What Does an Immunologist Do?
This post is part of a miniseries on the immune system. Be sure to check out the other posts in this series that you may have missed. Immunology is the study of the immune system, including all the cells, tissues, and organs that work together to protect you from germs. A person who studies immunology is called an immunologist, and there are three types: Researchers, who study the immune system in the laboratory to understand how it works or how it can go awry and find new treatments for immune system-related diseases Doctors, who diagnose and care for patients with diseases related to the immune system, such as ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - February 12, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Cells Injury and Illness Immunology Miniseries Infectious Diseases Medicines Microbes Research Roundup Source Type: blogs

Oxidative Stress and Cellular Senescence in Alzheimer's Disease
In this paper, the authors discuss the overlap between oxidative stress and growing numbers of senescent cells in the brain. Both are thought to contribute to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. The aging of the brain is complex, a web of interacting processes, causes, and consequences. It has proven to be difficult to determine which processes are more or less important; the only efficient way forward is to come up with interventions that remove just one contributing factor with minimal side-effects. That is now possible for senescent cells, and clinical trials are underway, but manipulation of oxida...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 12, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Trial By Error: Unconvincing Response to Letter on FND Prevalence Inflation
By David Tuller, DrPH As I wrote in a post the other day, the journal NeuroImage: Clinical has just published a letter from a group I organized about the misrepresentation of findings regarding the prevalence of functional neurological disorder (FND). They have also published a response from the authors of the article we criticized. The … Trial By Error: Unconvincing Response to Letter on FND Prevalence Inflation Read More » (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - February 12, 2024 Category: Virology Authors: David Tuller Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, February 12th 2024
In conclusion, frailty is a dynamic process, and improved frailty and remaining robust are significantly associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death in older people. « Back to Top Greater Individual Wealth Correlates with Longer Life Expectancy https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2024/02/greater-individual-wealth-correlates-with-longer-life-expectancy/ Individual wealth correlates with life expectancy, with an effect size that is in the same ballpark as those related to lifestyle choices involving exercise, diet, and consequences thereof. It remains unclear...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 11, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

Are You A Worrier? Study Reveals An Unexpected Upside Of Being Neurotic (M)
Being neurotic might have a surprising benefit to physical health. (Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog)
Source: PsyBlog | Psychology Blog - February 10, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jeremy Dean Tags: Personality subscribers-only Source Type: blogs

Weekly Roundup – February 10, 2024
Welcome to our Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup. Each week, we’ll be providing a look back at the articles we posted and why they’re important to the healthcare IT community. We hope this gives you a chance to catch up on anything you may have missed during the week. Automating For Workflow and Quality in Healthcare. John Lynn interviewed Jason Warrelmann at UiPath about helping organizations look for automation opportunities where lots of data exist, particularly in quality control, compliance, and imaging. After awhile, Jason said, organizations may find 300 to 400 use cases for workflow improvement or automation. ...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - February 10, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: Brian Eastwood Tags: Healthcare IT Healthcare IT Today Weekly Roundup Source Type: blogs

Trial By Error: Finally, Our Letter on Inflated Claims of FND Prevalence Is Published
By David Tuller, DrPH For more than a year, I have been criticizing experts in the field of functional neurological disorder for misrepresenting the findings of a seminal study, in effect tripling the reported prevalence rate of the condition. These untrue claims about the Scottish Neurological Symptoms Study (SNSS)—specifically, that the prevalence of FND among … Trial By Error: Finally, Our Letter on Inflated Claims of FND Prevalence Is Published Read More » (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - February 9, 2024 Category: Virology Authors: David Tuller Tags: Uncategorized conversion disorder FND FND prevalence Source Type: blogs

There ’s no place like home when it comes to health care, except for those who fall through the cracks
Maria (name changed to protect patient privacy) is a brilliant woman with a troubled health history. After a mental health diagnosis cut short her career as a high-level government official, Maria has struggled with diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, depression, and advanced kidney disease, leading to a series of toe amputations and a decade of disability. She Read more… There’s no place like home when it comes to health care, except for those who fall through the cracks originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 9, 2024 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Primary Care Source Type: blogs

Systematic review finds more clinical harm than benefits in Alzheimer ’s “treatments” lecanemab, aducanumab, and donanemab
CONCLUSIONS: Although monoclonal antibodies targeting amyloid provide small benefits on cognitive and functional scales in patients with Alzheimer dementia, these improvements are far below the MCID for each outcome and are accompanied by clinically meaningful harms. The Study in Context: Should doctors prescribe lecanemab (Leqembi) to women? The answer, given available evidence, is probably No First, do no harm? Six reasons to approach anti-amyloid drug Aduhelm cautiously, if at all Report: 35% of worldwide dementia cases could be prevented by modifying these 9 modifiable risk factors The post Systematic review fi...
Source: SharpBrains - February 9, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health aducanumab Alzheimer's drug Alzheimers-treatment brain bleeds brain swelling cognition dementia donanemab FDA lecanemab Leqembi Medicare Mini-Mental State test minimal clinically important difference mono Source Type: blogs

Empowering Pakistani women: Surviving cancer and challenging traditional norms
We have a female patient admitted to our oncology ward for a week. I’ve known her for a long time. She works in our hospital’s dental department as a technologist. She is currently 40 years old. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2009. She underwent maximum safe resection; it was oligodendroglioma grade 3. Read more… Empowering Pakistani women: Surviving cancer and challenging traditional norms originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 9, 2024 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Oncology/Hematology Source Type: blogs

Bypassing Causes to Focus on Repairing Damaged Synapses in Alzheimer's Disease
Should we expect an approach focused on repair of synapses in neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's disease, while leaving the causative mechanisms of the condition operating intact, to have a large effect on patient outcomes? Given what is known of the underlying mechanisms of protein aggregation, neuroinflammation, and other problems that ultimately kill neurons, not just damage them, it seems possible that synaptic repair might do well in the early stages of cognitive impairment, but later do little to help as the condition progresses. Regardless, it is interesting to consider to degree to which neural function ...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 9, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Glial Cell Senescence Impairs α-Synuclein Clearance, Contributing to Parkinson's Disease
In this study, we investigated how aging and glial senescence affect the capacity of α-syn clearance. We found that following the intra-striatal injection of human α-syn (hu-α-syn) preformed fibril, hu-α-syn pathology persisted more in aged mice compared with younger mice and that aged microglia exhibited greater accumulation of hu-α-syn than younger microglia. Moreover, in vitro assay revealed that the clearance of hu-α-syn was primarily dependent on the autophagy-lysosome system rather than on the ubiquitin-proteasome system and that the capacity of hu-α-syn clearance was diminished in senescent glia because of au...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 8, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Intermittent Fasting Produces Indeterminate Effects on BDNF Levels in Humans
The circulating level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a widely-researched target for intervention. Increased BDNF seems to be wholly beneficial, particularly in its effects on neurogenesis, the production of new neurons and their integration into existing neural networks in the brain. Neurogenesis declines over the course of adult life, and is necessary to the function of memory and maintenance of brain tissue. Circulating BDNF, where levels also decline with age, might be the most convenient of the available mechanisms with which to affect neurogenesis. It can be increased by exercise, butyrate supplementat...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 7, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

How Comprehend PT Takes Clinical Notes Out of Physical Therapists ’ Hands
Physical therapists have unique needs for an ambient clinical voice solution. They are constantly walking about the floor, chatting with different patients and watching how many reps and sets they do. Comprehend PT uniquely meets the PT’s needs and allows the therapist to create notes in their particular tone and style just by speaking while they work. The inputs are called “mini brain dumps” by CEO Jake Michalski. In this video, Michalski takes us in our imagination to a PT setting. The therapist carries a phone in their pocket, speaking whenever a patient completes an exercise. Both intakes (longer and ...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - February 7, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andy Oram Tags: AI/Machine Learning Ambulatory Clinical EMR-EHR Health IT Company Healthcare IT Ambient Clinical Voice Comprehend PT EHR AI Asssistant EHR Automatic Note Creation Healthcare IT Video Interviews Jake Michalski PT AI Assistant Source Type: blogs