Health Problems

Liver-chip identifies drug toxicities in human, rat, and dog models

Among the numerous microengineered Organ-on-a-Chip (Organ Chip) models developed at the Wyss Institute, the Liver Chip is of special interest to a number of industries because the real-time analysis of complex biochemical interactions could greatly enhance the liver toxicity testing that is ubiquitous in the development of drugs, foods, and other consumer products. The Wyss […]

Health Problems

Coronary calcium score may ID CV risk in rheumatoid arthritis

(HealthDay)—The Coronary Calcium Score (CCS) may be a useful tool in cardiovascular (CV) risk assessment among female patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a study published in the October issue of the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases. Miguel Bernardes, M.D., from the University of Porto in Portugal, and colleagues assessed CCS (using computed tomography) […]

Health Problems

Zooming in on neuronal behavior

There are more than 86 billion neurons in the brain. These cells communicate by sending electrical and chemical signals across pathways and are responsible for controlling everything from simple movement to the processing and storing of complex thoughts and memories. The sheer enormity of this neural network makes the brain a difficult frontier for exploration, […]

Health Problems

Kidney cancer study uncovers new subtypes and clues to better diagnosis and treatment

The researchers used the most advanced genomic and proteomic technologies available to tease out their proteogenomic characteristics, defined as genetic makeup (genomics), chemical modifications to DNA (epigenomics), messenger RNA located in cells that serves as template to make proteins (transcriptomics), and proteins (proteomics) and their modification by phosphate group (phosphoproteomics), a modification known to regulate […]

Health Problems

Measles infection wipes our immune system’s memory leaving us vulnerable to other diseases

Scientists have shown how measles causes long-term damage to the immune system, leaving people vulnerable to other infections. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Amsterdam and their collaborators revealed that the measles virus deletes part of the immune system’s memory, removing previously existing immunity to other infections, in both humans and ferrets. Importantly, […]