Sharp rise in obesity, anemia among adolescents worldwide Nearly a billion young people across the world are living in countries where they face multiple health burdens, a jump of more than 250 million from nearly two decades ago, according to new research. Here’s a rundown of the study: The design: The authors looked at changes across 195
Here’s why that’s undermining personalized medicine In a paper published last week, scientists led by Dr. Pui-Yan Kwok of the University of California, San Francisco, analyzed 154 genomes from 26 ethnic populations, from Han Chinese and Tuscans to Yoruba, Esan, Puerto Ricans, and Peruvians. They found 60 million bases in one or more of these populations
Researchers invent a resistance-sensing injection device that knows where to go Syringes and hollow needles—among the most feared and most commonly used tools in medical practice—have been around for more than a century. However, the precise insertion of these devices depends largely on the technique and skill of the person delivering the injection. And some anatomical
Molecular pathway plays major role in the intersection between aging and heart failure A team led by Harvard Medical School researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital has found that activity of an important signaling pathway increases with aging and with heart failure. In a report published in Science Translational Medicine, the team describes evidence from both humans
A feature-length documentary chronicling the story of CRISPR premiered at the SXSW festival yesterday. From executive producer Dan Rather and director Adam Bolt, the co-writer and editor of the Oscar-winning film Inside Job, comes the story of the biggest tech revolution of the 21st Century. And it isn’t digital, it’s biological. A breakthrough called CRISPR has
Discovery made while editing genetic defect behind Duchenne muscular dystrophy Scientists have developed a method to boost the efficiency of CRISPR gene editing in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), according to a study that could have implications for optimizing gene therapies for other diseases. The finding stemmed from research at UT Southwestern in which a single-cut gene-editing
Researchers used time-lapse imaging to show that mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) grown during spaceflight differentiated into cardiomyocytes significantly faster than similar cells grown at Earth’s gravity. The robust cardiomyocyte formation at microgravity, which lasted for 10 days, is described in an article published in Stem Cells and Development, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert,
A team of researchers from Northwestern University designed a new wireless sensor for neonatal babies that can track vitals. Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a new wearable sensor for newborns that is being pitched as an alternative to the traditional wire technology, which can prevent babies from being held. The system’s two sensors also
Cell sheets have previously shown greater efficacy for tissue repair than injections of single stem cells. New research conducted by scientists at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute and Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. (both CA, USA) has demonstrated the possibility of producing scaffold-free engineered cell sheets. These cell ‘patches’ could enable better organ repair follow
In a paper published in the journal Nature, an international research team led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report that bone growth in mice takes place in accordance with the same principles as when new cells are constantly produced in blood, skin and other tissue. This contradicts the previous understanding that bone growth depends
