Author: healthadmin
WASHINGTON — Political appointees appear poised to take more control over the information coming out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under a proposal to add a separate scientific division on top of the agency. The new office, called the Executive Advisory Science and Operations Unit, will review scientific publications such as weekly morbidity and mortality reports for peer-reviewed journals and director general briefings on preparedness activities. He will report directly to Matthew Buzzelli, the agency’s chief of staff. STAT Plus: What stripping civil service protections from thousands of federal employees means for HHS Efforts have been underway…
How diet, early chemical exposure, genetic risk, and biological sex combine to shape lifelong memory function remains a great scientific mystery. A new study published in Neurotaxology reveals that consuming a high-fat diet and surviving early exposure to common pesticides alters memory in vastly different ways depending on the animal’s genetic makeup and gender. The results suggest that nutritional advice to protect the brain should be highly individualized rather than provided as a universal rule. The brain constantly adapts to external forces throughout life. During early childhood, the brain rapidly forms synaptic connections, making it highly sensitive to industrial chemicals…
The human brain begins as a single cell. Over time, that single cell gives rise to a highly complex organ containing approximately 170 billion cells. One of the biggest questions in developmental neuroscience is how all these cells get to the right places to form a functioning brain. Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory now think the answer may be surprisingly simple. Their new research provides insight into how the brain is organized during development and could ultimately impact research in fields ranging from biology to artificial intelligence. How brain cells determine their identity Stan Kerstiens, a postdoctoral fellow in…
The rare and aggressive form of liver cancer has long been resistant to immunotherapy, which helps the body’s own immune system attack cancer cells. Now, researchers have identified a potential way to overcome that resistance using an FDA-approved drug already available for another medical condition. The findings suggest a potential new treatment strategy for fibrolamellar carcinoma, a rare liver cancer that primarily affects children and young adults. Fibrolamellar carcinoma accounts for approximately 2% of all liver cancer cases. There is currently no cure, the disease is often discovered only after it has spread to other parts of the body, and…
Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the former Monsanto Co. in a high-profile case that limits people’s right to sue pesticide companies for alleged illnesses and injuries. This decision 7-2 split, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh present the majority opinion, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Write a dissenting opinion. The case is Monsanto v Darnellspecifically addressed the question of whether the federal law that gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory authority over pesticides preempts states’ claims that companies have failed to warn users of certain product risks, even…
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have developed a compact, cost-effective diagnostic platform that combines lens-free holography and deep learning to automate HER2 scoring of breast cancer tissue samples. Their findings were officially published. BME Frontiers (BMEF)offers an innovative alternative to expensive and bulky traditional clinical digital pathology instruments. Accurate HER2 assessment is the basis for breast cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and targeted treatment planning. Traditional whole-slide imaging scanners rely on advanced optical components and precision mechanical systems, making them unaffordable for many distributed clinics. The newly designed lens-free holographic device does not require an objective lens or mechanical…
Research led by the University of Bergen (UiB) and NORCE could help pave the way to new vaccines targeting one of the world’s leading causes of severe diarrheal disease. The technology has now been licensed to the international vaccine company Valneva, and will be researched to develop future vaccines. This is an important milestone for the research we have been conducting with our international partners for many years. The license agreement indicates that our results have strong potential and are considered highly relevant for continued vaccine development. ” Professor Halvar Sommerfeld, UiB Faculty of Medicine This research is…
Bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. One alternative is treatment with viruses that infect only bacteria, known as phages. A research project funded by the European Union and led by the University of Frankfurt is the first to investigate the combination of phage therapy and gut microbiota restoration to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections within the framework of a randomized clinical trial. Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common bacterial infections worldwide and are becoming increasingly difficult to treat due to rising antibiotic resistance. An international research consortium coordinated by Frankfurt Medical University is currently…
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, and Bio-Techne Corporation, a Minneapolis-based global provider of life science tools, analytical technologies, and consumables, today signed a definitive agreement pursuant to which Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Subject to customary closing conditions, KGaA will acquire Bio-Techne for $73 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $11.3 billion. (9.9 billion euros), plus a 36% premium to Biotechne’s monthly volume-weighted average trading price. The transaction brings together two highly complementary and forward-thinking life sciences organizations that are uniquely positioned to support customers across the full spectrum of life…
The British Heart Foundation is celebrating three amazing young women who donated their old hearts to science after undergoing heart transplant surgery. We often talk about organ donors who have sadly passed away and whose generous decision to donate their organs posthumously saved the lives of others. However, many people who are still alive also agree to have their organs used in scientific research projects and donate their organs to help others. Katie James, Carla Terol and Hannah Sharma, who poured their hearts into research including a project at Imperial College London, encourage others facing a transplant to consider doing…