In a study of healthy volunteers, National Institutes of Health researchers found that our brains may solidify the memories of new skills they just practiced a few seconds earlier by taking a short rest. The results highlight the critically important role rest may play in learning. “Everyone thinks you need to ‘practice, practice, practice’ when…
E’Lonye Harris was 17 when three bullets tore through his body last November. They woke up from a coma with staples holding his belly closed and tubes sticking out of his collapse lung. Though they recover enough to go home, the walk to Ombudsman Chicago South High School, around the corner from the shooting, prove…
Fourteen percent of 399 hospital patients tested in the study had “superbug” antibiotic-resistant bacteria on their hands or nostrils very early in their hospital stay, the research finds. And nearly a third of tests for such bacteria on objects that patients commonly touch in their rooms, such as the nurse call button, came back positive.…
You might be surprised to learn that food allergies can start in adulthood and involve a food you’ve eaten without a problem for your entire life. For adults as well as kids, the top but not the only food culprits are eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish, wheat and soy, according to the American…
The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today named Kellie Flood, MD, one of Alabama’s premier geriatrics health professionals, its 2019 Clinician of the Year. An Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), as well as Associate Chief Medical and Quality Officer for Geriatrics and Care Transitions at UAB Hospital, Dr. Flood will be…
A prescribed drug to treat high blood pressure has shown promise against conditions such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and forms of dementia in studies carried out in mice and zebrafish at the University of Cambridge. A common feature of these diseases — collectively known as neurodegenerative diseases — is the build-up of misfolded proteins. These proteins,…
More than a decade ago, radiation oncologists noticed a nifty phenomenon: Sometimes radiation used locally against a tumor could excite the immune system to attack cancer systemically throughout the body. It was as if the use of radiation had somehow awoken the immune system to the presence of cancer. Since then, a massive effort has…
Macular degeneration is an eye disorder by a number of conditions negatively affecting the macula. The macula is also as the ‘yellow spot’ a miniscule; specialized region of the retina containing photoreceptor cells (cone cells); responsible for central sight in conditions of bright lighting in order to distinguish fine detail and color. Flanking the central…
Patients with chronic kidney disease, and dialysis patients especially; have a significantly higher cardiovascular morbidity and mortality than healthy people. Kidney transplantation is the best renal replacement therapy available. Compared to dialysis patients, transplant recipients have significantly better long-term survival and quality of life. Although their cardiovascular risk decreases, cardiovascular complications are still the main…
UT Southwestern researchers have found that a protein in the body’s innate immune system that responds to gut microbes can suppress the most common type of liver cancer. Therefore The study, published today in the journal eLife, determined that NLRP12, an innate immune sensor, has a protective effect against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a deadly human…
Doubles badminton players may be at greatest risk of potentially serious eye injury during matches compared with singles players; so suggests a small study published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Protective eye wear and health and safety advice should become the norm for all competitors, urge the researchers. Badminton is particularly popular…
Gastrointestinal devices such as stents, endoscopic tubes; balloons and drug delivery systems can help clinicians treat patients with a range of conditions. But currently available methods for triggering where and when drugs are release or when a device is trigger to disassemble or change shape are often slow; which can restrict the utility of such…