladstone Institute uncovered the therapeutic benefits of genetically improving interneurons with a voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.1 and transplanting them into the brain of a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. This study is led by Jorge Palop, Ph.D., an assistant investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. The study findings are published in journal Neuron. Inhibitory…
Medical payments affect heart attack outcomes

Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) analyzed if medical payments for acute myocardial infarction affects treatment outcomes for patients. Findings of this research are published in journal Circulation. To cut down healthcare expenditure there has been a growing trend towards providing incentives to reduce cost at the same time maintaining acceptable outcomes. Hospital Value-Based…
Researchers find possible link between autism and nuclear receptor protein LXRβ

Research by University of Houston scientists discovered a possible link between nuclear receptor protein LXRβ (Liver X receptor Beta) and autism spectrum disorder. They found that nuclear receptor LXRβ deletion causes poor development of dentate gyrus, a part of brain’s hippocampus. The dentate gyrus, or DG, is responsible for emotion and memory and is known…
New body-on-a-chip technology to advance pharmacological research

Researchers from MIT have developed “physiome on chip” technology that could be used to evaluate new drugs and detect side effects before the drugs are tested in human clinical trials. This could be used an alternative to animal testing for pharmacological testing before human clinical trials. Body on a chip. Credit: Felice Frankel They used…
New asthma management (APGAR) tools improve outcomes

Researchers analyzed to see if a set of asthma management tools called APGAR(Activities, Persistent, triGGers, Asthma medications, Response to therapy) tools helps decrease asthma-related visits to the emergency department, urgent care or hospital and improves patients’ asthma control. The study results are published in journal Annals of Family Medicine. A randomized controlled study was conducted in 18…
A new approach to create targeted nanovesicles for cancer treatment

Researchers have used autologous immune cells from the mouse to create nanovesicles to be used in the delivery of drugs to tumors. This technique helped them to create a sufficient number of nanovesicles inexpensively to be used as drug delivery system. This image shows ligands-grafted extracellular vesicles as drug delivery vehicles.Credit: Xin Zou Cells naturally…