Category Health/Medical

Low-dose Aspirin may Increase Anaemia Risk in Healthy Older Adults: Study

Image credit: Christian Bowen via Unsplash

A new study analysing data from the landmark ASPREE trial has found that prolonged daily aspirin use increases the risk of anaemia by 20 per cent in people mostly aged 70 and over.

The results have prompted researchers to suggest that regular monitoring for anaemia be considered for older adults who take low-dose aspirin, and if older adults have concerns about their health or medications they should discuss them with their GP.

The Monash University-led study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, followed 18,153 initially healthy older adults in Australia and the USA and recorded incidents of anaemia over an average 4.7 years.

The risk of developing anaemia was found to be 20 per cent higher in the aspirin group compared to those...

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Scientists develop Magnetically Controlled Soft Medical Robot inspired by the Pangolin

Pangolin the inspiration for medical robot
The pangolin-inspired untethered magnetic robot. A Conceptual illustration of the pangolin-inspired robot operating in the small intestine. Robot is actuated with a low-frequency magnetic field and heated remotely with a high-frequency magnetic field. The pangolin’s body consist of individual overlapping hard keratin scales. The robot inspired by this overlapping design is shown on the right. Images of pangolins used under Standard licence from Shutterstock. Credit: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Tübingen

Pangolins are fascinating creatures. This animal looks like a walking pine cone, as it is the only mammal completely covered with hard scales. The scales are made of keratin, just like our hair and nails...

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Elimination of Type of Bacteria Suggests Treatment for Endometriosis

Fusobacterium (white dots) is highly expressed near the uterus (endometrium) of endometriosis patients.  (Credit: Professor Yutaka Kondo)

A research group from the Graduate School of Medicine and iGCORE at Nagoya University in Japan, has discovered that using an antibiotic to target Fusobacterium reduced the formation of lesions associated with endometriosis, a gynecological disorder characterized by endometrial tissue usually found inside the uterus being found outside it. Their findings suggest an alternative treatment for this disorder. The study was published in Science Translational Medicine.

Endometriosis affects one in ten women between the ages of 15 and 49. The disorder can cause lifelong health problems, including pelvic pain and infertility...

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Serotonin Booster leads to Increased Functional Brain Connectivity

brain activity on prucalopride
This figure shows that the healthy participants who received prucalopride had greater functional connectivity between key cognitive regions (the posterior / anterior cingulate cortices) and a major cognitive network (the central executive network). That is, they appeared to be strengthening their connectivity within cognitive networks (Credit: de Cates, et al., Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging).

Cognitive deficits accompany mood disorders and other psychiatric conditions, often with debilitating effects. Limited treatments currently exist, but studies in animals and humans have pointed to drugs such as the laxative prucalopride that activate serotonin receptors as a potential therapeutic for the symptoms...

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