Category: 4. Health

  • MIT engineers develop a way to mass manufacture nanoparticles that deliver cancer drugs directly to tumors

    MIT engineers develop a way to mass manufacture nanoparticles that deliver cancer drugs directly to tumors

    Polymer-coated nanoparticles loaded with therapeutic drugs show significant promise for cancer treatment, including ovarian cancer. These particles can be targeted directly to tumors, where they release their payload while avoiding many of the side effects of traditional chemotherapy.

    Over the past decade, MIT Institute Professor Paula Hammond and her students have created a variety of these particles using a technique known as layer-by-layer assembly. They’ve shown that the particles can…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Researchers find intestinal immune cell prevents food allergies

    Researchers find intestinal immune cell prevents food allergies

    Most of the time, the intestinal immune system can recognize friend from foe, tolerating myriad foods while destroying disease-causing invaders. But for approximately 30 million Americans with food allergies — including 4 million children — immune cells mistakenly identify food as a threat, triggering potentially life-threatening reactions.

    Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified, in mice, that essential immune cells in the intestine…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • New vaccine concept tackles harmful bacteria in the intestine

    New vaccine concept tackles harmful bacteria in the intestine

    In the fight against bacterial pathogens, researchers are combining vaccination with targeted colonisation of the intestine by harmless microorganisms. This approach could potentially mark a turning point in the antibiotics crisis.

    The issue of intestinal bacteria is a complex one. On the one hand, we are dependent on the microorganisms because they are the ones that digest the food in our intestine. On the other hand, there are also numerous pathogens present among the bacteria. Some of…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

    Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

    Ultrasound is one of the most widely used imaging techniques in medicine, but until recently it lacked a significant role in imaging the tiniest structures of our bodies, such as cells. “Clinical ultrasound, like the kind used for pregnancy scans, creates real-time images of body parts,” first author Baptiste Heiles explains. “It allows diagnosis of various diseases, or to monitor a developing baby. However, what is going on at a microscopic level remains hidden.”

    Imaging living cells in…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • How the brain and inner ear are formed

    How the brain and inner ear are formed

    Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a method that shows how the nervous system and sensory organs are formed in an embryo. By labelling stem cells with a genetic ‘barcode’, they have been able to follow the cells’ developmental journey and discover how the inner ear is formed in mice. The discovery, published in Science, could provide important insights for future treatment of hearing loss.

    “Our study shows how different cell types arise from stem cells in the embryo and how…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed… offering new therapeutic options

    Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed… offering new therapeutic options

    A team of researchers led by Dr. KIM V. Narry, director of the Center for RNA Research at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), has uncovered a key cellular mechanism that affects the function of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. Their study, recently published in Science, provides the first comprehensive understanding of how mRNA vaccines are delivered, processed, and degraded within cells — a breakthrough that could pave the way for more effective vaccines and RNA-based treatments.

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

    Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

    A powerful new software platform called the Playbook Workflow Builder is set to transform biomedical research by allowing scientists to conduct complex and customized data analyses without advanced programming skills. An article that describes the new platform was published in the April 3online issue of the journal PLOS Computational Biology.

    Developed by a multi-institutional team that was led by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai investigators as part of the National Institutes of…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Surgery doesn’t always help with chronic rhinosinusitis — a new risk score predicts treatment efficacy

    Surgery doesn’t always help with chronic rhinosinusitis — a new risk score predicts treatment efficacy

    A new CT-scan based risk score facilitates the identification of patients at risk of revision endoscopic sinus surgery due to chronic rhinosinusitis.

    “This allows for early prediction of disease progression and planning of further treatment,” says Professor Sanna Toppila-Salmi of the University of Eastern Finland.

    The results of the Finnish multi-centre study were published in Clinical and Translational Allergy.

    Symptoms of chronic rhinosinusitis, i.e., inflammation of the nasal and sinus…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Thirst and hunger neurons | ScienceDaily

    Thirst and hunger neurons | ScienceDaily

    To ensure we get the calories and hydration we need, the brain relies on a complex network of cells, signals, and pathways to guide us when to eat, drink, or stop. Yet, much about how the brain deciphers the body’s needs and translates them into action remains unknown. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in collaboration with the University of Regensburg and Stanford University, have identified specific populations of neurons in the amygdala — an emotional…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Western diet causes inflammation, traditional African food protects

    Western diet causes inflammation, traditional African food protects

    A switch of just two weeks from a traditional African diet to a Western diet causes inflammation, reduces the immune response to pathogens, and activates processes associated with lifestyle diseases. Conversely, an African diet rich in vegetables, fiber, and fermented foods has positive effects. This study, published in Nature Medicine, highlights the significant impact of diet on the immune system and metabolism.

    Lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and chronic…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com