Nephrology

Strict regulation of blood sugar levels in type II diabetic patients can bring down the risk of kidney disease or nephropathydefine that diabetic patients are exposed to by as much as 21%, as per a report tabled during the recent annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Friday.

We all have heard about 'tennis elbow' but now scientist have found another thing, known as "cell phone elbow." Surprised? Well, Cell Phone Elbow or Cubital Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) results from constantly holding a cell phone to the ear which can cause severe nerve damage. This is the price most people will have to pay to 'get connected all the time'.

Washington -- A team of researchers have developed a tailored virus that destroys brain tumour stem cells that resist other treatment and cause re-growth of cancerdefine after surgery.

Delta-24-RGD was tested against the most aggressive brain tumour - glioblastoma multiforme, which originates in the glial cells that surround and support neurons. Being highly resistant to radiationdefine and chemotherapy and invasive, even surgery almost never eliminates it.

"We have shown first in lab experiments and then in stem cell-derived human brain cancer in mice, that we have a tool that can target and eliminate the cells that drive brain tumours," says co-senior author Juan Fueyo, M.D., associate professor in M. D. Anderson‘s Department of Neuro-Oncology.

London -- Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the University of Michigan have identified a gene that can protect humans from nephronopthisis (NPHP), a serious kidney disease.

NPHP is a disease that causes kidney degeneration during childhood and kidney failure requiring organ transplantation. The insights might help design effectual and non-invasive therapies.

The team has discovered that mutations in the gene GLIS2 can lead to nephronopthisis (NPHP) in both humans and mice.

Washington -- People with normal cognitive functions may be vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease if they exhibit atrophy of their temporal lobe or damage to blood vessels in the brain, says a study of older adults.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroimaging, also suggests that people exhibiting both conditions are seven-times more likely to develop the disease than their peers.

Washington : Boffins have identified the brain region responsible for pain’s ability to seek attention.

The new study has found that this pain-related brain region is distinct from the one involved in cognitive processing interference due to a distracting memory task.

The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Ulrike Bingel at the the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

Washington : Boffins have identified two classes of brain cells with distinct roles in visual attention, and highlighted mechanisms by which these cells mediate attention in a manner that allows us to fix our gaze on one object while independently directing attention to others.

Washington -- A new study has found that angioplasty, the most common procedure for clearing blocked kidney arteries, has potential to damage kidneys.

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center found that it does so by releasing release thousands of tiny particles that can impair kidney function into the bloodstream.

Based on laboratory studies, researchers have suspected that angioplasty releases particles into the bloodstream – presumably made up of bits of clot and fatty plaque material from the blockage.

A new study has found that young people who are short-tempered are more prone to lung problems. The researchers have found a correlation between levels of hostility and impaired lung function in young people.

Lead author and psychologist Dr Benita Jackson, from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, said, "What's really remarkable (is that) some of the associations were greater than being a current smoker."

A new study has found that moving your eyes horizontally for as little as 30 seconds can boost up your memory.

Scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University found that the group of volunteers who made horizontal eye movements before they were asked to recall words, recognized significantly more previously studied words than those who did not made any such eye movement. They also had fewer errors in their recall.