The human brain is exquisitely adept at linking seemingly random details into a cohesive memory that can trigger myriad associations
Finnish company Merivaara is launching a new version of its integrated operating room system, OpenOR
Nurses caring for ostomy patients will now be equipped with an essential new tool that provides them with the first comprehensive guide to optimise ostomy management and enhance patient safety.
Janice Beitz, a professor at the Rutgers School of Nursing
Researchers have developed a drug delivery technique for diabetes treatment in which a sponge-like material surrounds an insulin core. The sponge expands and contracts in response to blood sugar levels to release insulin as needed. The technique could also be used for targeted drug delivery to cancer cells.
A new study review authored by the University of Kentucky
Clostridium difficile (‘C. diff’) infection is a leading cause of hospital-associated diarrhoea, and the frequency and severity of infections are on the rise.
D. Borden Lacy, Ph.D., associate professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and colleagues recently demonstrated that the C. difficile toxin, TcdB, induces rapid cell death of human colon cell lines and pig colonic tissue. The investigators now report that TcdB-induced cell death requires the assembly of a host epithelial enzyme complex (NOX) and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS).
Treatments that reduced expression of parts of the NOX complex, inhibited NOX component function, or ‘scavenged’ ROS all protected colon cells against the C. difficile toxin. Likewise, treatment of colon explants with an inhibitor of the NOX enzyme core or with the antioxidant NAC protected against TcdB-induced tissue damage.
The findings support the concept of using compounds to block ROS or reduce their generation as a strategy for protecting the colonic lining of patients with C. difficile infection. Vanderbilt University
Retinal (or fundus) photography is an essential part of any ophthalmology practice. Commercial fundus cameras can cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, making the technology out of reach for smaller ophthalmic practices and to physicians in third-world countries. In a recent study now on line, Massachusetts Eye and Ear researchers describe the relatively simple technique of fundus photography in human and rabbit eyes using a smartphone, an inexpensive app for the smartphone, and instruments that are readily available in an ophthalmic practice.
Smartphones are now being used more routinely in ophthalmology to document patients
Getting a second urine sample and blood pressure measure as patients head out of the doctor
Brain infarction, or stroke, is caused by a blood clot blocking a blood vessel in the brain, which leads to interruption of blood flow and shortage of oxygen. Now a research group at Lund University, Sweden, has taken an important step towards a treatment for stroke using stem cells.
The group shows in a new study that induced pluripotent stem cells have developed to mature nerve cells at two months after transplantation into the stroke-injured cerebral cortex of rats. These nerve cells have established contact with other important structures in the brain. The transplantation gave rise to improvement of the animals
Whole-body MRI may serve as a valuable non-invasive tool for assessing the risk of heart attack and stroke in diabetic patients, according to a new study.
Diabetes is a metabolic disease characterised by an increased concentration of glucose in the blood. There are 347 million diabetic patients worldwide, and the World Health Organization projects that diabetes will be the seventh leading cause of death by 2030.
Patients with diabetes are known to develop atherosclerosis, or thickening of the arterial walls, at an accelerated rate, resulting in a higher incidence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE), such as a heart attack or stroke. However, there are wide variations in the degree of risk for adverse events among diabetic patients.
In recent years, whole-body MRI has emerged as a promising means to assess the cardiovascular systems of people with diabetes.
‘One of the major advantages of whole-body MRI in this population is that the technique itself is not associated with radiation exposure, and larger body areas can be covered without increased risk, especially in younger patients,’ said Fabian Bamberg, M.D., M.P.H., from the Department of Radiology at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. ‘As such, MRI can be used to evaluate the whole-body degree of disease burden that is not clinically apparent yet.’
Dr. Bamberg and colleagues studied the predictive value of whole-body MRI for the occurrence of MACCE in 65 patients with diabetes. The patients underwent a contrast-enhanced whole-body MRI protocol, including brain, cardiac and vascular sequences. The researchers then conducted follow-up inquiries to assess the rate of MACCE in the study group.
Follow-up information was available for 61 patients. After a median of 5.8 years, 14 patients had experienced MACCE. Patients who had detectable vascular changes on whole-body MRI faced a cumulative MACCE risk rate of 20 percent at three years, and 35 percent at six years. None of the patients with a normal whole-body MRI went on to experience MACCE.
The findings point to a role for whole-body MRI as an accurate prognostic tool for diabetic patients that could speed effective treatments to those at risk, Dr. Bamberg said. Radiological Society of North America
April 2024
Prins Hendrikstraat 1
5611HH Eindhoven
The Netherlands
info@interhospi.com
PanGlobal Media IS not responsible for any error or omission that might occur in the electronic display of product or company data.