Category Health/Medical

Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Effective against Myasthenia Gravis

Efficacy and Safety of Rituximab for New-Onset Generalized Myasthenia Gravis
Efficacy and Safety of Rituximab for New-Onset Generalized Myasthenia Gravis

Early intervention with rituximab, a drug used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), can reduce the risk of deterioration in myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease that causes loss of muscle control. This is according to a randomized clinical study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and published in the journal JAMA Neurology.

“Patients with new onset myasthenia who received rituximab as a complement to standard of care showed greater improvement compared with patients who were given a placebo,” says Fredrik Piehl, professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, and the study’s principal investigator...

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Diet could play a role in Cognitive Function across Diverse Races and Ethnicities

Diet could play a role in cognitive function across diverse races and ethnicities
Metabolite—global cognitive function analyses flowchart. Step A: Replication and generalization analysis in HCHS/SOL of previously reported single metabolites associated with global cognitive function in BPRHS (Step A). Step B: Replication and generalization testing in HCHS/SOL of association of the metabolite risk score (MRS) constructed in BPRHS with extremes of global cognition. Step C: Generalization of single metabolite associations with global cognitive function in the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC) dataset. Step D: Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to evaluate causal relationships between the single metabolites and global cognitive function. Step E: Associations between the Mediterranean diet and single metabolites...
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A New Holographic Microscope allows Scientists to See Through the Skull and Image the Brain

Figure 3. A neural network in the brain of a living mouse was observed without removing the skull
. A neural network in the brain of a living mouse was observed without removing the skull

The new label-free deep-tissue imaging with the wave correction algorithm retrieves the fine neural network of the mouse brain with the intact skull by focusing the light and filtering out undesired multiple scattered light waves.

Researchers led by Associate Director CHOI Wonshik of the Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics within the Institute for Basic Science, Professor KIM Moonseok of The Catholic University of Korea, and Professor CHOI Myunghwan of Seoul National University developed a new type of holographic microscope...

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Daily Multivitamin may Improve Cognition and Possibly Protect Against Decline, study suggests

Three-year change in the episodic memory composite (A) and executive function composite (B) for the active and placebo multivitamin-mineral groups (plotted values: mean standardized (z) scores and 95% confidence intervals).

In the study, researchers estimated that three years of multivitamin supplementation roughly translated to a 60-percent slowing of cognitive decline (about 1.8 years).

Could taking a daily multivitamin help maintain cognitive health with aging and possibly prevent cognitive decline? According to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, conducted in collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, taking a daily supplement may improve cognition in older adults, but additional studies are needed to confirm these findings before any hea...

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