Yearly Archives: 2016
New potential approach to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is emerging as one of the most common chronic liver disease, affecting up to 30% of the general population worldwide. NAFLD is characterized by hepatic fat accumulation exceeding 5% of liver weight,
Promoting positive results; Ignoring the negative ones: The story of spinal cord injury treatment press coverage
This is a story about the power of journalism. About how deliberate reporting changes medical opinions of experts and has a long lasting effect on the treatment of injured patients. Spinal cord injured patients are usually young
Heat shock protein as a novel druggable target in angiogenesis?
Angiogenesis is a physiological process that involves formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels for efficiently providing oxygen and nutrients during growth and development, as well as during wound healing. Under pathological conditions, angiogenesis is regulated
Screening breast MRI in patients with personal history of breast cancer
This study looked at patients who had a personal history of breast cancer diagnosed at a premenopausal age to see if having screening breast MRI provided a benefit to the patient. Patients with a personal history of
Possible mechanisms of amyloid growth
At present there is no consensus whether a protofilament is formed by joining oligomers or by adding monomers. The following questions can be posed: How many different mechanisms exist in the literature to describe the protein aggregation?
Systematic triangulation in evaluation
Data scarcity or unreliability and complexities of comparing and cross-checking information from diverse domains are among the most common challenges evaluators face. Systematic triangulation is a viable option to address such limitations. Used to identify key evaluation
How safe are we handling cytotoxics in academic laboratories in the UK?
Cytotoxics between practice and research Cytotoxics, mainly used in cancer treatment, are defined as agents that are toxic to living cells. Therefore, their handling needs to be carefully monitored in order to protect the user. The latter
Should we use gentamicin cream to prevent exit-site infection in peritoneal dialysis?
Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) is one of the treatment modalities for kidney failure. With PD, the toxins from the blood are removed through the abdominal membrane (peritoneum) into the fluid, which is put into the abdomen through a
Three dimensional quality assurance protocol for thoracic and genitourinary radiation therapy
After cancer diagnosis one treatment option is the use of external radiation. As the radiation traverses the patient it deposits most of its energy in the tumor, which causes irreparable damage to the cancer cells. One type
How can dentist make your teeth shiny?
Because of esthetic demand, light cured dental composites are getting popular in dental practice. The cost of dental composite resin is cheaper than all-ceramic material and is able to fill the tooth cavity immediately and maintain minimally
Melatonin reduces blood pressure and tunes up disrupted circadian rhythms in the seniors
The older we get the more likely our circadian rhythms are disrupted. For example, blood pressure not only tends to increase but as well become more irregular. Luckily, as we show here, melatonin helps to ameliorate both
Stressful childhoods lead to shorter adult height, but via different pathways for boys and girls
As children grow into adults, they face compromises between prolonging growth, and reaching milestones such as puberty and the start of reproduction. They respond to cues in their environment in order to choose the best compromise. In
Silencing a microRNA may keep the doctor away for diabetic wounds
Patients with diabetes are frequently afflicted with impaired wound healing that may progress into chronic, diabetic ulcers, often leading to complications including limb amputation with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. These ulcers occur not only in
The memories of individual ants can make the whole colony less flexible
Social insect colonies are famous for swarm intelligence and collective decision making – being able to come to a unified decision in groups of thousands. An ant colony, for example, can decide which of several food sources
Treatment holidays for patients with metastatic kidney cancer
Targeted therapy is the standard treatment of patients with metastatic cancer of the kidney. The best current therapies target the tumour vasculature thereby blocking the access of the tumour to nutrients and limiting possibility of spreading to
Alternative splicing: the new frontier in diabetes research
The human genome is predicted to contain 22.000 coding genes, but more than 200.000 proteins are expressed in human cells. This discrepancy is explained at least in part by the presence of alternative splicing (AS), a key
HOX genes: The Rosetta Stone of the human cells biology
The cell memory program is a biological process that oversees several aspects of the cell life: i) where the new generated cell will be located ii) the fate of a new cell and the cell phenotype; iii)
Infrared does more good than bad for the skin: how can we learn from the sun
In the last decade, it has been proposed that the sun’s Infrared (IR) wavelengths might be damaging human skin and that sunscreens, in addition to their desired effect to protect against Ultraviolet (UV), should also protect against
Closantel return
Fasciolosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease of intrahepatic location caused by the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica. This trematode affects both animals and humans. It is important because the economic losses are generating billions of dollars annually. The
Impacts of life at 2300 m
Populations all over the world live high up in the mountains. The main mountain ranges with long term settlements include the Himalayas in Asia, the Andes in South America and the Ethiopian highlands in Africa. Researchers could
