A team of researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Engineering in Medicine (MGH-CEM) have created a "liver on a chip," a model of liver tissue that replicates the metabolic variations found throughout the organ and more accurately reflects the distinctive patterns of liver damage caused by exposure to environmental toxins, including pharmaceutical overdose. Their report has been published online in the journal Scientific Reports.
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Biologists and mathematicians from MIPT, Stony Brook University and other scientific research centres have taught a computer to predict the structure of protein complexes in a cell 10 times faster than before. The study has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
Baltimore, Md. - July 18, 2016 - Researchers investigating a novel device to repair the mitral heart valve report 100 percent procedural success in a safety and performance study, the first such study done in humans. The image-guided device, based on technology developed at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, is deployed through a tiny opening in a beating heart, avoids open-heart surgery, automates a key part of the valve repair process, simplifies the procedure and reduces operating room time. The research is published in the journal Circulation.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Scientists at Florida State University, Baylor College of Medicine and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT have broken ground in a little-understood area of human genetics.
In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers show that an unusual DNA repeat element on an inactive X chromosome is actually essential to the overall three-dimensional structure of this female-specific genetic phenomenon.
La Jolla, Calif., July 18, 2016 -- Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified over 100 new genetic regions that affect the immune response to cancer. The findings, published in Cancer Immunology Research, could inform the development of future immunotherapies--treatments that enhance the immune system's ability to kill tumors.
Up to 15 percent of colorectal cancers show a genetic mutation known as DNA mismatch repair deficiency, or dMMR. Until now, little has been known about how the mutation behaves in rectal cancer patients, what causes dMMR, and which treatments may be most effective.
The novelty factor of e-cigarettes is the key motivation for their use by adolescents, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Advising patient with chronic sinus congestion to use nasal irrigation - a popular nonpharmacologic treatment - improved their symptoms, but steam inhalation did not, according to a randomized controlled trial published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (July 18, 2016) For the first time, researchers led by Tufts University engineers have integrated nano-scale sensors, electronics and microfluidics into threads - ranging from simple cotton to sophisticated synthetics - that can be sutured through multiple layers of tissue to gather diagnostic data wirelessly in real time, according to a paper published online July 18 in Microsystems & Nanoengineering.
Taking a page from Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", a team of scientists has created malleable and microscopic self-assembling particles that can serve as the next generation of building blocks in the creation of synthetic materials.
DURBAN, 18 July 2016 - When used consistently for a month at a time, a vaginal ring containing an antiretroviral (ARV) drug called dapivirine provides significant protection against HIV, suggest results of new data analyses from the ASPIRE study announced today at The International Conference on AIDS (AIDS 2016) in Durban, South Africa. Among women who appeared to use the ring most regularly, HIV risk was cut by more than half across all analyses, and in some, by 75 percent or more.
DURBAN, July 18, 2016 - Women who took part in ASPIRE, a trial that found a vaginal ring containing an antiretroviral (ARV) drug called dapivirine was safe and helped protect against HIV, will soon be offered the opportunity to use the ring as part of a new study called HOPE. The first of HOPE's sites opened just today, at the Medical Research Council of South Africa's Verulam clinical research site in KwaZulu-Natal.
DURBAN, South Africa (July 18, 2016) -- New data analyses announced at the AIDS 2016 conference today provide additional evidence suggesting that the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring developed by the nonprofit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) provides significant protection against HIV infection in women when used consistently. The new data were released as two open-label studies of the ring begin and as IPM pursues regulatory approvals for the product for its use in developing countries.
Evidence by the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) consortium of South African and North American researchers will be presented on July 18 at the International AIDS 2016 Conference in Durban, shedding new light on why young women in South Africa have high rates of HIV infection. Dr. Salim Abdool-Karim, professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of CAPRISA, led the research team. The Mailman School was also among the North American institutions providing research support.
BOSTON - Children whose parents or caregivers misuse alcohol or use, produce or distribute drugs face an increased risk of medical and behavioral problems. According to a new clinical report by experts at Beth Israel Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston Children's Hospital, pediatricians are in a unique position to assess risk and intervene to protect children. The report, "Families Affected by Parental Substance Use," is available online today and slated for publication in the August print edition of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Association of Pediatrics.