Positron Emission Tomography, or PET, is one of medicine’s most powerful tools for looking inside the human body, revealing not only anatomy but also how tissues are functioning. In a PET scan, a patient receives a tiny dose of a radioactive tracer that emits positrons, the antimatter counterparts of electrons. When a positron encounters an […]
Biochemistry • Chemistry • DIPC Biochemistry • Medicine • Nanotechnology
When you hear the word nanoparticle, it might sound like something futuristic or abstract. In reality, nanoparticles—tiny structures tens of thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair—are already part of modern medicine. Some are used to deliver drugs more effectively, while others help doctors see inside the body by acting as […]
Animal cafés are places where customers can enjoy food and drinks while interacting with animals such as cats, rabbits, or dogs. These cafés have become popular in many Asian cities, especially where apartments are small and the cost of living is high, making it difficult for young adults to own pets. In Europe, animal cafés […]
One of the most famous quotes that Santiago Ramón y Cajal wrote in his work “Rules and tips on scientific research” was “Every man can, if he so desires, become the sculptor of his own brain.” . However, the use of dental material as mud and stones to model or repair sculptures probably sounded like […]
Women’s health has long been ignored by pharmaceutical research. Not only are they less often included in clinical trials, but many exclusive female conditions are either not or barely researched. One of those is menopause. A change that every woman will experience and that is characterised by a plethora of (unwelcome) symptoms: hot flashes, brain […]
A predictive tool for determining the age at which individuals may develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) has demonstrated the ability to predict MCI onset within 2.78 years and AD onset within 1.48 years. Developed by Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health researchers, collaborating with the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) […]
Many (if not most) clinical trials end up failing, but given the bias towards positive results sometimes the reasons for their not working remain unclear. Luckily, a team at Open Targets and EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have analysed the reasons for aborted clinical trials mentioned in Clinicaltrials.gov, the open-source register for clinical trials worldwide […]
Biology • Biomedicine • Medicine • Pharmacy
One of the biggest health threats in our current society is not related to a virus, not even to diabetes or cardiovascular disease, but to antimicrobial resistance. In fact, over 5 million deaths per year are associated with resistant bacteria, of which nearly 1.3 million deaths per year are directly attributable to antimicrobial resistance. This […]
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the vulnerabilities of our society to infectious diseases and the limitations of the tools available for viruses detection. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antigens tests have been useful to monitor and contain the extension of the last pandemic, however it demonstrated to have severe limitations. PCR is a highly […]
Computer science • Language • Linguistics • Medicine • Robotics
At a time when the mass media are full of predictions about the apocalyptic effect that AI will have on humanity, it is comforting to read two essays that show that the reality, for the moment, points in the opposite direction. The first of these reveals the excellent results that the application of natural language […]