What Is Genetics?
This post is the first in our miniseries on genetics. Stay tuned for more!
Genetics is the study of genes and heredity—how traits are passed from parents to children through DNA. A gene is a segment of DNA that contains instructions for building one or more molecules that help the body work. Researchers estimate that humans have about 20,000 genes, which account for about 1 percent of our DNA. The remainder of the DNA plays a role in regulating genes, and scientists are researching other potential functions.
DNA Details
Credit: NIGMS.
DNA is shaped like a twisted ladder, called a double heli...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 8, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Genes Common questions DNA Genetics Miniseries Genomics Source Type: blogs
Linus Health Acquires Aural Analytics
Purchase Expands Linus Health’s Cognitive Assessment Capabilities
Linus Health, a digital health company enabling early detection of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, today announced it has acquired Aural Analytics, a leader in clinical-grade speech analytics. The deal includes Aural Analytics’ assets, including its technology and intellectual property.
With the acquisition of Aural Analytics, Linus Health, the leader in multimodal cognitive assessments, has added clinical-grade speech analytics to its platform. This allows Linus Health to further enable researchers and clinicians to identify cognitive impairment and ...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - April 8, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: Healthcare IT News Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT Alvaro Pascual-Leone Aural Analytics David Bates Digital Cognition Technologies Health IT Acquisitions Healthcare M&A Kinesis Health Technologies Linus Health Source Type: blogs
BHLHE40 and BHLHE41 Deletion May Make Macrophages and Microglia More Efficient
Macrophages in the body and microglia in the brain are similar forms of innate immune cell, responsible for clearing metabolic waste, among other duties. A number of age-related conditions involve the growing incapacity of macrophages or microglia, their transition to inflammatory states, and inability to clear debris and waste as they should. Atherosclerosis, for example, is arguably a condition caused by macrophage dysfunction, in which macrophages fail to clear excess cholesterol from blood vessel walls. Neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, on the other hand, are characterized by the presence of act...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 8, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Dysfunction of the Glymphatic System Correlates with Faster Progression of Alzheimer's Disease
The glymphatic system is one of the pathways for drainage of cerebrospinal fluid from the brain to the body. This drainage is necessary to remove metabolic waste from the brain, and there is good evidence for reduced outflow of cerebrospinal fluid to lead to the development of neurodegenerative conditions. The work here adds to this body of evidence, showing that impaired flow of cerebrospinal fluid through the glymphatic system correlates with later severity of Alzheimer's disease.
The glymphatic system is an essential fluid-clearance system in the brain. The highly organized cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) transport s...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 8, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Bonus Features – April 7, 2024 – 86% of health systems had at least 10% of nurses quit in 2023, 25% of providers intend to deploy generative AI for patient engagement, plus 21 more stories
This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.
Studies
A report from HFS Research and Cognizant found 25% of providers intend to deploy generative AI to enhance patient engagement.
A Nursa survey found 86% of health systems had 10% or more of their nursing staff quit in 202...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - April 7, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: Brian Eastwood Tags: Healthcare IT Adherium Alan Tam Andrew Lundquist Availity Axuall Care Directions Carium Cognizant eClinicalWorks Eko G2 Google Cloud Greg Hajcak H1 Hartford HealthCare Healow Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features HFS Resea Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, April 8th 2024
In this study, we tested a stem cell secretome product, which contains extracellular vesicles and growth factors, cytoskeletal remodeling factors, and immunomodulatory factors. We examined the effects of 4 weeks of 2×/week unilateral intramuscular secretome injections (quadriceps) in ambulatory aged male C57BL/6 mice (22-24 months) compared to saline-injected aged-matched controls.
Secretome delivery substantially increased whole-body lean mass and decreased fat mass, corresponding to higher myofiber cross-sectional area and smaller adipocyte size, respectively. Secretome-treated mice also had greater whole-bod...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 7, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Trial By Error: My Letter to Scientific Reports about New Study of Physical Activity and Long Covid
By David Tuller, DrPH The other day I posted a blog about yet another problematic Long Covid study published by a major journal. The study concluded that physical activity (PA) can “reduce” symptoms in young women with prolonged medical complaints after Covid-19, or what the authors call post-COVID condition (PCC). The problem: the study design … Trial By Error: My Letter to Scientific Reports about New Study of Physical Activity and Long Covid Read More » (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - April 7, 2024 Category: Virology Authors: David Tuller Tags: Uncategorized Long Covid physical activity Semmelweis University Source Type: blogs
An Urgent Call to Raise Awareness of Heart Disease in Women
By KELLY CARROLL
There is a dire need to raise awareness about heart disease in women. It is the number one killer of American women, and key data points reveal a lack of cognizance among doctors and women.
