Developing Low-Cost Lab Techniques: Q & A With Abraham Badu-Tawiah
Credit: Ohio State University. “I never thought I could make an impact on chemistry and students’ lives. But now, I’m the head of a lab with several Ph.D. and undergraduate students and a postdoctoral researcher; and we’re developing simple, low-cost lab techniques that can be adopted by labs across the world,” says Abraham Badu-Tawiah, Ph.D., the Robert K. Fox Professor of Chemistry at Ohio State University in Columbus. We talked with Dr. Badu-Tawiah about his career progression, research, and advice for students hoping to launch a career in science. Q: How did you get started on the path to a career in sci...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - February 21, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Tools and Techniques Profiles Source Type: blogs

Best books on brain health and cognitive fitness according to ChatSpot and ChatGPT
Out of curiosity we queried a couple popular AI chatbots, ChatSpot and ChatGPT free versions, about the best books in a couple of key topics we discuss a lot in this blog. Here are the fascinating results, and some brief commentary at the end. (Links open corresponding Amazon book pages.) Best books on brain health, per ChatSpot: There are several great books on brain health that provide valuable insights and practical tips. Here are some highly recommended ones: 1. “The Brain That Changes Itself” by Norman Doidge: This book explores the concept of neuroplasticity and how the brain can rewire itself to overcome various...
Source: SharpBrains - February 14, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Books Education & Lifelong Learning brain-books Brain-Fitness brain-health-books ChatGPT ChatSpot cognitive-fitness cognitive-health-books neuroplasticity Source Type: blogs

The 2024 Word of the Year: Missense
By MIKE MAGEE Not surprisingly, my nominee for “word of the year” involves AI, and specifically “the language of human biology.” As Eliezer Yudkowski, the founder of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and coiner of the term “friendly AI” stated in Forbes: “Anything that could give rise to smarter-than-human intelligence—in the form of Artificial Intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, or neuroscience-based human intelligence enhancement – wins hands down beyond contest as doing the most to change the world. Nothing else is even in the same league.”  Perhaps the ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 13, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech Biology Crispr DNA Mike Magee Source Type: blogs

Medicare Is Now Profitable as a Total Program Because of Medicare Advantage
By GEORGE HALVORSON Medicare made $83.4 billion very real dollars in 2022. The 17% discounts below the average cost of fee-for-service Medicare, that happen in every county for Medicare Advantage, have been very real and extremely successful in paying for Medicare coverage — in a way that now makes the program a profit center for the US Government. You can see the actual financial report page from the 2023 Medicare trustee report below. It shows that the Medicare trust fund grew in 2022 for the first time in decades. More than half of the Medicare members are now enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. Those members ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 7, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy George Halvorson Medicare Advantage Medicare Trustees report Source Type: blogs

A talk with Andy Bell on thriving with diabetes
Andy Bell:Experiencing diabetes beyond just numbers I recently had the privilege of catching up with Andy Bell. A good friend and part of the diabetes community, Andy shared his story, which is packed with perseverance and resilience.Andy was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1994 at the age of 14. His experience, like that of many others living with diabetes, has been a rollercoaster ride. During our conversation, Andy touched on his diagnosis story, how living with diabetes has impacted his life, his unique career path, and how he manages now that he...
Source: Scott's Diabetes Blog - January 26, 2024 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Scott K. Johnson Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs

Digital Health at CES 2024
CES is always a fun show for a tech guy like myself.  With 130,000 people, there’s a lot of noise that doesn’t relate to healthcare IT, but over the years the digital health portion of CES has really grown.  This year that growth was particularly true thanks to the great efforts of Catherine Pugh who put together an entire Digital Health track, a long list of digital health vendors, and a packed house digital health networking event. While I’m sure I missed plenty of the digital health happenings at CES, here’s a quick rundown of some of the things I found interesting. Digital Health Media Panel a...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - January 24, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: John Lynn Tags: C-Suite Leadership Clinical Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring Alzheimer's BeamO Blood Glucose Monitor Bone Density Test C.Light Technologies CES CES 2024 Concussions CTA Source Type: blogs

Research Organism Superheroes: Fruit Flies
Credit: iStock. Those pesky little bugs flying around the overripe bananas in your kitchen may hold the key to understanding something new about how our bodies work. That’s right, the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is a widely used research organism in genetics because of its superpower of reproducing quickly with similar genes to people. Researchers have been studying fruit flies for over a century for many reasons. First, they’re easy to please—just keep them at room temperature and feed them corn meal, sugar, and yeast (or those bananas on your counter!). Second, they reproduce more quickly and have shor...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - January 17, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: STEM Education Tools and Techniques Cool Creatures Research Organisms Source Type: blogs

