Health & Medicine
Who makes the decisions? Patient “compliance” in modern medicine
Traditionally, the term “patient compliance” was used to define how closely a patient followed their doctor’s advice. Now, with the ever-expanding information and resources available to patients, the idea of “compliance” is in need of an update. Professor Karen Lutfey Spencer, of the University of Colorado Denver, USA, looked at the experiences of patients receiving end-of-life care to gain an […]
Curiosity, cell death and caspases: One researcher’s journey to big discoveries
All comic book superheroes have an intriguing ‘origins story’; and in the case of science superman Professor Vishva Dixit he has one too. Beginning in Kenya and ending in California, this is the story of a researcher who asked big questions of himself and the world, and went on to pioneer a field of research into cell death, caspases and apoptosis. […]
The researchers investigating a new type of antimalarial
The World Health Organization estimates that almost all deaths due to malaria are children living in Africa. Prevention measures against malaria are causing a steady decline in deaths, but common antimalarial therapies like artemisinin-based combination therapies are at risk of becoming ineffective due to drug resistance developing in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite responsible for transmitting the disease. Eugene Megnassan at […]
The battle against cancer stem cells in glioblastomas
Glioblastomas are the most common and one of the most aggressive forms of brain tumour. The severity of the cancer within glioblastomas, along with the potential for spreading, are driven by a population of cells known as cancer stem cells. Cancer stem cells are the beating heart of a cancer. Dr Tapinos and his research team at Brown University, Rhode […]
A service evaluation of the ‘Open Wide and Step Inside’ school oral health programme
Dr Robert Witton is a dentist, researcher at the University of Plymouth and Chief Executive of the Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise CIC. He leads an oral health education programme, “Open Wide and Step Inside,” designed to deliver key oral health messages to school children. A recent service evaluation shows the programme has been well received by schools and children alike. […]
Strengthening the case for goal directed fluid therapy
Intravenous (IV) fluids are critical for maintaining hydration and blood circulation during major abdominal surgery. The right amount of fluids can help prevent complications and speed up postoperative recovery, but finding that sweet spot can be challenging. To help narrow the field, Beijing Tongren Hospital Department of Anesthesiology Vice-Chief Anesthesiologist, Dr Yanxia Sun and her team are running a clinical […]
Medicine’s digital future: Patients use App for automatic data collection in adherence study
People with chronic medical conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, often have to take the same medication for a long period of time. Unfortunately, medication adherence, or how good patients are at taking their medication as prescribed, is often low in this group. Prof Markus Schürks and Dr Christian Müller of Bayer Vital GmbH, Leverkusen, Germany, carried out a novel pilot […]
New therapy offers hope for wound healing in severely burned patients
Serious burns are difficult to treat and can cause many complications. A common treatment for these injuries is a split-thickness skin graft, where a thin layer of healthy skin is taken from elsewhere on the patient’s body, meshed and transplanted onto the wound bed. Unfortunately, this type of treatment can lead to graft failure, contracture and scarring. PolarityTE, Inc., a biotechnology […]
Setting the gold standard in care for acute pancreatitis
Acute pancreatitis, which causes severe upper abdominal pain, is one of the leading gastrointestinal causes of hospitalisation. Dr Paul Tarnasky and his colleagues at the Methodist Digestive Institute, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Dallas, USA, are aiming to reach the highest standards in quality of care for pancreatitis patients. The team has designed a new, streamlined protocol for diagnosis of the […]
Preventing aluminium oxide contamination of dental implant surfaces
When a dental implant is inserted, the speed at which it integrates into the surrounding bone and tissue, known as osseointegration, is key to its eventual success. Treating the surface of implants to make them rougher helps this process. However, contaminants from this surface modification process can remain on the implant. A study carried out by Dr Peter Schupbach who […]