General – Page 153 – Innovita Research
December 8, 2020

Research could lead to step-change in NHS hearing aid provision

Cutting-edge research being led by the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and the University of Manchester, aimed at increasing adult hearing aid use, could make a dramatic change to people with hearing loss. The study ‘Follow-up and structured monitoring for adults offered an NHS hearing aid for the first […]
December 8, 2020

Magnetic bacteria as micropumps

ETH scientists use magnetic bacteria to control liquids at the micro-level. They are already thinking about using them in the human bloodstream for precision delivery of cancer drugs to a tumour. Cancer drugs have side effects, so for many years, scientists have been exploring ways to transport the active substances […]
December 8, 2020

Dynamic plants

Just like other organisms, plants must respond dynamically to a variety of cues over their lifetime. Going through different developmental stages, or altering their form in response to a drought or drastic temperature change requires altering which of their genes are expressed into proteins and when those processes occur. In […]
December 8, 2020

Hydrogel Could Open New Path for Glaucoma Treatment Without Drugs or Surgery

Researchers have developed a potential new treatment for the eye disease glaucoma that could replace daily eye drops and surgery with a twice-a-year injection to control the buildup of pressure in the eye. The researchers envision the injection being done as an office procedure that could be part of regular […]
December 8, 2020

Researchers develop rapid antibody generation technology

Using the same strain of yeast that ferments wine and makes dough rise, a team led by the University of California, Irvine and Harvard Medical School researchers has developed an in vitro technology that can rapidly hypermutate antibodies. The new technology generates antibodies faster than animal immune systems and better than […]
December 7, 2020

Colloidal silver – the snake oil of the XXIst century, or a miracle?

We live in a world that cultivates eternal youth. The pharmaceutical market is full of new, shiny, “revolutionary” products, which are meant to put us in good shape and give us a pristine, young appearance, and long life in well-shape. Advertisements scream of various supplements, vitamins, or syrups, supposed to […]
December 7, 2020

Down syndrome symposium highlights clinical, fundamental progress

Whether they are working with patients in clinical trials or with chromosomes in cell cultures, scientists and physicians in the Boston area and beyond are testing a wide variety of new ways to help people with Down syndrome. At the New England Down Syndrome Symposium, presented by the Alana Down […]
December 7, 2020

Brain activity and repetitive behaviour

“Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.” In this quote, the philosopher A. Whitehead underlines the importance of automated low-level tasks when performing a complex and repetitive task. Tying shoelaces, writing, walking… our mind is relieved from the elementary actions […]
December 7, 2020

Advancing Gene Editing With New CRISPR/Cas9 Variant

Using a new variant to repair DNA will improve both safety and effectiveness of the much-touted CRISPR-Cas9 tool in genetic research, Michigan Medicine researchers say. Those two key problems – safety and efficacy – are what continue to hold CRISPR-Cas9 gene targeting back from its full clinical potential, explains co-senior […]
December 7, 2020

New Alzheimer’s disease pathway discovered, providing earlier target for potential therapies

Researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a new target in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that could lead to therapies focused on treating the neurodegenerative condition early in its progression. The discovery helps bolster a promising approach to AD research: finding and manipulating […]
December 7, 2020

Resistance Pulse

In recent years, targeted therapies have cemented their place as some of the most important tools in cancer treatment. These medicines are designed to block specific signals that tumour cells use to grow and spread, while at the same time leaving normal cells unharmed. Targeted therapies can significantly extend patients’ […]
December 7, 2020

UVA aims to improve sepsis treatment, save lives in Africa

Doctors at the University of Virginia School of Medicine are launching an ambitious effort in sub-Saharan Africa to target the dual scourges of sepsis and tuberculosis, a combination that kills up to half the people who contract it. UVA Health Drs. Scott Heysell, Christopher Moore and Tania Thomas are seeking to […]
December 7, 2020

A novel approach to Parkinson's disease

When scientists study the neuronal mechanisms responsible for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, they can open the door to promising new approaches to treating those diseases with drugs. But when a person with Parkinson's dies, looking at their brain reveals little about the cells inside and offers only a glimpse into […]
December 5, 2020

New DNA modification ‘signature’ discovered in zebrafish

Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have uncovered a new form of DNA modification in the genome of zebrafish, a vertebrate animal that shares an evolutionary ancestor with humans ~400 million years ago. Dr Ozren Bogdanovic and his team discovered that unusually high levels of DNA repeats of […]
December 5, 2020

