Category Health/Medical

Inhibition of Oral Pathogens Adhesion to Human Gingival Fibroblasts by Wine Polyphenols Alone and in Combination with an Oral Probiotic

Sipping wine is good for your colon and heart, possibly because of the beverage’s abundant and structurally diverse polyphenols. Now researchers report in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that wine polyphenols might also be good for your oral health. Traditionally, some health benefits of polyphenols have been attributed to the fact that these compounds are antioxidants, meaning they likely protect the body from harm caused by free radicals. However, recent work indicates polyphenols might also promote health by actively interacting with bacteria in the gut...

Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month Weight Loss in Overweight Adults and the Association With Genotype Pattern or Insulin Secretion The DIETFITS Randomized Clinical Trial

New evidence from Stanford University School of Medicine might dismay those who have chosen sides in the low-fat versus low-carb diet debate. Neither option is superior: Cutting either carbs or fats shaves off excess weight in about the same proportion, according to the study. What’s more, the study inquired whether insulin levels or a specific genotype pattern could predict an individual’s success on either diet. The answer, in both cases, was no...

Exosomes, shown as small red punctate clusters, are taken up by neurons, shown as green cell extensions surrounding a blue nucleus. Credit: UGA

A team of researchers at the University of Georgia’s Regenerative Bioscience Center and ArunA Biomedical, a UGA startup company, have developed a new treatment for stroke that reduces brain damage and accelerates the brain’s natural healing tendencies in animal models. The team created a treatment called AB126 using extracellular vesicles (EV), fluid-filled structures known as exosomes, generated from human neural stem cells.

Fully able to cloak itself within the bloodstream, this type of regenerative EV therapy appears to be the most promising in overcoming the limitations of many cell therapies-with the ability for exosomes to carry and deliver m...

This is a collection of SHERLOCK paper test strips. (Left) Unused paper strips. (Middle) Paper tests displaying a negative SHERLOCK readout. (Right) Paper tests displaying a positive SHERLOCK readout. Credit: Zhang lab, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

100-fold greater sensitivity, ability to detect multiple targets at once, and other improvements provide more power for detecting genetic signatures. The team that first unveiled the rapid, inexpensive, highly sensitive CRISPR-based diagnostic tool called SHERLOCK has greatly enhanced the tool’s power, and has developed a miniature paper test that allows results to be seen with the naked eye – without the need for expensive equipment.

The SHERLOCK team developed a simple paper strip to display test results for a single genetic signature, b...