Discoveries promise new strides for spinal cord injury patients
When neurobiologist Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, PhD, began investigating potential treatments for spinal cord injury more than 30 years ago at University College London, he had mixed feelings about accepting funding for the research. “To be honest, the prospect that something could realistically make an impact on spinal cord injury in my lifetime seemed like ... Read More about Discoveries promise new strides for spinal cord injury patients
How scratching may prime children with eczema for food allergy and anaphylaxis
Eczema, a chronic itchy inflammatory skin disease, affects about 15 percent of U.S. children. It’s a strong risk factor for food allergies — more than half of children with eczema are allergic to one or more foods — and most people with food allergy have eczema. But the connection between the two hasn’t been clear. New ... Read More about How scratching may prime children with eczema for food allergy and anaphylaxis
New technique images whole brains with incredible resolution
Decades ago, discoveries about the brain’s intricate anatomy were made with careful dissection and drawings. Today, they’re made with super-resolution imaging and massive computing power capable of handling hundreds of terabytes of data. In this week’s Science, a team out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical ... Read More about New technique images whole brains with incredible resolution
‘Nanobodies’ from alpacas could help bring CAR T-cell therapy to solid tumors
In 1989, two undergraduate students at the Free University of Brussels were asked to test frozen blood serum from camels, and stumbled on a previously unknown kind of antibody. It was a miniaturized version of a human antibody, made up only of two heavy protein chains, rather than two light and two heavy chains. As ... Read More about ‘Nanobodies’ from alpacas could help bring CAR T-cell therapy to solid tumors
Small samples, big data: A systems-biology look at a newborn’s first week of life
The first week of a baby’s life is a time of rapid biological change. The newborn must adapt to living outside the womb, suddenly exposed to new bacteria and viruses. Yet scientists know surprisingly little about these early changes. Reporting in Nature Communications, an international research team provides the most detailed accounting to date of the ... Read More about Small samples, big data: A systems-biology look at a newborn’s first week of life
ctDNA: Bringing ‘liquid biopsies’ to pediatric solid tumors
Our blood carries tiny amounts of DNA from broken-up cells. If we have cancer, some of that DNA comes from tumor cells. Studies performed with adult cancers have shown that this circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may offer crucial clues about tumor genetic mutations and how tumors respond to treatment. Brian Crompton, MD, with colleagues at ... Read More about ctDNA: Bringing ‘liquid biopsies’ to pediatric solid tumors
Gene panel helps investigate sudden unexpected death in children
Almost 10 percent of pediatric deaths occur suddenly and without explanation. In this terrible situation, the first question many parents have is “Why?” For most, answers never come. Childhood deaths that cannot be explained by traditional autopsy and death-scene investigation are referred to as sudden unexplained deaths in pediatrics (SUDP). In children, these deaths are ... Read More about Gene panel helps investigate sudden unexpected death in children
The threat from mosquito-borne diseases: Forecasting mosquitoes’ global spread
Outbreaks of mosquito-borne illnesses like yellow fever, dengue, Zika and chikungunya are rising around the world. Climate change has created conditions favorable to mosquitoes’ spread, but so have human travel and migration and accelerating urbanization, creating new mini-habitats for mosquitoes. In Nature Microbiology yesterday, a large group of international collaborators combined these factors into prediction models that ... Read More about The threat from mosquito-borne diseases: Forecasting mosquitoes’ global spread
Do antibiotic-impregnated shunts reduce infection in hydrocephalus?
Every year, nearly 400,000 children worldwide develop hydrocephalus, in which excess fluid accumulates in the brain. Many of these children have shunts placed to allow this fluid to drain. Antibiotic-impregnated shunts are widely championed as the best choice, but a recent study calls their necessity into question. The study, published in the Journal of Neurosurgery ... Read More about Do antibiotic-impregnated shunts reduce infection in hydrocephalus?
Eavesdropping on mitochondria, tissue by tissue
Mitochondria are essential to life: they produce energy, synthesize building blocks critical to cell function and help regulate cellular activity, including programmed cell death. Mitochondrial diseases can cause severe metabolic disorders in children and dysfunctional mitochondria are thought to play a role in cancer, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and more. A new research ... Read More about Eavesdropping on mitochondria, tissue by tissue