A Puerto Rican patient with X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) is hoping to save his vision after an innovative gene therapy procedure at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. On August 23, Julio Adorno Nieves, 23, became the first U.S. patient to be given new genes for his inherited […]
New evidence of a preventative therapy for gout
Among patients with cardiovascular disease, it’s a common complaint: a sudden, piercing pain, stiffness or tenderness in a joint that lasts for days at a time with all signs pointing to a gout attack. Gout and cardiovascular disease (CVD) appear to be intimately linked—they are frequently seen together although the underlying connection between the two […]
Haemophiliacs: Gene therapy offers hope of lifting life sentence
Scientists are edging closer to defeating a longtime enemy of human health: haemophilia, the inability to form blood clots. After trying for decades to develop a gene therapy to treat this disease, researchers are starting to succeed. In recent experiments, brief intravenous infusions of powerful new treatments have rid patients – for now, at least […]
Heat therapy boosts mitochondrial function in muscles
A new study finds that long-term heat therapy may increase mitochondrial function in the muscles. The discovery could lead to new treatments for people with chronic illness or disease. The study—the first of its kind in humans—is published ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Mitochondria, the “energy centers” of the cells, are […]
New study questions use of talking therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia
The findings of the first meta-analysis examining the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for psychosis (CBTp) on improving the quality of life and functioning and reducing distress of people diagnosed with schizophrenia have, today, been published in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Psychology. The study, led by Keith Laws, Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology at the University […]
Novel drug therapy partially restores hearing in mice
A small-molecule drug is the first to preserve hearing in a mouse model of an inherited form of progressive human deafness, report investigators at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). The study, which appears online in Cell, sheds light on […]