Category Health/Medical

A New Treatment for Glaucoma?

Injection prevented severe pediatric form of disease in mice, could be used to treat adult glaucoma. A Northwestern Medicine study in mice has identified new treatment targets for glaucoma, including preventing a severe pediatric form of glaucoma, as well as uncovering a possible new class of therapy for the most common form of glaucoma in adults.

In people with high pressure glaucoma, fluid in the eye doesn’t properly drain and builds up pressure on the optic nerve, leading to vision loss. It affects 60 million people worldwide and is the most common cause of blindness in people over 60 years old.

While there are a few treatments available for open angle glaucoma, the most common form of glaucoma in adults (eye drops, oral medication, laser treatments), there are no cures, and ...

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Possible Alternative Treatment for Lyme disease

person with lyme disease

Researchers have described a new antibiotic that appears to have the potential to cure Lyme disease. As if COVID and RSV weren’t bad enough, incidents of Lyme disease — a potentially serious disease caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted following a bite of an infected deer tick — also are on the rise in the United States.

Lyme disease affects an estimated 300,000 people in the United States alone. Humans and animals can be infected with B. burgdorferi following the bite of an infected deer tick, also known as the black-legged tick. About 80% of those who contract the disease will develop a bulls-eye rash (erythema migrans) around or near the site of the bite anywhere from three to 30 days following the bite.

Although early antibiotic treatment is effective ...

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Artificial Intelligence-based Technology quickly Identifies Genetic Causes of Serious Disease

The AI-based technology GEM diagnosis genetic disease in critically-ill children with high accuracy. Photo credit: Charlie Ehlert

An artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology rapidly diagnoses rare disorders in critically ill children with high accuracy, according to a report by scientists from University of Utah Health and Fabric Genomics, collaborators on a study led by Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. The benchmark finding, published in Genomic Medicine, foreshadows the next phase of medicine, where technology helps clinicians quickly determine the root cause of disease so they can give patients the right treatment sooner.

“This study is an exciting milestone demonstrating how rapid insights from AI-powered decision support technologies have the potential to significant...

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How the Brain Ignores Distracting Information to Coordinate Movements

Inhibitory neuron cell bodies (red) in the brainstem with their axonal projections (green) onto the cuneate cells (blue) that transmit touch information. This circuit regulates information conveyed by touch receptors in the hands as it enters the brain.
Credit: Salk Institute

The latest research has implications for understanding sensory disorders and building better prosthetics and robots that can fine-tune their movements based on what they touch. Researchers have discovered how neurons in a small area of the mammalian brain help filter distracting or disruptive signals — specifically from the hands — to coordinate dexterous movements. Their results may hold lessons in how the brain filters other sensory information as well.

As you read this article, touch receptors in your skin ar...

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