Monthly Archives: October 2019

African sleeping sickness today

Tsetse fly. AoS

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), or African sleeping sickness, is one of 20 neglected tropical diseases listed by the World Health Organization (WHO). HAT can become a severe meningoencephilic disease developing after severe haemo-lymphatic infection. HAT takes two

New psychoactive substances: metabolites of synthetic cathinones induce cytotoxicity in human neuronal cells

New psychoactive substances. AoS

Recently, a large number of novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) have appeared on the European market. Their growing diffusion has become matter of worldwide concern and alarm for public health authorities, legislators, and clinical health specialists. They are

The RAS mRNA G-quadruplex: making undruggable cancer targets druggable

The RAS mRNA G-quadruplex. AoS

In many cancers, RAS proteins are constitutively activated by their oncogenic mutations or activation of their upstream molecules. RAS proteins play a central role in cancer cell malignancy, and drugs that target RAS are therefore believed to

Do people want to participate in decisions concerning their medicines?

Do people want to participate in decisions. AoS

Health and medication literacy are important factors linked to the outcomes of medical treatment (Table 1). Health literacy has been assessed in several countries all over the world and has been found to be limited. The level

Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis: an eye on retinal inflammation

Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. AoS

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders. Alzheimer’s disease cases are constantly increasing worldwide due to population aging. Typical symptoms of the disease include memory loss, cognitive deficits, personality and behavior modifications. At the

Do metals in pregnant women have association to preterm births?

Metals are widely distributed in the environment. Recent reports have demonstrated the risk of preterm birth following heavy metal exposure. Preterm births include those occurring before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy, and the rate of preterm births

Modeling epidemics and analyzing Ebola incidence data using Numerus Model Builder

Epidemics are quintessentially dynamic with outbreak, peak-incidence, and fadeout phases. The timings of outbreaks are hard to predict, as happened with the 2014 outbreak of Ebola viral disease in West Africa. To evaluate the risks of outbreaks,

MicroRNAs control cellular transition of hepatocytes during liver regeneration

MicroRNAs control cellular transition of hepatocytes during liver regeneration. AoS

Among adult organs, the liver is unique in its intrinsic ability to regenerate after injury through the proliferation of fully differentiated cells. Hepatocytes, which are the most abundant type of cells in liver, are quiescent and rarely

Compressed ultrasound imaging: finding tumors with a few transducers

Compressed Ultrasound Imaging with Holey Cavities. AoS

Currently, ultrasound imaging is predominantly done by a probe that possesses many transducers, which are small devices that transmit, and then receive, acoustic waves. Decreasing the number of transducers, while maintaining image quality, is surely a desirable