Category Health/Medical

A Comparison of Alkaline Water and Mediterranean Diet vs Proton Pump Inhibition for Treatment of Laryngopharyngeal Reflux. JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, 2017; DOI: 10.1001/jamaoto.2017.1454

A plant-based, Mediterranean-style diet has been shown to provide the same medical benefits for treating laryngopharyngeal reflux as popular reflux medications. This is according to a study published in JAMA Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery by researchers from Northwell Health’s The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and New York Medical College.

When compared to patients who took the traditional reflux medication, proton pump inhibitors (PPI), those patients who consumed a 90-95% whole food, plant-based, Mediterranean-style diet paired with alkaline water had the same if not better r...

Cardiomyocyte‐Specific Telomere Shortening is a Distinct Signature of Heart Failure in Humans. Journal of the American Heart Association, September 2017 DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.116.005086

Each cell in the body has 23 pairs of chromosomes, with 4 telomeres on each pair covering the end, protecting it from deterioration or fusion with adjacent chromosomes. While there is a length range for a healthy telomere, research found for the first time that people with heart failure have shorter telomeres in cardiomyocytes.

A team of researchers from Penn Medicine, in collaboration with the University of Connecticut, is the first to have developed a method for measuring the length of telomeres using human heart tissues...

Stereolithographic Printing of Ionically-Crosslinked Alginate Hydrogels for Degradable Biomaterials and Microfluidics. Lab Chip, 2017; DOI: 10.1039/C7LC00694B

Brown University engineers have demonstrated a technique for making 3D-printed biomaterials that can degrade on demand, which can be useful in making intricately patterned microfluidic devices or in making cell cultures than can change dynamically during experiments. “It’s a bit like Legos,” said Ian Wong, an assistant professor in Brown’s School of Engineering and co-author of the research. “We can attach polymers together to build 3D structures, and then gently detach them again under biocompatible conditions.”

They made their new degradable structures using a type of 3D printing called stereolithography...

The MasSpec Pen rapidly and accurately detects cancer in humans during surgery, helping improve treatment and reduce the chances of cancer recurrence. Credit: University of Texas at Austin

A team at The University of Texas at Austin has invented a powerful tool that rapidly and accurately identifies cancerous tissue during surgery, delivering results in about 10 seconds more than 150 times as fast as existing technology. The MasSpec Pen is an innovative handheld instrument that gives surgeons precise diagnostic information about what tissue to cut or preserve, helping improve treatment and reduce the chances of cancer recurrence.

“If you talk to cancer patients after surgery, one of the first things many will say is ‘I hope the surgeon got all the cancer out,’ ” says Livia Schiavinato Eber...