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Category: health – Page 344

Studies Yield ‘Impressive’ Results in Fight Against Cystic Fibrosis

A pair of new studies report “impressive” benefits from a drug therapy for cystic fibrosis, a deadly and devastating disease that affects tens of thousands of people worldwide, the director of the National Institutes of Health wrote in an editorial published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday.

“These findings indicate that it may soon be possible to offer safe and effective molecularly targeted therapies to 90 percent of persons with cystic fibrosis,” wrote the director, Dr. Francis S. Collins, who led the team that in 1989 identified the gene that causes the genetic disease affecting the lungs and digestive system.

“This should be a cause for major celebration,” he wrote in the Thursday editorial.

Sound waves: A noninvasive way to attack prostate cancer

Prostate cancer runs in Jeff Nelson’s family. His brother, uncle and cousins have all been diagnosed with the disease. When his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test results jumped to 5.5 from 4 in summer 2018, he knew he had to move quickly.

Jeff Nelson chose UCI Health and an investigative treatment for prostate cancer that uses high-intensity sound waves to destroy only the cancer tissue. He’s glad he did.

The rise of ‘psychobiotics’? ‘Poop pills’ and probiotics could be game changers for mental illness

The calls started pouring in soon after word spread that Dr. Valerie Taylor was testing fecal microbiota transplantation — transferring poop from one body to another — for bipolar disorder.

The mental health condition is different from depression. It comes with mania, the “up” swings that can make people feel superhuman. “But so many people with depression called wanting to take part in the study we felt we had an obligation to try,” said Taylor, chief of psychiatry at the University of Calgary.

Two years after spearheading the bipolar study, the first of its kind in the world, Taylor has now launched a second study testing fecal transplants in people with depression, as well as a third for depression in people who also have irritable bowel syndrome.

A Breakthrough in Spinal Cord Injury Treatment with Dr. Wise Young

Ira Pastor, ideaXme exponential health ambassador and founder of Bioquark, interviews Dr Wise Young M.D., Ph.D., the Richard H. Shindell Chair in Neuroscience, Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology & Neuroscience and the Founding Director of the W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University.

If you enjoy this interview please donate to ideaXme here https://radioideaxme.com/contact/.

Spinal Cord Injury

A spinal cord injury (SCI) is defined as any damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function.

Depending on the location and severity of the damage, the symptoms vary, from numbness to paralysis to incontinence. Long term outcomes also vary widely, from full recovery to permanent quadriplegia or paraplegia. Complications can include muscle atrophy, pressure sores, infections, and breathing problems.

Direct medical expenses for spinal cord injuries can run into millions of dollars (not including lost wages and earning potential) and can include: spinal surgery, trauma care (use of a ventilator) rehabilitation (including physical and occupational therapy, speech therapy, and mental health counseling), long-term care, including the costs of in-home aides, medical equipment such as wheelchairs, and medication such as painkillers and antibiotics.

Continue reading “A Breakthrough in Spinal Cord Injury Treatment with Dr. Wise Young” | >

Gut instincts: Researchers discover first clues on how gut health influences brain health

New cellular and molecular processes underlying communication between gut microbes and brain cells have been described for the first time by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell’s Ithaca campus.

Over the last two decades, scientists have observed a clear link between and a variety of psychiatric conditions. For example, people with autoimmune disorders such as (IBD), psoriasis and multiple sclerosis may also have depleted gut microbiota and experience anxiety, depression and mood disorders. Genetic risks for autoimmune disorders and psychiatric disorders also appear to be closely related. But precisely how gut health affects brain health has been unknown.

“Our study provides new insight into the mechanisms of how the gut and brain communicate at the molecular level,” said co-senior author Dr. David Artis, director of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, director of the Friedman Center for Nutrition and Inflammation and the Michael Kors Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “No one yet has understood how IBD and other chronic gastrointestinal conditions influence behavior and mental health. Our study is the beginning of a new way to understand the whole picture.”