Researchers used gene transfer to block the expression of one of the two main enzymes that break down alcohol in the liver, leading to the accumulation in liver cells of acetaldehyde, a metabolic byproduct of ethanol. The inability to metabolise acetaldehyde produces strong effects in people, such as dizziness and palpitations, leading people to avoid [...]
By carefully tracing a line of at least two millimetres outside of and around the edges of a mole that is suspected of being a cancer, doctors can remove all of its cells and avert the need for a second surgery. The recommendation for such a tightly-defined surgical margin is the result of a study [...]
Tobacco smokers are twice as likely to develop a debilitating skin disease, according to new research recently published in the British Journal of Dermatology. Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic and recurring inflammatory disease of the hair follicles, which causes a mixture of boil-like lumps, areas leaking pus, and scarring. It is estimated to affect [...]
Researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Harvard Medical School and MIT have designed a smart bandage that could eventually heal chronic wounds or battlefield injuries with every fibre of its being. The bandage consists of electrically conductive fibres coated in a gel that can be individually loaded with infection-fighting antibiotics, tissue-regenerating growth factors, painkillers or [...]
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Stanford University and the University of Florida report the development of a novel antibody detection technology that holds promise for improving the accuracy of diagnostic tests for type 1 diabetes in young children and making populationwide screening practical. In a report on the work, published in [...]
While diabetes is characterised by a deficiency of insulin, the opposite is the case in congenital hyperinsulinism: patients produce the hormone too frequently and in excessive quantities, even if they haven't eaten any carbohydrates. Since the function of insulin is to metabolise sugars, excess production of insulin leads to chronic hypoglycaemia. The brain, which devours [...]
Today’s most widespread methods for glucose self-testing involve monitoring glucose levels in blood. Conventional measurements, however, are not suitable for preventing hypoglycemia during exercise, said Binghamton University Electrical and Computer Science Assistant Professor, Seokheun Choi. ‘This is because 1) the underlying process relies on invasive and inconvenient blood sampling, causing the possibility of sample contamination [...]
A new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found that beta blockers aren’t needed after a heart attack if heart attack survivors are taking ACE inhibitors and statins. The study is the first to challenge the current clinical guideline that heart-attack survivors should take all three drugs – beta blockers, [...]
Being overweight or obese creates damaging changes to the structure of the heart, according to new research recently published in the journal, PLoS ONE. The new research uses UK Biobank data to reveal – for the first time – the direct damage that carrying extra weight has on the heart’s weight and size, and implicates [...]
A study led the University of Warwick has suggested that people are reluctant to use public access defibrillators to treat cardiac arrests. The analysis of existing international studies, which has been published in the European Heart Journal, has indicated that there are a number of factors that prevent members of the public from using them [...]