Clinical guidance for two rare immune conditions revealed

An international study co-led by researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has provided new guidance for the clinical treatment of two rare inherited immune disorders. Researchers combined global data on the two conditions, caused by variants of the genes CD27 and CD70, and diagnosed mostly in children. Their study revealed that […]
December 4, 2020

New updates to federal guidelines revamp asthma management

The National Institutes of Health today announced 19 recommendations in six key areas of asthma diagnosis, management and treatment. The new guidance, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, represents the first updates to federal comprehensive asthma management and treatment guidelines in more than a decade and focuses on […]
December 4, 2020

Novel Tool Deciphers Cells’ Energetic Code to Enhance Anticancer Therapies

Immunotherapies are a promising anticancer arsenal and work by mobilizing the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Currently, however, only a third of patients respond to immunotherapies, in part because the tumour environment can be hostile to immune cells, depriving them of their source of energy, which diminishes treatment […]
December 3, 2020

Scientists discover why the heart slows down at night

A consensus more than 90-years-old on the mechanisms which regulate the day-night rhythm in heart rate has been fundamentally challenged by an international team of scientists from Manchester, London, Milan, Maastricht, Trondheim and Montpellier. The vagus nerve – one of the nerves of the autonomic nervous system which supplies internal […]
December 3, 2020

Big data analysis suggests role of brain connectivity in epilepsy-related atrophy

An international study has found a link between the brain’s network connections and grey matter atrophy caused by certain types of epilepsy, a major step forward in our understanding of the disease. In neuroscience, it is becoming increasingly clear that the brain’s connectome is as important as its anatomy when […]
December 3, 2020

Vision Revision: Reversing Aging in Eye Cells

Scientists reverse age-related vision loss, glaucoma damage in mice. Harvard Medical School scientists have successfully restored vision in mice by turning back the clock on aged eye cells in the retina to recapture youthful gene function. The team’s work, described in Nature, represents the first demonstration that it may be possible […]
December 3, 2020

Researchers Unlock the Door to Tumor Microenvironment for CAR T Cells

The labyrinth of jumbled blood vessels in the tumour microenvironment remains one of the toughest blockades for cellular therapies to penetrate and treat solid tumours. Now, in a new study published online in Nature Cancer, Penn Medicine researchers found that combining chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy with a PAK4 […]
December 3, 2020

Common pipe alloy can form cancer-causing chemical in drinking water

Rusted iron pipes can react with residual disinfectants in drinking water distribution systems to produce carcinogenic hexavalent chromium in drinking water, reports a study by engineers at UC Riverside. Chromium is a metal that occurs naturally in the soil and groundwater. Trace amounts of trivalent chromium eventually appear in the drinking […]
December 2, 2020

AI predicts which drug combinations kill cancer cells

When healthcare professionals treat patients suffering from advanced cancers, they usually need to use a combination of different therapies. In addition to cancer surgery, the patients are often treated with radiation therapy, medication, or both. Medication can be combined, with different drugs acting on different cancer cells. Combinatorial drug therapies […]
December 2, 2020

New School of Medicine study identifies novel mechanisms that cause protein clumping in Alzheimer’s and other degenerative brain diseases

A team of researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has taken a major step toward understanding the mechanisms involved in the formation of large clumps of tau protein, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease and several other neurodegenerative disorders. Their findings may help to better understand the […]
December 2, 2020

Custom-Order Cells

If stem cell science were bread baking, then working with pluripotent stem cells would be like starting with flour, water and yeast. Transforming those base materials into a delicious loaf of bread requires knowing which ingredients to add and how to manipulate the dough and its environment, such as by mixing […]
December 2, 2020

Gene that protects against osteoarthritis identified

In mouse study, loss of molecule contributes to disease while surplus reduces symptoms. Osteoarthritis is one of the most common problems associated with ageing, and although there are therapies to treat the pain that results from the breakdown of the cartilage that cushions joints, there are no available therapies to […]
December 2, 2020

How to spot winning sperm: Examine their racing stripes

Millions of sperm enter the race to fertilize, but only one wins the sprint to the egg. Now Yale researchers have discovered that these winning sperm possess a few key molecular characteristics that differentiate them from those left behind, they report in the journal eLife. Sperm tails are lined with […]
December 2, 2020

New method identifies adaptive mutations in complex evolving populations

A team co-led by a scientist at the University of California, Riverside, has developed a method to study how HIV mutates to escape the immune system in multiple individuals, which could inform HIV vaccine design. HIV, which can lead to AIDS, evolves rapidly and attacks the body’s immune system. Genetic mutations in […]