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    Category Health/Medical

    Gene Therapy boosts Parkinson’s Disease Drug Benefits

    November 5, 2021, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    A new gene therapy targeting the small brain region where dopamine neurons reside, the substantia nigra, substantially boosts the benefits of the drug levodopa in Parkinson’s. The therapy restored the ability of these neurons to convert levodopa to dopamine. Scientists also showed how damage to the powerplants inside dopamine-releasing neurons triggers Parkinson’s. The findings may help identify humans in the earliest stages of Parkinson’s disease, develop therapies to slow disease progression and treat late-stage disease.

    In late-stage Parkinson’s disease, the drug levodopa becomes less effective in treating symptoms because of the inexorable loss of dopamine-releasing neurons...

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    Combining two ‘Old Therapies’ packs a Powerful Punch against Pediatric Brain Tumors

    November 4, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    On the left is a magnetic resonance image of a child’s medulloblastoma brain tumor, and on the right, a photomicrograph of medulloblastoma cells. The circle shows a Homer Wright rosette, a circular cluster of tumor cells characteristic of the disease. Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have combined two old therapies — copper and disulfiram — to destroy this pediatric cancer. Credit: Graphic created by M.E. Newman, Johns Hopkins Medicine, using public domain images. MRI scan courtesy of the National Cancer Institute and photomicrograph courtesy of Jensflorian via Wikimedia Commons.

    Copper has been clinically improving the lives of people since about 1500 BCE, when an Egyptian physician first recorded its use as a treatment for inflammation...

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    Artificial Intelligence to Detect Colorectal Cancer

    November 3, 2021, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A Tulane University researcher found that artificial intelligence can accurately detect and diagnose colorectal cancer from tissue scans as well or better than pathologists, according to a new study in the journal Nature Communications.

    The study, which was conducted by researchers from Tulane, Central South University in China, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Temple University, and Florida State University, was designed to test whether AI could be a tool to help pathologists keep pace with the rising demand for their services.

    Pathologists evaluate and label thousands of histopathology images on a regular basis to tell whether someone has cancer...

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    Virus can Infect the Inner Ear, study finds

    November 3, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    ear infection graphic
    Caption: A new study from MIT and Massachusetts Eye and Ear provides evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can infect cells of the inner ear.
    Credits:Image: Christine Daniloff, MIT

    The prevalence of auditory symptoms in COVID-19 patients is unknown, but infection of the inner ears may be responsible for hearing and balance problems.

    Many Covid-19 patients have reported symptoms affecting the ears, including hearing loss and tinnitus. Dizziness and balance problems can also occur, suggesting that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may be able to infect the inner ear.

    A new study from MIT and Massachusetts Eye and Ear provides evidence that the virus can indeed infect cells of the inner ear, including hair cells, which are critical for both hearing and balance...

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