Smart Health

Scientists identify how fasting may protect against inflammation

Scientists identify how fasting may protect against inflammation

Cambridge scientists may have discovered a new way in which fasting helps reduce inflammation – a potentially damaging side-effect of the body’s immune system that underlies several chronic diseases In research published in Cell Reports, the team describes how fasting raises levels of a chemical in the blood known as arachidonic acid, which inhibits inflammation. The…
Researchers improve blood tests’ ability to detect and monitor cancer

Researchers improve blood tests’ ability to detect and monitor cancer

The advance makes it easier to detect circulating tumor DNA in blood samples, which could enable earlier cancer diagnosis and help guide treatment Tumors constantly shed DNA from dying cells, which briefly circulates in the patient’s bloodstream before it is quickly broken down. Many companies have created blood tests that can pick out this tumor…
Touching a nerve in the fight against chronic pain and diseases

Touching a nerve in the fight against chronic pain and diseases

The human body’s longest cranial nerve has the potential to improve health on numerous fronts, according to researchers Erika Folkes has almost given up on finding pharmaceutical solutions to her chronic pain, which is always present and can sometimes leave her in agony. She has endured this kind of discomfort – defined as pain that…
Researchers explore changes to microbiome following weight-loss surgery

Researchers explore changes to microbiome following weight-loss surgery

Study suggests that microbiome-based therapies such as probiotics and fecal matter transplants have the potential to improve metabolic health Researchers at the University of Toronto and its partner hospitals are finding that changes in gut microbiota after bariatric surgery can directly improve metabolism, independent of food intake, weight loss and other metabolic factors. Their ongoing…
Brain gain: Europe’s big advances in neuroscience

Brain gain: Europe’s big advances in neuroscience

EU researchers are coming up with new ways to tackle the range of illnesses tied to the human body’s most complex organ In the southern French city of Marseille, health researchers have developed a way to operate more effectively on epilepsy patients. In Milan in northern Italy, scientists have come up with better methods to…
MIT engineers design a robotic replica of the heart’s right chamber

MIT engineers design a robotic replica of the heart’s right chamber

The realistic model could aid the development of better heart implants and shed light on understudied heart disorders MIT engineers have developed a robotic replica of the heart’s right ventricle, which mimics the beating and blood-pumping action of live hearts. The robo-ventricle combines real heart tissue with synthetic, balloon-like artificial muscles that enable scientists to…
A Life-Extension Drug for Big Dogs Is Getting Closer to Reality

A Life-Extension Drug for Big Dogs Is Getting Closer to Reality

The FDA has yet to approve any drugs for life extension. But biotech company Loyal is now a step closer to bringing one to market—for dogs THERE’S A WELL-ESTABLISHED inverse relationship between a dog’s size and its expected lifespan. Bernese mountain dogs and Great Danes live just six to eight years, for example, while corgis can…
Deadly sepsis and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are in Europe’s crosshairs

Deadly sepsis and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are in Europe’s crosshairs

EU researchers are looking for new ways to tackle bloodstream infections that kill millions of people worldwide every year Professor Evangelos Giamarellos-Bourboulis has spent the past 18 years investigating a new way to treat sepsis – a medical condition that kills an estimated 11 million people worldwide every year. That’s almost a fifth of all global…
Precision Imaging Centers Launch Idonia at Five Diagnostic Imaging Centers across Northeast Florida

Precision Imaging Centers Launch Idonia at Five Diagnostic Imaging Centers across Northeast Florida

Patients and Physicians in Northeast Florida have been demanding a new type of patient-centric healthcare service. By partnering with Idonia, Precision Imaging Centers is answering that demand Precision Imaging Centers, a multi-specialty radiology practice, announces a pioneering partnership with Idonia, a market leader in cloud-based data exchange platforms and applications. Together, they answer a critical…
Oxford researchers develop 3D printing method that shows promise for repairing brain injuries

Oxford researchers develop 3D printing method that shows promise for repairing brain injuries

Demonstrated for the first time that neural cells can be 3D printed to mimic the architecture of the cerebral cortex   Brain injuries, including those caused by trauma, stroke and surgery for brain tumours, typically result in significant damage to the cerebral cortex (the outer layer of the human brain), leading to difficulties in cognition, movement…