Imagine slipping in and out of consciousness hundreds of times per day, staying awake the whole time but having no sense of awareness during these lapses. In children with absence epilepsy, these highly disruptive episodes are known as absence seizures. Children experience brief staring spells, during which they temporarily lose…
Anticancer drugs: A new hope for sepsis treatment
The body’s extreme response to infection, a condition called sepsis, kills 11 million people every year. This is because to survive a serious infection it is not enough to get rid of the infectious agent, which is currently done with relative effectiveness; it is also necessary to limit the damage…
Marriage Rates Declining for Canadian Adolescent Mothers?
The decline in marriage rates in Canada is sharper among adolescent mothers, new data suggest. An analysis of data from the Canadian Vital Statistics – Birth Database indicates that marriages declined by 80.5% among mothers younger than 18 years between 1989 and 2018. “This study documents a decrease in marriage…
Scientists pinpoint why people with autism struggle to understand a speaker’s ‘tone’
Children with autism often have difficulty grasping the emotional cues in other people’s voices, and now researchers may have zeroed in on the reason why. In a study of 43 kids with and without autism, researchers were able to trace such difficulties to a particular brain area—one involved in social…
What it takes to run a marathon a day for a year
For many runners, a marathon is a lifetime achievement. But a British man named Gary McKee took marathon running to another level by running one a day for 365 days in 2022 to raise money for charity. Not only did McKee achieve his goal, he ran an average time of…
Hypertensives may benefit from gut microbial metabolites, study finds
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a leading cause of death worldwide. Four out of five hypertensive patients have uncontrolled blood pressure despite clinical and lifestyle therapy, suggesting new approaches are needed. Over the past decade, experimental research has shown that gut microbiota and the substances they produce regulate blood…
School garden-based interventions can improve blood sugar, reduce bad cholesterol in children
School garden-based interventions can improve metabolic parameters such as blood sugar and cholesterol in children, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston. A cluster randomized controlled trial conducted by researchers with UTHealth Houston School of Public Health and The University of Texas at Austin found that Texas Sprouts—a gardening,…
Are hospitalizations with infection associated with dementia incidence?
A recent study published in JAMA Network Open suggests that hospitalized patients with infection are at higher risk of developing dementia. Study: Incidence of Dementia Following Hospitalization With Infection Among Adults in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study Cohort. Image Credit: Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock Background Dementia is a group of conditions related to…
Imaris launches 10.0, an AI-powered software for fast and accurate detection of neurons, microglia and blood vessels
Oxford Instruments - Andor has today released Imaris 10.0, the latest version of its market-leading microscopy image analysis software. Imaris 10.0. Image Credit: Oxford Instruments - Andor Imaris 10.0 revolutionises the well-known and trusted Filament Tracer, which has been used by the neuroscience community for over 15 years, leading to almost 700 scientific…
Hospitals’ use of volunteer staff runs risk of skirting labor laws, experts say
Most of the 30 volunteers who work at the 130-bed, for-profit East Cooper Medical Center spend their days assisting surgical patients — the scope of their duties extending far beyond those of candy stripers, baby cuddlers, and gift shop clerks. In fact, one-third of the volunteers at the Tenet Healthcare-owned…