It’s been three months since the start of a devastating series of wildfires that raged through Los Angeles from Jan. 7 to Jan. 31. As victims pick up the pieces of their lives, a study published in Environmental Research: Health from the UC Davis School of Medicine offers insights into what…
Category: 5. Health
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New insights into neurodegeneration using human ‘mini brains’
Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine have discovered a new way that neurons act in neurodegeneration by using human neural organoids — also known as “mini-brain” models — from patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).
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More opportunities to test for Alzheimer’s using new analytical method
Researchers at Lund University and Washington University have identified a blood marker that reflects the amount of Alzheimer’s pathology in the brain. This discovery may play a key role in determining who is most likely to benefit from the new Alzheimer’s drugs.
In brief:
• The blood-based…
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Master regulator blocking immunotherapy, paving the way for a new lung cancer treatment
Immune checkpoint inhibitors, a class of immunotherapies that help immune cells attack cancer more effectively, have revolutionized cancer treatment. However, fewer than 20% of patients respond to these treatments, highlighting the urgent need for new strategies tailored to both responders and…
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Finding cancer's 'fingerprints'
Cancer diagnoses traditionally require invasive or labor-intensive procedures such as tissue biopsies. Now, research reveals a method that uses pulsed infrared light to identify molecular profiles in blood plasma that could indicate the presence of certain common cancers. In this…
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Starch-based microplastics could cause health risks in mice
Wear and tear on plastic products releases small to nearly invisible plastic particles, which could impact people’s health when consumed or inhaled. To make these particles biodegradable, researchers created plastics from plant starch instead of petroleum. An initial study published in ACS’…
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long-term effects of obesity on brain and cognitive health
With the global prevalence of obesity on the rise, it is crucial to explore the neural mechanisms linked to obesity and its influence on brain and cognitive health. However, the impact of obesity on the brain is complex and multilevel. To address this, Prof. Anqi QIU, Professor of the Department…
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Scientists complete largest wiring diagram and functional map of the brain to date
From a tiny sample of tissue no larger than a grain of sand, scientists have come within reach of a goal once thought unattainable: building a complete functional wiring diagram of a portion of the brain. In 1979, famed molecular biologist, Francis Crick, stated that it would be “[impossible] to…
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Treatment for mitochondrial diseases within reach
A medical breakthrough could result in the first treatment for rare but serious diseases in which genetic defects disrupt cellular energy production. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have identified a molecule that helps more mitochondria function properly.
Mitochondrial diseases…
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By re-creating neural pathway in dish, Stanford Medicine research may speed pain treatment
Stanford Medicine investigators have replicated, in a lab dish, one of humans’ most prominent nervous pathways for sensing pain. This nerve circuit transmits sensations from the body’s skin to the brain. Once further processed in the brain, these signals will translate into our subjective…