Category Health/Medical

A/Prof Amy Millen’ team found women who are deficient in vitamin D and have a specific high-risk genotype are 6.7X more likely to develop AMD than women with sufficient vitamin D status and no high risk genotype.
“This is not a study that can, alone, prove a causal association, but it does suggest that if you’re at high genetic risk for AMD, having a sufficient vitamin D status might help reduce your risk.”

Macular degeneration is characterized by the deterioration of the macula, a small part of the central retina where the eye’s photoreceptors (rods and cones) are most highly concentrated...

Alzheimer Disease Pathology and Site of Gene Delivery in a Patient 7 Years After Gene Transfer Credit: http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2427383

The affected neurons displayed heightened growth, axonal sprouting and activation of functional markers after nerve growth factor (NGF) was injected into their brains.The findings are derived from postmortem analyses of 10 patients who participated in phase I clinical trials launched in 2001 to assess whether injected NGF – a protein essential to cellular growth, maintenance and survival – might safely slow or prevent neuronal degeneration in patients with AD.

Cholinergic Neuronal Hypertrophy and Sprouting Credit: http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2427383

Administering NGF directly into the brain – a fir...

Norovirus structure (Copyright: BV Prasad)

“More than 80% of human norovirus genotypes were detected in oyster samples or oyster-related outbreaks,” said corresponding author Yongjie Wang, PhD. In the study, they downloaded all oyster-related norovirus sequences deposited during 1983-2014 into the National Center for Biotechnology’s GenBank database, and into the Noronet outbreak database. They conducted genotyping and phylogenic analyses, and mapped the norovirus’s genetic diversity and geographic distribution over time.

In earlier research, the investigators found that 90% of human norovirus sequences in China came from coastal regions. The current research showed that the same is true all over the world, except in tropical regions, from which sequences are absent...

Using pattern recognition software, the prototype analyses changes in breathing patterns and converts ‘breath signals’ into words. Credit: Image courtesy of Loughborough University

Billed as a tool to help bring back the art of conversation for sufferers of severe paralysis and loss of speech, the prototype analyses changes in breathing patterns and converts ‘breath signals’ into words using pattern recognition software and an analogue-to-digital converter. A speech synthesizer then reads the words aloud.

The Augmentative and Alternate Communication (AAC) device is designed for patients with complete or partial loss of voluntary muscle control who don’t have the ability to make purposeful movements such as sniffing or blinking – gestures which previous AAC devices have come to rely upon.

T...