An injection of a patient
In a new approach, the cancer vaccines were developed by first sequencing the genomes of patients
The first smartphone app of its kind to help children with sleep problems and their families was launched by Professor Tanya Byron at Evelina London Children
Research by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests that having a short series of phone conversations with trained counsellors can substantially boost recovery and reduce pain in patients after spinal surgery.
The phone calls, designed to enrich standard pre- and post-operative care by reinforcing the value of sticking with physical therapy and back-strengthening exercise regimens, are a relatively inexpensive and simple intervention that can maximize surgical outcomes for the hundreds of thousands of patients who undergo spinal surgeries every year, the investigators say.
Pushing new frontiers in dementia research, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have found a new way to treat dementia by sending electrical impulses to specific areas of the brain to enhance the growth of new brain cells.
Known as deep brain stimulation, it is a therapeutic procedure that is already used in some parts of the world to treat various neurological conditions such as tremors or Dystonia, which is characterised by involuntary muscle contractions and spasms.
NTU scientists have discovered that deep brain stimulation could also be used to enhance the growth of brain cells which mitigates the harmful effects of dementia-related conditions and improves short and long-term memory.
Their research has shown that new brain cells, or neurons, can be formed by stimulating the front part of the brain which is involved in memory retention using minute amounts of electricity.
The increase in brain cells reduces anxiety and depression, and promotes improved learning, and boosts overall memory formation and retention.
The research findings open new opportunities for developing novel treatment solutions for patients suffering from memory loss due to dementia-related conditions such as Alzheimer
In 2014, prostate cancer was the leading cause of newly diagnosed cancers in men and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. A team of scientists and physicians from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with counterparts at University of California, Los Angeles, describe a novel imaging technique that measurably improves upon current prostate imaging
Paediatric surgery can be traumatic for children – and their parents. To guide families through the experience, Dr. Zeev Kain, chair of UC Irvine’s Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care, is creating a unique Internet site to help parents ease children’s anxiety (and their own), properly manage postsurgical pain and, ultimately, facilitate healing.
The Web-based Tailored Intervention Preparation for Surgery (WebTIPS) site will address one of the most pressing needs in paediatric surgical care. About 60 percent of the 5 million children who undergo surgery in the U.S. each year develop extreme anxiety beforehand and suffer from unnecessary pain afterward.
By age 60, more than 50 percent of men in the United States suffer from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a condition that leads to annoying changes in urinary flow. While medical therapy is usually the first line of treatment, a new minimally invasive implant can dramatically reduce symptoms for men.
Damage to heart muscle from insufficient blood supply during cardiac arrest and reperfusion injury after blood flow is restored can be reduced by nearly 90 percent if selenide, a form of the essential nutrient selenium, is administered intravenously in the wake of the attack, according to a new preclinical study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Mark Roth, Ph.D., and colleagues in the Fred Hutch Basic Sciences Division have published their findings.
New evidence has been gained for the success of faecal microbial transplantation in treating severe Clostridium difficile infection, a growing problem worldwide that leads to thousands of fatalities every year. The findings have important implications for a range of diseases associated with microbial imbalance, or dysbiosis, researchers say.
Research led by Michael Sadowsky, Alex Khoruts, and colleagues at the University of Minnesota in collaboration with the Rob Knight Lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder, reveals that healthy changes to a patient’s microbiome are sustained for up to 21 weeks after transplant, and has implications for the regulation of the treatment. Findings also demonstrate the dynamic nature of faecal microbiota in FMT donors and recipients.
In FMT, faecal matter is collected from a donor, purified, mixed with a saline solution and placed in a patient, usually by colonoscopy. In contrast to standard antibiotic therapies, which further disrupt intestinal microflora and may contribute to the recurrence of CDI, FMT restores the intestinal microbiome and healthy gut function.
Using DNA samples of healthy individuals from the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) as a baseline, Sadowsky and his team compared changes in faecal microbial communities of recipients over time to the changes observed within samples from the donor. Significantly, the composition of gut microbes in the both donor and recipient groups varied over the course of the study, but remained within the normal range when compared to hundreds of samples collected by the HMP.
According to Sadowsky, the findings have important implications for a range of diseases associated with microbial imbalance, or dysbiosis, and could influence the regulatory regime surrounding FMT, currently treated as a drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).
‘The dynamic nature of fecal microbiota in both the donor and recipients suggests that the current framework of regulation, requiring consistent composition, may need to be re-examined for faecal transplantations,’ says Michael Sadowsky. ‘Change in faecal microbial composition is consistent with normal responsiveness to shifts in the diet and other environment factors. Variability should be taken into account when comparing microbial composition in normal individuals to those with dysbiosis characteristic of disease states, especially when assessing clinical interventions and outcomes.
Also discovered in the research, the performance of frozen and fresh preparations of faecal material was indistinguishable. Though the sample was limited and warrants further study with a larger cohort, it has several implications for the widespread adoption of FMT. The frozen preparation greatly simplifies the standardization and distribution of the faecal material. It also facilitates long-term storage of donor material for future study and makes FMT accessible to a greater number of physicians and patients. Finally, it offers advantages over fresh material in the testing of faecal samples for pathogens, which in some cases can take several weeks to complete. ScienceDaily
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