The heart: Digital or analog? Researchers shed dramatic new light on disorders of heart bioelectricity

Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTCRI) have found evidence that may disrupt conventional understanding about how electrical activity travels in the heart—a discovery that potentially can lead to new insight into medical problems such as heart arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. The research study, now online but scheduled to appear as a final version on Tuesday, Sept. […]

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New target could prevent progression of liver damage to cancer

Problems like obesity and alcoholism appear to chronically trigger in the liver a receptor known to amplify inflammation in response to invaders like bacteria, scientists report. The relentless, increased activity of TREM-1 in turn accelerates injury and scarring of the liver, a first step toward cirrhosis and liver cancer, says Dr. Anatolij Horuzsko, reproductive immunologist in the Georgia Cancer Center […]

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Research discovers new channel-gating mechanism

Computational biophysicists are not used to making discoveries, says Jianhan Chen at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, so when he and colleagues cracked the secret of how cells regulate Big Potassium (BK) channels, they thought it must be a computational artifact. But after many simulations and tests, they convinced themselves that they have identified the BK gating mechanism that had […]

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Newly identified drug target in rheumatoid arthritis paves way for development of new therapies

University of Melbourne researchers have identified a protein involved in rheumatoid arthritis-induced inflammation that could lead to new drug treatments for people who do not respond to current therapies. Arthritis is Australia’s most common chronic disease and affects more than 3.5 million people. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects about one per cent of the population and is one of the most […]

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New compound advances into Phase 1 trial for pancreatic cancer

A compound discovered at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) has advanced into a Phase 1 trial for metastatic pancreatic cancer. Called CEND-1 (scientifically known as iRGD), the compound was exclusively licensed in 2015 to a private company, DrugCendR Inc. The drug candidate was discovered in the laboratory of Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., distinguished professor at SBP and founder, […]

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For children with complex medical situations, a new roadmap for improving health

Children with severe disabilities, serious cognitive impairments and medically complex situations require more specialized health care during their lifetimes. But establishing a consistent way to identify their overall health needs and measure progress in meeting those needs has been an elusive goal. A team of UCLA researchers has developed a set of health outcome measures for such children using a […]

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New AI system will help us discover the most effective behaviour change strategies

Changing people’s behaviour is key to tackling the world’s health, social and environmental problems, such as obesity, sustainable living and cybersecurity. To change behaviour, though, we need to know what works, for whom, where and how. But research is generated far faster than humans can access and use it. A search on Google Scholar for “behaviour change” produced over 60,000 […]

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