Single neuron consciousness in the binocular brain

In contrast to unpaired organs like the heart, liver or appendix, the brain is recognizable as a roughly symmetrical organ. Consciousness is a seemingly unpaired phenomenon created by this paired organ. One way to explore consciousness is to force it to choose between two paired stimuli in a binocular rivalry experiment. In a paper just published in Nature Communications, Christof […]

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Insurance denials for new hepatitis C drugs remain high nationwide, study suggests

Highly effective drugs that can cure chronic hepatitis C infection in approximately 95 percent of patients first became available in the U.S. in 2014. But both public and private insurers continue to deny coverage for these costly drugs at high rates nationwide, despite efforts to remove treatment restrictions, according to a new study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. The […]

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Mobile health technology can potentially transform how patients manage heart disease risk

Mobile health technology has the potential to transform the way we prevent and manage heart disease, but there are unanswered questions about how to optimize this technology and maintain engagement with patients, according to a review of randomized clinical trials published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Recently, mobile health (mHealth) […]

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Killing bacteria by silencing genes may be alternative to antibiotics

A new approach to killing C. difficile that silences key bacterial genes while sparing other bacteria may provide a new way to treat the most common hospital-acquired bacterial infection in the United States, according to researchers. While conventional antibiotics treat bacterial infections, they can also cause a condition in the colon called C. difficile infection, due to the drug killing […]

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Preterm newborns sleep better in NICU while hearing their mother’s voice

Hearing a recording of their mother’s voice may help neonates maintain sleep while in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), according to preliminary data from a new study. About 10 percent of U.S. newborns require treatment in a NICU, which is a noisy environment that could influence the development of newborn sleep patterns. This study explored the possibility that infants’ […]

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What does the future hold for the children of the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil?

Zika virus is an arbovirus transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, but it can also be transmitted by sexual contact and blood transfusion. Adult patients infected by Zika usually present only mild symptoms over a few days, such as rashes, conjunctivitis, arthralgia and mild fever. However, the outbreak of Zika virus in Brazil in 2015 first showed the world that […]

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Breathtakingly beautiful baby names taken straight from fairytales

When it comes to names that might be considered quintessentially “fairytale,” what monikers come to mind? There’s Briar-Rose, aka the original Sleeping Beauty. There’s Disney’s Princess Aurora, yet another incarnation of the same. There’s Hansel and Gretel, the waifish siblings who finally get to eat their candy house and have it, too, after they shove their witch-captor and would-be murderess […]

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Family blood mystery solved

In the late 1970s, a man with an unexplained high hemoglobin level (Hb) was referred to Namsos Hospital north of Trondheim, Norway. It turned out that four members of his family had the same condition. Doctor Kjell Kanelønning was the physician who treated the family. He examined the man and his family members thoroughly without finding the cause of their […]

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