BioMedWire Stocks Archives - Page 5 of 64

FridayJan 17, 2025 10:00 am

Autism: What You Need to Know

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental and neurological disorder that influences how an individual communicates, interacts with others, behaves, and learns. Since the start of the new millennium, autism diagnoses have risen significantly, with data from the CDC showing that the autism rate in America as of 2022 was 2.77%. This is a significant increase from the 0.66% recorded in 2000. Estimates from WHO show that the global prevalence of the disorder stands at 1%, an increase from the 0.62% recorded over a decade ago. Researchers attribute the increase in diagnoses to more screening. The inclusion of a range of…

ThursdayJan 16, 2025 10:00 am

Gale Unveils New Integration to Ease Healthcare e-Commerce Payments

Health savings accounts are basically savings accounts that allow people to allocate funds for future healthcare expenses, like physician visits and prescription medications. A recent analysis found that millions of Americans have access to these tax-advantaged accounts but aren’t well-informed on how to utilize them. Tom Griffiths, founder of Gale, explains that these funds aren’t used a lot because of confusion surrounding their products and services. To reduce this confusion, the firm focuses on allowing merchants to accept payments from consumers who are well-informed of what products they can purchase with their flexible spending account and health savings account cards.…

FridayJan 10, 2025 10:00 am

Chinese Research Team Suggests Common Drug for Blood Pressure Could Treat Invasive Brain Tumor

A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Scientists has discovered that a common high blood pressure medication may be useful in treating a certain brain tumor. The tumor, a craniopharyngioma, is a non-cancerous growth that usually develops near the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. There are two sub-types of craniopharyngioma; papillary and adamantinomatous, with papillary craniopharyngiomas being more likely to develop in grownups. Despite being benign, it may cause complications as it grows, resulting in hormone dysfunction and metabolic disorders like hypothyroidism and diabetes. Other symptoms include headaches, mood swings, issues with balance, nausea and vomiting, vision problems, and…

TuesdayJan 07, 2025 10:00 am

Study Sheds Light on How Mitochondrial Changes Contribute to Muscle Aging

As an individual grows older, they experience continued loss of strength and skeletal muscle mass. Once an adult reaches 40, they start losing roughly 8% of their muscle mass every 10 years. By age 70, this often rises to 15% loss in muscle mass every 10 years. Muscle loss, commonly referred to as sarcopenia, is linked to a heightened risk of disability and mortality in the elderly. It causes frailty, which significantly reduces an individual’s quality of life. While the main cause of sarcopenia isn’t known, researchers posit that mitochondrial dysfunction could help explain its development. Prior studies have determined…

FridayJan 03, 2025 10:00 am

Analysis Reveals Many MA Plans Offer Inadequate Dental Coverage

Traditional Medicare doesn’t cover most dental care, which leaves consumers with the option to enroll in Medicare Advantage that provides dental care as a supplemental benefit. Previous studies have observed high out-of-pocket costs and low dental utilization rates for beneficiaries under traditional Medicare as well as Medicare Advantage. A recent analysis has determined that Medicare Advantage offers poor-quality dental coverage. Only about 8% of plans under this privatized form of Medicare provided dental benefits that met the study's quality standards. A team of researchers from Mass General Brigham conducted the analysis. For their study, the researchers assessed Medicare data from…

ThursdayJan 02, 2025 10:00 am

Study Uncovers Link Between Gut Infection and Alzheimer’s Disease

Cytomegalovirus is a type of herpes virus that most humans are exposed to in their lives. This virus is normally spread from one individual to another through bodily fluids but isn’t considered a sexually transmitted illness. Prior studies have determined that the virus may remain active in the gut, sometimes travelling to the brain through the vagus nerve. Once there, the virus can alter the immune system and contribute to changes linked to Alzheimer’s. One study found that brains of Alzheimer’s patients were likely to have CD83 microglia, with the researchers noting that antibodies found in the intestines of these…

FridayDec 27, 2024 10:00 am

Researchers Identify Protein That Makes Cancer Evade Cell Therapy

CAR T cell therapy is designed to use the immune system to find and eliminate cancer cells. This therapy is often used to treat types of aggressive blood cancers like lymphoma and leukemia. Prior studies have found that cancer cells have learned how to evade the immune system to avoid elimination. Now researchers at City of Hope have discovered a protein that assists cancer cells in hiding from this treatment. During their study, the researchers discovered that YTHDF2 played a huge role in advancing blood cancer development. The first author of the study, Zhen-Hua Chen, explained that uncovering the biological…

ThursdayDec 26, 2024 10:00 am

Autism Prevalence Surges Globally, Raising Concerns Among Healthcare Experts

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that’s characterized by restricted, repetitive and inflexible patterns of interests, activities and behavior. Globally, it is estimated that 61.8 million individuals live with this disorder. Now a new study has highlighted the increase in the prevalence of autism globally, with findings estimating that 1 in 127 individuals are afflicted by the condition. This is quite an increase from previous findings and given that this latest data is from 2021, there’s a possibility the number may be even higher. The study was carried out by the Global Burden of Diseases, with the researchers arguing…

FridayDec 20, 2024 10:00 am

4 Ways of Making e-Commerce Deliveries While Improving City Life

E-commerce and online shopping have grown significantly since the coronavirus pandemic, with choice and convenience pulling in more consumers. It is estimated that by 2027, e-commerce retail sales may have surpassed $8 trillion, representing an increase of about 39%. While this is a good thing, the increasing numbers of delivery vehicles in urban centers aren’t helping fight congestion. A recent paper that examined the growth of delivery culture has found that rising greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion as well as health issues may be some of the possible hidden costs linked to deliveries within cities. Given that increased congestion…

ThursdayDec 19, 2024 10:00 am

IT Professionals Suggest How Healthcare Data Protection Can Be Enhanced

Privacy and security are crucial in any healthcare organization, whether they’re a new practice with growing volumes of records, an established one with vast volumes, or a practice that still hasn’t gone fully digital. While technological advancements can make the lives of both patients and staff easier and ease access to care, they can also make it easier for cybercriminals to breach healthcare systems and obtain sensitive information. This raises the question, how can healthcare organizations ensure the privacy and security of patient data while managing e-health records? Below, we look at some of the ways this can be done,…