Category Health/Medical

The esophagus-growing robotic implant. Credit: Damian et al., Sci. Robot. 3, eaaq0018 (2018)

Mechanical pull stimulates stunted hollow organs to grow; could help treat defects like esophageal atresia and short bowel syndrome. An implanted, programmable medical robot can gradually lengthen tubular organs by applying traction forces – stimulating tissue growth in stunted organs without interfering with organ function or causing apparent discomfort, report researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital.

The robotic system induced cell proliferation and lengthened part of the esophagus in a large animal by about 75% while the animal remained awake and mobile...

Bowl of muesli/oats is full of fiber which can be broken down by the microbiome in SCFAs. Short-chain fatty acids regulate systemic bone mass and protect from pathological bone loss. Nature Communications, 2018; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02490-4

Fiber affects Autoimmune diseases. It is well known that healthy eating increases our general sense of wellbeing. Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have now discovered that a fibre-rich diet can have a positive influence on chronic inflammatory joint diseases, leading to stronger bones. The key to the effect our diet has on our health are intestinal bacteria.

Every adult carries ~2kg of benign bacteria in their intestines...

This is opportunistic fungus called candida albicans (red) engulfed by CX3CR1+ phagocytes (green) in the gut villi (blue). Credit: Dr. Iliyan Iliev and Dr. Irina Leonardi

Immune cells that process food and bacterial antigens in the intestines control the intestinal population of fungi, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists. Defects in the fungus-fighting abilities of these cells may contribute to some cases of Crohn’s disease and other forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

“After discovering that fungi might be involved in the pathology of IBD, one of the big questions in the field has been how to identify patients who would benefit from antifungal co-therapy, and our finding suggests a way to do that,” said Dr...

A stained cross section of the new muscle fibers. The red cells are muscle cells, the green areas are receptors for neuronal input, and the blue patches are cell nuclei. Credit: Image courtesy of Duke University

First functioning human muscle grown from induced pluripotent stem cells holds promise for cellular therapies, drug discovery and studying rare diseases. The advance builds on work published in 2015 when researchers at Duke University grew the first functioning human muscle tissue from cells obtained from muscle biopsies...