News by Subject Medicine & Health

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) have uncovered a new approach o structural topology optimization is outlined that unifies both design and manufacturing to create novel microstructures. Potential applications range from improved facial implants for cranial reconstruction to better ways to get materials into space for planetary exploration.

Scientists have developed a new biomaterial that regrows blood vessels and bone, potentially providing a single-stage approach when repairing large bone defects.

A survey of U.S. multiple sclerosis, or MS, specialist clinicians reveals the COVID-19 pandemic has created major changes in how they deliver care. More than 95% of survey respondents reported using telehealth platforms to provide care for their patients. Approximately one half of the respondents were MS specialist neurologists, four out of five of whom indicated that COVID-19 had changed how they were recommending and prescribing MS disease-modifying therapies.

The new cutoff values for a metric widely used by geriatricians, physical therapists and nutritionists are more accurate, facilitate early diagnosis and contribute to preventive treatment.

What The Study Did: The association between severity of eczema among children and risk of being diagnosed with a learning disability was investigated in this study.

Researchers developed an experimentally validated advanced computer model that reproduces the shapes and positions of millions of nerve cells in the eye, as well as the physical and networking properties associated with them. Focusing on models of nerve cells that transmit visual information from the eye to the brain, the researchers identified ways to potentially increase clarity and grant color vision to future retinal prosthetic devices.

A Monash University-led international research team has uncovered a new technique that can speed up recovery from bone replacements. Novel micropillars, 10 times smaller than the width of a human hair, can change the size, shape and nucleus of individual stem cells and 'trick' them to become bone. Further research will look to improve the process of locking bone replacements with reduced risk of infection.

Anne Swisher--professor at the West Virginia University School of Medicine--is working to address opioid misuse in an unconventional way: through physical therapy. She and her colleagues have enhanced physical therapy instruction at WVU to emphasize the profession's role in preventing and treating opioid use disorder.