Kidney :: Protein Essential for Kidney-to-Bladder Urine Transfer
Tests of a protein’s role in the immune system have revealed a surprising connection to a kidney problem that occurs in approximately one percent of all live births.
Vision
Botulism :: Wound botulism
In a case study in PLoS Medicine, doctors report on the case of a 35-year-old heroin user who came to the accident and emergency department with double vision, slurred speech, drooping eyelids and eye muscle weakness. The diagnosis turned out to be wound botulism. Wound botulism is a potentially fatal illness that occurs when spores of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum contaminate a wound, germinate and produce botulimum nerve toxin.
Dementia :: Study offers window into human behavior, brain disease
UCSF scientists have identified a cell population that is a primary target of the degenerative brain disease known as frontotemporal dementia, which is as common as Alzheimer’s disease in patients who develop dementia before age 65.
Five new technologies that promise to transform medicine
Fat zapping to shed excess weight, miniature telescopes to restore vision, and smart nappies to detect common childhood infections — these are some of the new technologies that promise to transform medicine, according to this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ.
Surgery :: Snake-like robot and steady-hand system could assist surgeons
Engineers are designing new high-tech medical tools to equip the operating room of the future, in an effort to help doctors treat patients more safely and effectively and allow them to perform surgical tasks that are nearly impossible today.
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus :: Safety concern regarding Rituxan in systemic lupus erythematosus
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting health care professionals and patients treated with Rituxan (rituximab) to reports of an emerging risk of a serious side effect in patients receiving or who have used Rituxan.
Smell :: Biological clock for smell
Biologists at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered a large biological clock in the smelling center of mice brains and have revealed that the sense of smell for mice is stronger at night, peaking in evening hours and waning during day light hours.
Blindness :: High levels of blindness in southern Sudan following years of war
Surveys conducted in southern Sudan, after conflict there ended in 2004, found much higher levels of blindness than anticipated. The results, published in PLoS Medicine, have major implications for the provision of health services in the region.
Diabetes :: Drug treatment slows macular vision loss in diabetics
A drug commonly used to slow the loss of central vision has shown promise in stemming a common precursor of blindness in diabetics, which involves the same central light-sensitive area of retina, Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute scientists report.
Cancer :: How NSAIDs halt cancer growth explained
Scientists have discovered that induction of a gene known as MDA-7/IL-24 is the molecular mechanism that enables nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to halt the growth of cancer cells, a finding that could eventually lead to the development of targeted cancer treatments.