Nov 20 2009
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic autoimmune disorder – encompassing both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis – that affects more than a million people in the United States. Normally, our immune system works to fight off harmful pathogens that might pass through our digestive tract. In IBD, however, the immune system stays in overdrive and attacks [...]
Nov 17 2009
PET scans showing dopamine activity in a normal brain and a Parkinson’s patient’s before and after treatment with a therapeutic implant.
More than a million Americans have Parkinson’s disease, and another 50,000 are diagnosed each year. Scientists know that many of the characteristic symptoms of Parkinson’s — tremors, rigid muscles and movement problems — can [...]
Nov 11 2009
The most common type of arthritis, osteoarthritis, occurs due to accumulated wear and tear – welcome to old age! – or from repetitive movements or injury. Rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, is caused by an autoimmune attack on the lining of the joints, resulting in stiffness, muscle aches, and general fatigue. Approximately two million [...]
Nov 10 2009
Cisplatin, a cancer chemotherapy drug first approved by the FDA in 1978, revolutionized the treatment of many types of cancer. Despite its effectiveness, in many cases doctors are forced to reduce the drug’s dose, or abandon it altogether, due to serious side effects on patients’ hearing.
Between 10-25% of adults and up to 60% of children [...]
Oct 30 2009
New research suggests that your skills behind the wheel may be affected by your genes.
To better understand the effects of a variant in the BDNF gene on motor skills learning, Steven Cramer and colleagues at UC Irvine tested 29 subjects in a driving simulator. Their results, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, might make [...]
Oct 19 2009
Lupus, which means “wolf” in Latin, gets its name from the skin manifestations sometimes seen in the disease. A physician in the 13th century thought they looked like wolf bites.
In autoimmune disorders, the immune system — which normally protects us from harmful, foreign substances — goes into overdrive and starts attacking the body’s own cells, [...]
Oct 16 2009
Previously in The Spittoon, we discussed two papers that identified genetic variants associated with hemoglobin levels in circulating blood.
But blood consists of much more than hemoglobin, and it is responsible for much more than just transporting oxygen. This week Nature Genetics published the results of two of the largest blood studies to date, which together [...]
Oct 12 2009
Doctors routinely order the complete blood count (CBC) for their patients because they can learn a lot about a person’s health by measuring the numbers of different types of blood cells in the circulation, their sizes and the ratios between them.
One component of the CBC is usually a measure of the total amount of hemoglobin, [...]
Oct 05 2009
Our bones are amazing structures, capable of supporting tremendous force through complex motions. They do this day in and day out, year after year as we sit, stand, walk, run, lift, work, and play. But as the elderly among us know all too well, bones are not invincible and become more fragile as we age. [...]
Sep 30 2009
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which can appear as either ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, damages the lining of the digestive tract and leads to abdominal cramps, incomplete digestion and nutritional deficiencies.
Previous research on IBD gave researchers reason to suspect that the CD39 gene, which is involved with inflammatory responses and immunity, may play a role [...]