An assessment of primary care physicians published in 2019 revealed that only 22% felt extremely well prepared to evaluate cardiovascular disease risks in female patients. A 2019 survey of American women showed that just 44% recognized heart disease as the number one cause of death in women. Ten years earlier, in 2009, the same survey found that 65% of American women recognized heart disease as the leading cause o...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 5, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Medical Practice heart disease Kelly Carroll Life Essential 8 prevention Womens health Source Type: blogs
Skin Biopsy as an Approach to Diagnose Parkinson's Disease
Researchers here demonstrate that the presence of phosphorylated α-synuclein in a skin biopsy is a good indicator of the presence of Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies. A skin biopsy is a more invasive procedure than most people want to undergo, but a greater ability to diagnose progressive diseases in their early stages will nonetheless tend to encourage the development of a greater ability to manage, treat, and avoid the later stages.
Affecting an estimated 2.5 million people in the United States, the synucleinopathies include Parkinson's disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), multiple syst...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 5, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Transient Pockets of Hypoxia in the Mammalian Brain
Evidence suggests that the mammalian brain is operating at the very edge of its capacity, supplied with just enough oxygen and nutrients to barely get by. That exercise produces measurable short-term gains in cognitive function, while blood flow is increased, is one point in favor of this view. Another is provided here, in which researchers note that it is entirely normal to observe transient areas of hypoxia in the brain at rest, and that the occurrence of these regions is diminished by the increased blood flow of exercise. It is an open question as to what to do with this finding: we can imagine future technologies that ...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 5, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
A Survey of MicroRNAs Shown to be Relevant to Muscle Aging
RNA molecules are produced in the cell nucleus by transcription machinery that reads gene sequences from the genome. MicroRNAs are among the varieties of RNA molecule that are not translated by a ribosome to produce proteins. Instead they directly participate in cell functions, often by altering the expression of other genes. Many microRNAs appear to be important players in the regulation of specific cell behaviors and tissue functions, such as regeneration and maintenance of tissues.
In today's open access paper, the authors provide an overview of some of the microRNAs that have been identified as important or pote...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 4, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Unlocking Healthcare ’ s Mobile Future: HIPAA-Compliant BYOD
When I’ve talked to CIOs about what’s keeping them up at night, they almost universally answer: security. No doubt it’s the biggest risk to a healthcare organization and the attackers only need a slight opening in your security defenses to wreak havoc.
That’s why we were particularly interested in this session at HIMSS 2024 that looked at how to create a HIPAA-Compliant BYOD program which balanced the security needs of a healthcare organization while still meeting the workflow needs of their users. Michael Karnezis, Director of Commercial Sales, and Vernon O’Donnell, President, Field Opera...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - April 4, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: John Lynn Tags: Ambulatory Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System IT Infrastructure and Dev Ops LTPAC Security and Privacy BYID Security Healthcare Breaches Healthcare BYOD Healthcare Cybersecurity healthcare infrastructure Healt Source Type: blogs
Trial By Error: Yet Another Long Covid Study with Bogus Claims Published by a Prestige Journal
By David Tuller, DrPH I’ve recently spent some time lambasting a Long Covid study in The BMJ that claimed a rehab program addressing both physical and mental health was “clinically effective”—even though the primary outcome results fell below the recommended level for what would be considered “minimal clinically important difference” on the measure in question. … Trial By Error: Yet Another Long Covid Study with Bogus Claims Published by a Prestige Journal Read More » (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - April 4, 2024 Category: Virology Authors: David Tuller Tags: Uncategorized Hungary Long Covid nature Scientific Reports Source Type: blogs
Will Medical Facial Recognition Technology (mFRT) Reawaken Eugenics?
By MIKE MAGEE
How comfortable is the FDA and Medical Ethics community with a new super-charged medical Facial Recognition Technology (mFRT) that claims it can “identify the early stages of autism in infants as young as 12 months?” That test already has a name -the RightEye GeoPref Autism Test. Its’ UC San Diego designer says it was 86% accurate in testing 400 infants and toddlers.
Or how about Face2Gene which claims its’ mFRT tool already has linked half of the known human genetic syndromes to “facial patterns?”
Or how about employers using mFRT facial and speech patterns to identify employees likely t...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 4, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Raised Inflammatory Markers Somewhat Correlate with Incidence of Age-Related Disease
Onset, progression, and resolution of inflammation are all driven by the interaction of many different complex signaling processes. The immune system as a whole is highly complex, an array of many different interacting populations of specialized cells. Nonetheless, there are a few individual circulating signal proteins that, to some degree at least, tend to reflect overall inflammatory status. Not reliably, but enough to produce correlations in patient populations of any reasonable size.
Today's open access paper is a survey of the literature on inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF, and IL-1β, pulling reported measures...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 3, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
