Fayetteville hospital fights Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
An Arkansas hospital shut down its operating rooms and sterilized surgical equipment after a possible diagnosis of a rare brain disease, state health officials said.
The disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, was detected in a patient at Washington Regional Medi... (Source: WDSU.com - Health)
Source: WDSU.com - Health - March 17, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
A toxic byproduct of hemoglobin could provide treatments for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Scientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a novel mechanism that could be used to protect the brain from damage due to stroke and a variety of... (Source: Parkinson's Disease News From Medical News Today)
Source: Parkinson's Disease News From Medical News Today - March 8, 2016 Category: Neurology Tags: Stroke Source Type: news
New clues that Alzheimer’s may have been spread during surgery
ConclusionThis latest research adds some evidence to the possibility that amyloid beta proteins could have been passed on during certain types of treatment, which introduced substances derived from donor brains or pituitary glands into the body. However, these types of treatment are no longer used. The theory is far from certain, and other possible causes need to be investigated. Even if the theory was proven, we don't know that having these proteins introduced into the brain in this way would cause Alzheimer's disease. All the evidence showing amyloid protein in the brain after medical treatment has come from studies of t...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 27, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Medical practice Source Type: news
Behind the Headlines' Top Five of Top Fives 2015
In this study, researchers wanted to see why this is and if there could be any human applications.Researchers collected white blood cells from African and Asian elephants. They found that elephants have at least 20 copies of a gene called TP53. TP53 is known to encourage cell "suicide" when DNA is damaged, stopping any potential cancer in its tracks. In contrast, humans are thought to have only a single copy of the TP53 gene.Of course the big question – the elephant in the room, if you will – is how we can boost TP53 activity in humans to stimulate a similar protective effect. The simple answer is: we don't k...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 24, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: QA articles Medical practice Special reports Source Type: news
Behind the Headlines Top Five of Top Fives 2015
In this study, researchers wanted to see why this is and if there could be any human applications.
Researchers collected white blood cells from African and Asian elephants. They found elephants have at least 20 copies of a gene called TP53. TP53 is known to encourage cell "suicide" when DNA is damaged, stopping any potential cancer in its tracks. In contrast, humans are thought to have only a single copy of the TP53 gene.
Of course the big question – the elephant in the room, if you will – is how we can boost TP53 activity in humans to stimulate a similar protective effect. The simple answer is: we don't know...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 24, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: QA articles Medical practice Special reports Source Type: news
Inside The NASA Mission To Answer 'What Is Life?'
“Why would NASA want to study a lake in Canada?”
Three different border guards asked me variations on that question, and while they ultimately let me pass, it was obvious they didn’t understand. Why is NASA interested in a lake in Canada? And what business is it of mine?
As exotic environments go, Pavilion Lake in British Columbia is rather ordinary. Certainly it’s remote – the closest major city is Vancouver, a long drive away over the mountains. The closest towns are light dustings of houses over the dry slopes, and the road winds for dozens of kilometers of empty desert country between them...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - November 6, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Inside The NASA Mission To Answer 'What Is Life?'
“Why would NASA want to study a lake in Canada?” Three different border guards asked me variations on that question, and while they ultimately let me pass, it was obvious they didn’t understand. Why is NASA interested in a lake in Canada? And what business is it of mine? As exotic environments go, Pavilion Lake in British Columbia is rather ordinary. Certainly it’s remote – the closest major city is Vancouver, a long drive away over the mountains. The closest towns are light dustings of houses over the dry slopes, and the road winds for dozens of kilometers of empty desert country between them...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - November 6, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
More Than a Body of Knowledge
Earlier this month, researchers at Emory University issued a warning that the U.S. could be at risk of yet another measles outbreak. Although the disease is highly contagious and potentially fatal, measles is also highly preventable - if, an individual is vaccinated. Unfortunately, not everyone understands this or the basic science behind immunizations. Why? Because there is a significant lack of scientific literacy throughout the country. For far too many people, the word "science" itself can be distancing. It conjures up stereotypical caricatures of turgid textbooks, disheveled and incoherent adults in lab coats writin...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - October 28, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Predicting decline and survival in severe acute brain injury: the fourth trajectory - Creutzfeldt CJ, Longstreth WT, Holloway RG.
Illness trajectories depicting how function declines to death with certain diseases, such as cancer, can help with palliative care. Creutzfeldt and colleagues propose a fourth trajectory is needed for patients with severe acute brain injury to improve d... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))
Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) - October 10, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Economics of Injury and Safety, PTSD, Injury Outcomes Source Type: news
Welsh government reports 'mad cow' case, says no risk to health
LONDON (Reuters) - The Welsh government said on Thursday that a dead cow on a farm in Wales had been confirmed as having bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease, but said it had not entered the food chain and there was no risk to human health. (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - October 1, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: healthNews Source Type: news
Alzheimer's 'seeds' found in seven CJD victims' brains
Conclusion
This small study raises questions about how a group of relatively young people with CJD came to have amyloid protein deposits in their brains when they died. But it doesn't answer those questions.
The theory that amyloid proteins were transferred, along with prions, through growth hormone therapy is still just that: a theory. There are other possibilities – for example, the prions could have somehow encouraged the growth of amyloid protein. That would mean people who are already infected with prions are at an increased risk of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
However, it's also important to remember no-one in...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 10, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Source Type: news
No evidence that Alzheimer's can be transmitted through surgery
This study has made a possible link in four cases of specific treatment with growth hormone before 1985, but it is important not to jump to conclusions about what this important, but small, research study might mean.
There has never been a proven case of transmission by neurosurgery.
Modern surgical equipment in the UK is very safe and the NHS has extremely stringent procedures to make sure of this. These include using single-use instruments where possible, and developing special equipment that reduces the risk of contamination. If single-use instruments cannot be used, then there are processes in place to track the us...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 9, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology QA articles Source Type: news
Prion trials and tribulations: Finding the right tools and experimental models
Prions are fascinating, enigmatic, and might teach us not only about rare prion diseases like Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, or scrapie, but also about other more common neurodgenerative diseases. Two studies report progress with novel tools and paradigms to study prion disease. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - July 2, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Prion trials and tribulations: Finding the right tools and experimental models
(PLOS) Prions are fascinating, enigmatic, and might teach us not only about rare prion diseases like Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, or scrapie, but also about other more common neurodgenerative diseases. Two studies published on July 2 in PLOS Pathogens report progress with novel tools and paradigms to study prion disease. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - July 2, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Solving the next step in the mystery of prions
Working towards the ultimate goal to develop therapeutics to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS, and BSE (Mad Cow Disease), scientists are investigating the physical principles underlying the formation of misfolded protein aggregates. The aggregates of misfolded proteins -- proteins that clump together in the 'wrong' structure -- feature prominently in these fatal degenerative diseases. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - June 25, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
