Category Biology/Biotechnology

Nightwatch bracelet on the arm of a young epilepsy patient.
Credit: LivAssured

A new high-tech bracelet, developed by scientists from the Netherlands detects 85% of all severe night-time epilepsy seizures. That is a much better score than any other technology currently available. The researchers involved think that this bracelet, called Nightwatch, can reduce the worldwide number of unexpected night-time fatalities in epilepsy patients. They published the results of a prospective trial in the scientific journal Neurology.

SUDEP, sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, is a major cause of mortality in epilepsy patients. People with an intellectual disability and severe therapy resistant epilepsy, may even have a 20% lifetime risk of dying from epilepsy...

Longer lactation duration is associated with decreased prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in women. Journal of Hepatology, 2018; DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2018.09.013

Study finds fatty liver disease is less likely to occur in mothers who breastfeed for more than six months. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Kaiser Permanente have discovered that mothers who breastfed a child or children for six months or more are at lower risk for developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) years later during mid-life. With no other current prevention options aside from a healthy lifestyle, they say the finding may represent an early modifiable risk factor for a serious and chronic disease.

The findings are published in the November 1 issue of the Jour...

The NLRP3 inflammasome (green) is expressed by immune cells (red) in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease.

A promising new therapy to stop Parkinson’s disease in its tracks has been developed at The University of Queensland. UQ Faculty of Medicine researcher Associate Professor Trent Woodruff said the team found that a small molecule, MCC950, stopped the development of Parkinson’s in several animal models. “We have used this discovery to develop improved drug candidates and hope to carry out human clinical trials in 2020,” Dr Woodruff said.

“Parkinson’s disease is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide, with 10 million sufferers, whose control of body movements is affected.
“The disease is characterised by the loss of brain cells that produce dopamine, which ...