Health & Medicine
Improving the management of heart failure with telemedicine
Guaranteeing timely and good quality healthcare for all can be challenging. In countries like Denmark or Brazil, where health administration is fragmented, with federal authorities managing hospitals while municipalities manage primary care, the management of patients is very complicated. After developing a cross-sector collaboration model in Denmark, Dr Helena Dominguez, cardiologist in Bispebjerg-Frederiksberg Hospital and Associate Professor at the University […]
Vitamin A: Seeing into the past, the present and the future
Why is Vitamin A critical to animal and human health, and what functions does it have in the body other than in vision? In this thought-provoking and informative interview, neuroscientist and Professor at Harvard University John Dowling takes us through the history of research into the topic, from the first mention of night blindness in 3500 BC to current and […]
Diagnosing Sjögren’s syndrome with salivary gland ultrasound
Dr Juan Carlos Nieto-González from the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón has provided support for the utilisation of salivary gland ultrasound (SGUS) in diagnosing and assessing Sjögren’s syndrome in several published research papers. When compared with other diagnostic tools, SGUS is non-invasive, widely available in hospitals, and does not use any ionising radiation. It can also be used to diagnose […]
Quality benchmarks identified for laboratory medicine mobile apps
Dr Snežana Jovičić and her colleagues from the EFLM “Patient Focused Laboratory Medicine” Working Group (PFLM-WG) have identified several benchmarks for quality evaluation of patient-oriented laboratory medicines apps. These include referencing information to ensure trustworthiness, appropriate graphics for knowledge supplementation, and simple explanations of laboratory test results. This ensures the empowerment of patients in understanding their own medical condition. These […]
Dihydromyricetin shows promise as anxiety disorder treatment
Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental illnesses, and social isolation can be a major source of contributing stress. Medications to treat these disorders, such as benzodiazepines, are available; however, they come with a range of downsides. In a recent study in mice, Prof Jing Liang’s team at the USC School of Pharmacy in the US discovered that […]
Regression models using parametric pseudo-observations
The statistical analysis of survival data is the focus of research being carried out by Martin Nygård Johansen, a biostatistician at Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark, and his colleagues. Some patients’ actual survival times are not observed during a clinical study and are said to be censored. This research offers a new way to transform such time-to-event data into a dataset without censoring. […]
Human Leukocyte Antigens: The missing link in Alzheimer’s disease etiology
Alzheimer’s disease is a huge socioeconomic burden in developed countries. Recently, viral infections such as the herpes virus have been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease risk. However, it is unclear what the link between the two is. Professor Lisa M. James of the University of Minnesota, in collaboration with Dr Apostolos Georgopoulos and Dr Spyros Charonis, has utilised computational biology to […]
Mutant protein in Siamese cats may be involved in neurodegenerative disorders
Siamese cats and humans share the same pathology when it comes to neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Dr Ingrid Niesman, based at San Diego State University, USA, believes it’s all down to a mutation in a protein called tyrosinase. The researcher wants to understand the impact of this malfunctioning protein, as well as use these cats as a basis […]
Regulators of protein degradation as potential treatments for neurodegenerative disease
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, are characterised by the accumulation of misfolded and damaged protein aggregates. Normally, proteins that are damaged or malfunctioning are destroyed by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). However, the UPS itself is impaired in several instances of neurodegenerative diseases. Dr David Smith and his team at the School of Medicine, University of West […]
Quality of life for family caregivers is impacted by satisfaction with care
Cancer has an emotional and physical impact on caregivers as well as patients. If relatives are not happy with the care they are able to provide for the patient, this can impair their quality of life. Dr Miki Morishita-Kawahara at the Tokyo Women’s Medical University aims to understand better the factors that influence the quality of life of family caregivers […]