Medical News Observer

Genetic-based epilepsy risk scores to promote precision medicine

Researchers led by Cleveland Clinic have developed new genetic-based epilepsy risk scores which could help provide more personalized epilepsy diagnosis and treatment. This research is published in the journal Brain. Researchers combined all known common genetic variants identified from several large genome wide association study cohorts, which included more than 12,000 people with epilepsy and…
Machine learning to predict the clinical utility of biomedical research

A machine learning model to predict which scientific advances are likely to eventually translate to the clinic has been developed by Ian Hutchins and colleagues in the Office of Portfolio Analysis (OPA), a team led by George Santangelo at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This work published in the journal PLOS Biology aims to…
New microfluidic system using artificial membrane keep brain tissue viable for a longer duration

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research in Japan have developed a new system for keeping tissue viable for long-term study once transferred from an animal to a culture medium. The new system uses a microfluidic device made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with a porous membrane that can keep tissue from both drying out…
Researchers develop self sterilizing bacterial air filter using graphene

Rice University researchers have developed self-sterilizing bacterial air filters using graphene. Workings of this novel air filter are published in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano. This devise captures bacteria, fungi, spores, prions, endotoxins and other biological contaminants carried by droplets, aerosols and particulate matter. The filter then prevents the microbes and other contaminants…
In Russia, lower alcohol consumption associated with increase in life expectancy

A study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs shown that there is a correlation between lower alcohol consumption and decreased mortality rate. According to the research life expectancy for men and women is 6.1 and 4.7 years longer than it was in 1980, with alcohol consumption patterns playing a significant role.…
Increased mortality associated with short sleep duration

According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association middle-aged adults with high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke could be at high risk for cancer and early death when sleeping less than six hours per day. This study was done on a total of 1654 adults…
Researchers identify role of protein TOM-1 in Alzheimer’s disease pathology

The scientists from the University of California Irvine discovered that reducing the amount of protein TOM-1 in Alzheimer’s rodent models increased pathology, which included increased inflammation, and exacerbated cognitive problems associated with the disease and restoring TOM-1 levels reversed those effects. This research is significant as it explores the molecular pathways underlying Alzheimer’s disease. It…
Optoceutics: controlling regenerative cells using visual light.

For the first time, the research group from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Milan proposed an innovative strategy to gain optical control of epithelial regenerative cells by using visible light together with photo-sensitive and bio-compatible conjugated polymers used as photo-actuators. This research is published in Science Advances. In this study, the researchers managed to…
New technology to monitor chemotherapy using magnetic nanoparticles

Researchers from Michigan State University propose a novel non-invasive magnetic particle imaging (MPI) to monitor chemotherapy release in vivo. This method employs superparamagnetic nanoparticles as the contrast agent to monitor drug release in the body. In this study researchers designed iron oxide nanocomposite loaded with a chemotherapy drug doxorubicin which serves as a drug delivery…
Machine learning algorithms to speed up image biomarker analysis in heart MRI scans

According to research published in journal Circulation:Cardiaovascular imaging cardiac MRI analysis utilizing machine learning algorithms can be performed significantly faster and with similar precision compared to human experts. In the study, researchers trained a neural network to read the cardiac MRI scans. Utilizing artificial intelligence, a scan can be analyzed in approximately four seconds compared…