Archive for the ‘Medical Science’ Category
The people who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes tend to have something in common: obesity. The exact mode in which an inadequate diet and obesity trigger diabetes has been for a long time subject of intense scientific research.
A new study led by Jamey D. Marth, director of the Center for Nanomedicine, a collaboration between the University of California at Santa Barbara and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in the U.S., has revealed a biochemical pathway that links high-fat diets with a sequence of molecular events responsible for the occurrence and severity of diabetes. Read the rest of this entry »
A recent finding may help design drugs to treat autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and diabetes.
Dr David Sansom and his team at the Centre for Immune Regulation Medical Research Council, University of Birmingham have discovered how a protein called CTLA-4, remains calm the immune system and prevents T cells, which are the “command center” of our immune response, to adopt an inappropriately aggressive behavior.
Only when we are actually infected by invading microbes is allowed to activate the alarm system properly, which leads it to mobilize all the strength of our immune system in the right place and time. Read the rest of this entry »
New research reveals how the maternal antibodies block an immune response to measles virus. The finding is a first but decisive step towards a major upgrade of the current childhood immunization practices.
Maternal antibodies passed to the fetus during pregnancy and the newborn in breast milk.
The antibodies protect infants against the disease in the first months of life, but the protection has a cost: its presence also interferes with the generation of a natural immune response to vaccination. As a result, the majority of infants receive measles vaccine at age 12 to 15 months, when maternal antibodies disappear. Read the rest of this entry »
Future surgeons may use a system capable of recognizing the hand gestures as well as orders to control a robotic nurse or a computer to display images of the patient during medical surgery.
The recognition of hand gestures by robotic systems in the operating room may help reduce the duration of operations and the risk of infection. So believes Juan Pablo Wachs, professor of industrial engineering at Purdue University, USA.
The technology of visual recognition of hand gestures could have other applications, including the coordination of activities in response to emergencies arising from a catastrophe. Read the rest of this entry »
The excessive release of calcium within the heart muscle can cause fatal disorders in patients with heart failure. New research has revealed how this can occur, opening new possibilities to develop treatments which fight heart disease.
Calcium plays a vital role in the regulation of heart muscle contractions.
With each heartbeat, calcium is released from certain intracellular stores, through specialized channels. The normal route of activation of this response stems from the calcium itself, through a process known as calcium-induced release of calcium. Read the rest of this entry »
Taken daily diet sodas, calorie-free, increases the risk of stroke, a heart attack or stroke, by 61%. This has been pointed to a research presented at the recent International Conference of the American Association of cardiovascular disease.
The study by U.S. researchers from the Universities of Columbia and Miami, led by Dr. Hannah Ellen Gardener, adds further evidence of the relationship between diet beverages and cardiovascular disease.
To conduct the study continued consumption of this product by 2,500 citizens of New York for nine years. The researchers found that those taking these soft drinks daily had a 61% chance of cardiovascular disease compared to those not taking. Read the rest of this entry »
It was discovered that the excessive formation of crystals of calcium deposits in the amniotic fluid may be one reason why some pregnant women experience premature rupture of membranes, leading to premature delivery.
This finding, made by specialists from the Faculty of Medicine, Yale University, is a perhaps decisive step towards the full elucidation of why some preterm births occur, leading cause of death in newborns, or permanent disability if they survive.
It is known that infections, maternal stress and placental hemorrhage can lead to some premature births, but the cause of many other previously unknown. In these cases, women experience early contractions, cervical dilation and other effects. Read the rest of this entry »
Brain responses to personalized messages used to quit smoking can predict the likelihood that someone will get four months later. So says a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Predictive responses are specifically in the areas of the brain that are activated when thinking about oneself, as the authors of the study, a team from the University of Michigan (USA), led by Hannah Faye Chua.
The scientists studied a group of 91 smokers who participated in a program to quit this harmful habit. Volunteers receive messages as they urged them to quit, making references to the individual’s life, needs and interests, as well as specific barriers to behavior change. Read the rest of this entry »
Researchers from the School of Pharmacy and Biochemistry (UBA) analyze the effects of substances found in chocolate on blood pressure regulation. Cocoa is high in certain polyphenols (specifically flavanols, a subfamily of flavonoids), which could be useful to improve vascular function and prevent or attenuate the development of hypertension, lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease. The flavanols are present in other plant foods, which could have beneficial effects similar to those provided by the cocoa. In order to advance the understanding of the biochemical mechanisms involved, researchers School study, both in laboratory animals and in cultured cells, isolated from cocoa flavanols that showed the greatest beneficial effects. The ultimate goal is to turn this knowledge into the fields of nutrition and pharmacology.
Carbon 14 dating of a vessel of 3,750 years old, found in Veracruz, Mexico, gave evidence that by then the Mesoamerican civilizations used xocoatl or chocolatl, may be called in Nahuatl or Maya. It is estimated that this beverage, made with very ground cacao, pepper, achiote, peppers, various spices and other additions, was used with ritual functions and was consumed by members of the upper classes and nobility. The chroniclers of the time also defined it as an aphrodisiac, and left for 1519 record that the Emperor Moctezuma, the Aztec Tlatoani Huey, he drank heavily. From then until now, the chocolate will have assigned many properties, ranging from high energy, its supposed aphrodisiac qualities and even their antidepressant capabilities. Also, it has been conceived as an enemy of health due to its high content of unsaturated fats and sugars.
In order to advance the place of the cocoa, or its best, the chocolate in human diets in recent years has been thoroughly investigated its effects on health. So strength gained increasing evidence about the beneficial effects that displays in the control of blood pressure and, therefore, the decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and other ailments. It is hypothesized that these effects are due to that chocolate is high in certain polyphenols exert a vasodilator function. Polyphenols are plant secondary metabolites that include a myriad of chemical structures from simple molecules, such as phenolic acids to complex compounds such as condensed tannins, say researchers at the UBA in an article published recently in Molecular Aspects of Medicine. Read the rest of this entry »
A protein associated with the development of bones corrects errors in the neural connections. So says an article published in the journal PLoS Biology, that could be of great help to combat neurological disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy.
Those responsible for the research, led by Peter Scheiffele, Biozentrum University of Basel (Switzerland), used a mouse genetic model to make their observations in the cerebellum, a brain area involved in fine movement control. With the help of a fluorescent protein, were visible at different neural connections through an advanced imaging technique that combines light microscopy with electron microscopy. Read the rest of this entry »