Health Problems

Natural antioxidant helps improve immune-based therapies by modulating T-cells

Shikhar Mehrotra, Ph.D. and Xue-Zhong Yu, M.D., National Institutes of Health-funded researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), have discovered a way to improve immune-based treatments, such as adoptive T-cell therapy (ACT) and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), by modulating T-cells with thioredoxin, a powerful, naturally occurring antioxidant molecule. ACT is a cancer […]

Health Problems

Mindfulness helps mothers with opioid use disorder combat depression

Mothers with opioid use disorder face many challenges as they work towards a more stable life for themselves and their children, depression not least among them. But medical interventions for depression can interfere with treatments for opioid addiction. New research from Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University) shows that participation in a mindfulness-based parenting […]

Personal Health

Genome editing helps decipher a congenital liver disease

Congenital hepatic fibrosis (CHF) is a rare genetic disease that causes malformation and fibrosis (scarring) of the liver. Occurring in roughly one out of every 20,000 births, CHF can lead to an enlarged liver, impaired blood flow to the intestines (portal hypertension), infection of the bile ducts and liver failure. In severe cases, a liver […]

Kids Health

This Tool Helps Divorced Parents Avoid Disaster

For harmonious co-parenting, you need a varied skill set. Co-parenting (successfully, at least) requires flexibility, patience and the ability to compromise. A sense of humor is pretty helpful, too. And above all else, you have to be organized. Which, yes, we know is difficult enough to keep a household running smoothly when the entire family […]

Health Problems

EEG helps scientists predict epileptic seizures minutes in advance

Elizabeth Delacruz can’t crawl or toddle around like most youngsters nearing their second birthday. A rare metabolic disorder that decimated her mobility has also led to cortical blindness—her brain is unable to process images received from an otherwise healthy set of brown eyes. And multiple times a day Elizabeth suffers seizures that continually reduce her […]

Health Problems

Your mouth helps you smell tasty foods

Why do certain foods smell good to us? New research by psychology professor Don Katz and his lab suggests it has a lot more to do with what happens in our mouths than commonly thought. It turns out that we don’t inhale the scent of food and decide we like its smell. First, we have […]

Health Problems

New tumor model helps researchers treat pancreatic cancer

Patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer face a poor prognosis because the tumor forms dense scar-like tissue that is difficult for chemotherapy drugs to penetrate, but a new model may help researchers develop new therapies. “More than 85 percent of pancreatic tumors form this fibrous tissue,” explained Assistant Professor Joshua Reineke of the South Dakota State […]