Implantable Bioreactor for Kidney Cells
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco have developed an implantable bioreactor that may pave the way for artificial kidneys. Dialysis and kidney transplants both have significant disadvantages for patients with kidney failure, and so scientists are trying to develop a lab created kidney that would not require harsh immunosuppression or a donor kidney. This implantable bioreactor may be a step in the right direction, and it includes a type of cell found in the kidney which is protected from the immune system behind a silicon membrane. Blood can flow through the device, and so far the researchers have sho...
Source: Medgadget - September 26, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Medicine Surgery Urology artificial kidney UCSF Source Type: blogs
DNA is Better at Math than You Are
By KIM BELLARD
I was tempted to write about the work being done at Wharton that suggests that AI may already be better at being entrepreneurial than most of us, and of course I’m always interested to see how nanoparticles are starting to change health care (e.g., breast cancer or cancer more generally), but when I saw what researchers at China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University have done with DNA-based computers, well, I couldn’t pass that up.
If PCs helped change the image of computers from the big mainframes, and mobile phones further redefined what a computer is, then DNA computers may cause us to one day...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 20, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech DNA Future of Computing Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 23rd 2021
In this study, we used the UK Biobank (n = 440,185) to resolve previous ambiguities in the relationship between serum IGF-1 levels and clinical disease. We examined prospective associations of serum IGF-1 with mortality, dementia, vascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer, finding two generalized patterns.
First, IGF-1 interacts with age to modify risk in a manner consistent with antagonistic pleiotropy; younger individuals with high IGF-1 are protected from disease, while older individuals with high IGF-1 are at increased risk for incident disease or death. Second, the association between IGF-1 and risk ...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 22, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Strength Training and Aerobic Exercise Reduce Cancer Mortality
Researchers here note that undertaking strength training and aerobic exercise acts to reduce mortality due to cancer, to a similar degree as these activities are known to reduce all cause mortality in later life. The mechanisms involved are likely diverse, but it is worth noting that (a) muscle tissue is metabolically active in beneficial ways, such that more muscle is better than less muscle, (b) better immune function is linked to exercise, and immune surveillance is critical to cancer prevention, and (c) exercise helps to reduce chronic inflammation, where chronic inflammation helps to drive the establishment and develo...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 17, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, June 28th 2021
In conclusion, in our prospective community-based study, aging-related biomarkers were associated with measures of subclinical atherosclerosis cross-sectionally and with all-cause mortality prospectively, supporting the concept that these biomarkers may reflect the aging process in community-dwelling adults.
The Role of Aging Macrophages in Skin Inflammation
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2021/06/the-role-of-aging-macrophages-in-skin-inflammation/
The immune system is complex and ages in complex ways, pressed by the lifetime burden of infection and rising levels of molecular damage that trigger man...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 27, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
A Systems Biology Approach to Manipulating the Biochemistry of Senescent Cells
Cells become senescent in response to reaching the Hayflick limit on replication, or to potentially cancerous mutations, or a toxic environment and consequent cell damage, or signaling from other senescent cells. Senescence is nominally an irreversible state. Replication halts and the cell begins secreting pro-inflammatory signals to attract the attention of the immune system. Senescent cells are normally removed via programmed cell death or the actions of cytotoxic immune cells. With age the rate of creation increases and the rate of removal falls, however, leading to a growing number of senescent cells throughout the bod...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 22, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
More Women Are Pursuing Majority-Male Specialties and Changing Patients ’ Perceptions
By AMY E. KRAMBECK, MD
With the exceptions of pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology, women make up fewer than half of all medical specialists. Representation is lowest in orthopedics (8%), followed by my own specialty, urology (12%). I can testify that the numbers are changing in urology – women are up from just 8% in 2015, and the breakdown in our residency program here at Indiana University is now about 20% of the 5-year program.
One reason for the increase is likely the growth of women in medicine – 60% of doctors under 35 are women, as are more than half of medical school enrollees. I also credit a generat...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 5, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Physicians Amy Krambeck female physicians majority male specialties Patients Source Type: blogs
Hypertension induced by tyrosine kinase inhibitor
Well known adverse effect of chemotherapeutic agents are cardiomyopathy and myocarditis leading to heart failure and arrhythmias. Hypertension induced by tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) is an important adverse effect and has specific mechanisms. Hypertension is noted with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and vascular signalling pathway (VSP) inhibitors [1].