How Can the Immune System Go Awry?
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. The immune system is designed to closely monitor the body for signs of intruders that may cause infection. But what happens if it malfunctions? Overactive and underactive immune systems can both have negative effects on your health. Autoimmune Disorders To effectively monitor the body for pathogens, the adaptive immune system has to learn what a pathogen “looks like” on a molecular level. During their development, white blood cells go through training to learn how to differe...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - January 8, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Cells Injury and Illness Diseases Immunology Miniseries Infectious Diseases Microbes Sepsis Source Type: blogs

Deconstructing diabetes stigma: A panel discussion
In conclusion, the discussion was an enriching and eye-opening event, bringing together passionate individuals dedicated to challenging the stigma around diabetes. By amplifying our voices and working together, we can make a lasting impact on the lives of those touched by diabetes.Visit enddiabetesstigma.org and become a part of the movement for change. If you’d like to get involved in spreading more awareness about this, reach out to Dennis and/or leave a comment here.  Full transcript and show notes ...
Source: Scott's Diabetes Blog - January 4, 2024 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Scott K. Johnson Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs

Leveraging Connected Solutions for Improved Patient Care
The following is a guest article by Huong Le Dieu, Lead Product Manager, BLabs at Baracoda In the rapidly evolving world of healthcare, where demographic shifts and the prevalence of chronic diseases have placed immense demands on our medical systems, a transformative potential is on the rise. Connected technologies have the potential to reshape the healthcare landscape as we know it. The Demographic Shift and Healthcare Challenges In today’s healthcare industry, the demographic shift is undeniable, with the aging population growing at an unprecedented rate. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the globa...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - December 27, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Guest Author Tags: Ambulatory Clinical Communication and Patient Experience Health IT Company Healthcare IT Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring Apple Watch Baracoda Connected Technologies doxy.me FItBit Fourth Frontier Garmin Glucobyte Google Heal Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, December 25th 2023
This study generates a comprehensive single-cell transcriptomic atlas of human atherosclerosis including 118,578 high-quality cells from atherosclerotic coronary and carotid arteries. By performing systematic benchmarking of integration methods, we mitigated data overcorrection while separating major cell lineages. Notably, we define cell subtypes that have not been previously identified from individual human atherosclerosis scRNA-seq studies. Besides characterizing granular cell-type diversity and communication, we leverage this atlas to provide insights into smooth muscle cell (SMC) modulation. We integrate genome...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 24, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

D-Mannose Treatment Reduces Senescent Cell Burden in the Aging Bladder
Researchers here show that D-mannose treatment can upregulate autophagy in bladder and urinary tract epithelial cells, reducing inflammation and other cellular dysfunction. Like other approaches that increase autophagy, such as the use of mTOR inhibitors and calorie restriction, this appears to reduce the burden of cellular senescence over time in aged tissues. This likely results from a slowdown of the pace at which cells become senescent, allowing the immune system to catch up in its task of destroying lingering senescent cells. The end result of this improvement in tissue quality is a greater resistance to urinary tract...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 21, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Inflammaging in the Inner Ear, a Path to Hearing Loss
Inflammaging is a blanket term for the inappropriate inflammatory reaction of the immune system to the accumulation of molecular damage and other changes that take place with age. Constant, low-grade, unresolved inflammatory activation of the immune system is a feature of aging. It alters cell behavior for the worse and is disruptive to tissue structure and function. A number of different mechanisms contribute to forming and maintaining the state of inflammaging, such as pro-inflammatory signaling produced by ever-larger numbers of senescent cells, and innate immune recognition of mislocalized mitochondrial DNA that result...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 20, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

Ginger Vieira – Exercise with Type 1 Diabetes
In conclusion, Ginger Vieira’s book, Exercise with Type 1 Diabetes (affiliate link), is a must-read for anyone with diabetes who wants to incorporate exercise into their daily routine. Ginger’s expertise and personal experiences make this book a valuable resource for understanding the impact of exercise on blood sugar levels and managing diabetes effectively. With practical tips and a supportive approach, Ginger empowers readers to take control of their health and enjoy the benefits of exercise. Don’t miss out on this concise and informative guide! ...
Source: Scott's Diabetes Blog - December 20, 2023 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Scott K. Johnson Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs