Posts in category: Uncategorized

Leprosy has existed since at least Biblical times, yet scientists still don’t know exactly how Mycobacterium leprae causes the disease’s symptoms. Though antibiotics can treat the illness, researchers are concerned about the increase in drug-resistant strains.

A group of Ludwig Maximilian University scientists led by Eckhard Wolf has developed a porcine DMD model with a mutation that mimics the hallmarks of the human disease but develops them in an accelerated mode. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A new study, conducted by physical activity and mental health experts at University of Limerick and Trinity College Dublin, has shown that a physical activity dose equivalent to just 20 minutes a day (for five days a week) of moderate-intensity physical activity, like brisk walking, was linked with less risk of depressive symptoms and odds of major depression.

Researchers at University of Michigan have developed a method to produce artificially grown miniature brains—called human brain organoids—free of animal cells that could greatly improve the way neurodegenerative conditions are studied and, eventually, treated.

“Do no harm” is a guiding principle for medical interventions—and especially for vulnerable populations such as preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). So while compelling data suggest that certain probiotics reduce the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and mortality for preterm infants, some medical professionals are hesitant to recommend this intervention because they do not completely trust the safety of probiotic products.

Scientists have found a new use for copper in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent design, that could help to create better images which help doctors diagnose patients’ conditions more easily and safely.

In a new study, published July 12 in Nature, researchers have produced the most detailed and comprehensive human Heart Cell Atlas to date, including the specialized tissue of the cardiac conduction system—where the heartbeat originates.

The incidence of primary involuntary childlessness, the rate of women seeking treatment for infertility, as well as the success rate of assisted reproductive technology all increased in birth cohorts studied from 1916 to 1975, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Finn Egil Skjeldestad of the Arctic University of Norway.

A study at Ulm University and its Medical Center has uncovered the molecular mechanisms by which psychological trauma and other massively stressful experiences slow down the healing of bone fractures.

Simply the smell of seafood can make those with an allergy to it violently ill—and therefore more likely to avoid it. The same avoidance behavior is exhibited by people who develop food poisoning after eating a certain meal.