The incidence ranges from 5% to 80% among VEGF inhibitors and is dose dependent. Incidence of hypertension is lower in new generation small molecule TKI [1]. Mechanism of hypertension is through vascular signally pathway inhibition which causes decrease in nit...
Source: Cardiophile MD - April 27, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis Tags: Cardio Oncology Source Type: blogs
Podcast: Using Death as Motivation to Live
How often do you think about death? If you’re like most people, you probably try to keep it in the back corners of your mind. But according to today’s guest, Kate Manser, remembering you might die tomorrow is the best inspiration to live today. Kate asserts that when we incorporate a certain level of mortality awareness into our daily lives, it motivates us to value life so much more and to live each day with intention. We start to find joy in the small things and live in a way that makes a positive outward ripple for all of humanity.
So how do we manage to think about death without falling into fear? Tune into to...
Source: World of Psychology - April 2, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: The Psych Central Podcast Tags: Death & Dying General Grief and Loss Inspiration & Hope Interview LifeHelper Podcast The Psych Central Show Source Type: blogs
Renaissance Radiologists: Meet AJ Gunn, MD
AJ Gunn, M.D. graduated magna cum laude from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, earning a BS in exercise physiology with a minor in sociology. He then returned home to South Dakota to attend medical school at the University of South Dakota. During medical school, he participated in the competitive Howard Hughes Medical Institute – National Institutes of Health Research Scholars Program and was awarded the Donald L. Alcott, M.D. Award for Clinical Promise. He graduated summa cum laude in 2009. He completed his diagnostic radiology residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA ...
Source: radRounds - February 21, 2020 Category: Radiology Authors: Robin Pine Miles Source Type: blogs
Renaissance Rad Feature: Meet AJ Gunn, MD
AJ Gunn, M.D. graduated magna cum laude from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, earning a BS in exercise physiology with a minor in sociology. He then returned home to South Dakota to attend medical school at the University of South Dakota. During medical school, he participated in the competitive Howard Hughes Medical Institute – National Institutes of Health Research Scholars Program and was awarded the Donald L. Alcott, M.D. Award for Clinical Promise. He graduated summa cum laude in 2009. He completed his diagnostic radiology residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA ...
Source: radRounds - February 21, 2020 Category: Radiology Authors: Robin Pine Miles Source Type: blogs
Diabetes as the Trojan Horse of Digital Health
Originally, a Trojan horse referred to the wooden horse used to cunningly penetrate and conquer the city of Troy by the Greeks. In our era, the term has been adapted to describe disguised malwares that attack unsuspecting users’ computers and wreak havoc once inside. Judging by the title of this article, how then can a condition as serious as diabetes help move the digital health agenda forward?
Computer generated 3D illustration with the Trojan Horse at Troy, source: http://codingtidbit.com/
Once upon a time, empowered patients started a revolution…
It all begins with a crippling speed of bureaucra...
Source: The Medical Futurist - January 7, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Prans Tags: E-Patients Future of Medicine Healthcare Design diabetes digital health diabetes management patient design Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 38-year-old woman with primary membranous glomerulopathy
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 38-year-old woman is evaluated during a follow-up visit for primary membranous glomerulopathy. Diagnosis was made by kidney biopsy 4 months ago, and she was found to be positive for anti–phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) antibodies. Medications are furosemide, losartan, and simvastatin. […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 16, 2019 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions Nephrology renal cell renal cell carcinoma Source Type: blogs
Becoming Overweight Raises the Risk of Many Cancers
In conclusion, adult weight gain was associated with increased risk of several major cancers. The degree, timing, and duration of overweight and obesity also seemed to be important. Preventing weight gain may reduce the cancer risk.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyz188 (Source: Fight Aging!)
Source: Fight Aging! - October 16, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Doctors aren ’t gods. They need God to help them.
An excerpt from Playing God: The Evolution of a Modern Surgeon. A woman, call her Betsy, comes to see me. Betsy is in her early sixties and horribly unhealthy. She walks with a cane, each step she takes slow and painful. It hurts to watch her walk. Betsy has undergone a quadruple bypass, survived renal cancer, […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 14, 2019 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/anthony-youn" rel="tag" > Anthony Youn, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Physician Surgery Source Type: blogs
