All posts by : Felistas

Expected out-of-pocket costs for commonly prescribed brand name medications have grown substantially for Medicare Part D beneficiaries as drug plans increasingly tie patient costs to list prices, according to new research from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics published in JAMA.

The factor that tips you over the edge from being at risk for a disease to actually developing the disease is not always clear. Now, researchers from Japan report one factor that triggers problematic proteins to start behaving badly. In a study published recently in npj Biosensing, researchers from Osaka University have revealed that high liquid flow rates could cause aggregation-prone proteins to start sticking together.

Laparoscopy, a minimally invasive surgical technique, has become the standard of care for many procedures such as prostatectomies and appendectomies due to its benefits, including faster recovery times, reduced scarring, and lower medical costs. However, the technique faces challenges in visualization, particularly when it comes to identifying critical anatomical structures, assessing tissue perfusion, and distinguishing cancerous tissue.

Rapid tests could be used to diagnose Chagas disease in resource-limited areas, according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). The results of this research, published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, show that the prevalence of Chagas in an indigenous community in Paraguay is six times higher than in the country’s capital.

A new international and multidisciplinary study has unveiled a novel framework for understanding the concept of time persistence in the human brain, shedding light on its essential role in brain functioning and cognition. This research, which explores how long the brain’s functional networks remain in a particular state before transitioning to another, opens new doors to our understanding of human cognition and behavior.

The Calgary Stroke Program, a joint University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services initiative at Foothills Medical Centre, has been involved with three papers published this week in The Lancet and Lancet Neurology—the ESCAPE-NEXT trial, the FRONTIER trial, and an individual patient-level meta-analysis across three trials. The studies, in collaboration with NoNO Inc., are focused on neuroprotection and ischemic stroke. While the primary trials were inconclusive, the meta-analysis reveals that the data provide important clues for future research into stroke treatment.

Researchers have developed a novel analytical method for tracking disease progression in patients that shows great potential for health care implementation.

Groceries were the most common expense reported as hard to afford in the past month, followed by housing, according to the latest WAFOOD survey. Rising food prices and the expiration of pandemic-era assistance programs have intensified economic pressures on households statewide.

A research team has identified the transcription factor Lhx2 (LIM homeobox protein 2) as a key regulator in hepatic stellate cells. Lhx2 was found to simultaneously promote liver regeneration and inhibit liver fibrosis.

In many ways, I feel like we shouldn’t be happy with what we have. We live in a world of tremendous inequality and cruelty, running towards an environmental wall. Not just that, but some of the best people I know are chronic persistors: they know how not to accept the unacceptable.