Entries Categorized as 'Health Facts'
Written on May 17, 2013 by Ava Gwynn
A new, placenta-based cell therapy may be effective at thwarting a common medical complication during pregnancy that can put both mother and child at risk, and in rare cases, cause death.
In a study conducted by Pluristem Therapeutics ($PSTI) and Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, researchers found that the Israel-based developers PLacental eXpanded (PLX) cells effectively improved several parameters of preeclampsia in animal models.
Preeclampsia occurs in approximately 6% to 8% of pregnancies worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
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Tags: Cell Therapy Pregnancy
Written on May 15, 2013 by Ava Gwynn
Heads up: I’ll be in Toronto this Wednesday and Thursday to speak on “The Web as a Gym for the Brain” at mesh13, and to present our new book on How to Optimize Brain Health and Performance at Any Age at MaRS Discovery District. If you’re attending either, please say Hello!
Will be back up in Canada on June 12th, in Victoria, BC, to deliver a keynote on How Can We Invest In Our Brains To Boost Innovation and Resilience, at the Conference Board of Canada’s . It’s been fascinating to ob
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Tags: Toronto Toronto Victoria
Written on May 11, 2013 by Ava Gwynn
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases announces the launch of a new collection focusing on the human parasitic roundworm Strongyloides stercoralis (S. stercoralis). Containing nearly twenty research articles by nematode experts from across the globe, the collection kicks off with new Viewpoints and Review articles that highlight the need for sustained action to fight this disease.
While recognized by the World Health Organization officially as an NTD, the nematode S. stercoralis has fallen under the radar of many campaigns for control of soil-transmitted helminths despite threatening hundreds of millions and killing thousands every year worldwide.
Dr.
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Tags: Collection Focusing Focusing New Collection New Collection Focusing
Written on May 5, 2013 by Ava Gwynn
A sampling of news media stories involving UC Health:
Tens of thousands of servicemen and women are dealing with lasting brain damage as the Pentagon scrambles to treat these invisible wounds. In the military, concussion was an invisible and therefore neglected wound. It took an outsider Dr. David Hovda, director of the Brain Injury Research Center at UCLA to prove to the Pentagon that even a mild concussion can result in serious injury.
UC Berkeley School of Public Healths Richard Scheffler, professor of health economics and director of the Petris Center; Stephen M.
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Tags: Media Media Week
Written on April 23, 2013 by Ava Gwynn
Researchers from Yale University might have stumbled across an unlikely treatment for melanoma. Using in vitro and animal models, vesicular stomatitis virus–a zoonotic virus in the same family as rabies–killed melanoma cells while leaving noncancerous cells virtually unscathed. Researchers think this is because most normal cells resist virus infection by activating antiviral processes that protect nearby cells. Melanoma is the most dangerous of skin cancers, with a mortality rate of about 75% of skin-cancer-related deaths. The incidence rate has tripled over the last three decades. The research was published online in the Journal of Virology. R
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Tags: Animal Model Model Zoonotic Virus
Written on April 18, 2013 by Ava Gwynn
Physical exercise and mental exercise are both beneficial for the brain. Each can improve brain functions and decrease risks of cognitive decline over time. This raises the question of their comparative and combined effects: Is one better than the other? Are their benefits additive (1 + 1 =2) or perhaps even synergistic (1 + 1 =3)?
A recent study suggests that the benefits of each are significant and roughly equivalent but not synergistic (meaning, that aerobic exercise didn’t make mental exercise more effective, or vice versa). The study involved 126 older adults (mean age of 73.4) with cognitive complaints, that is who felt their memory and thinking skills had declined in the recent past. Participants were divided onto 4 groups:
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