Category Health/Medical

The “Autism & Beyond” app uses an iPhone’s self-facing camera to assess a child’s emotional state while viewing various stimuli. The dots are landmarks automatically placed on a video of the child by the software. Credit: Autism & Beyond

Thanks in part to support from Office of Naval Research (ONR), there’s an app that may screen for autism by reading kids’ facial expressions for emotional cues. “The long-term implications of this research are huge,” said Dr. Predrag Neskovic. “Not only could the app be used to learn more about childhood autism, it could possibly reveal signs of post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and mild traumatic brain injury [TBI] in warfighters—conditions that often have subtle symptoms and are difficult to diagnose.”
The app, called “Autism & Beyond,” was develop...

Micrograph showing a lymph node invaded by ductal breast carcinoma, with extension of the tumour beyond the lymph node. Credit: Nephron/Wikipedia

Palbociclib, a new oral drug whose efficacy in combating breast cancer has been demonstrated alone and in combination with endocrine therapy, also has potential to combat other types of cancer, according to a literature review and original research at Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) in the University of Pennsylvania.

Palbociclib targets the rapid division of tumor cells by inhibiting the activity of the enzymes CDK4 and CDK6, which propel cell division and increase in number in most cancers. It is the first CDK4/6 inhibitor to be approved for the treatment of breast cancer...

Microbes under a microscope. Credit: NIAID

The research indicates that there may be a window of opportunity during early human development to optimize the chances of better lifelong health.
“Exercise affects many aspects of health, both metabolic and mental, and people are only now starting to look at the plasticity of these gut microbes,” said Prof Monika Fleshner. Microbes take up residence within human intestines shortly after birth and are vital to the development of the immune system and various neural functions. These microbes can add as many 5 million genes to a person’s overall genetic profile and thus have tremendous power to influence aspects of human physiology.

While this diverse microbial community remains somewhat malleable throughout adult life and can be influenced by envir...