BioMedWire Stocks Archives - Page 8 of 64

MondayOct 28, 2024 10:30 pm

Brain Organoids Uncover Autism Biology, Possible Treatments

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute have uncovered new information about autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a developmental and neurological disorder that affects how an individual interacts with others, behaves, learns and communicates. The disorder’s causes are only partly known, with scientists linking a number of genetic variants to it. For their study, the researchers used stem cells generated from patients with a severe and rare form of the developmental disorder. They focused on MEF2C haploinsufficiency syndrome (MHS), which develops following a genetic variation in the MEF2 gene. They grew the stem cells into mini-brain organoids, which allowed the…

FridayOct 25, 2024 10:00 am

Tech Giants Unveil AI Tools to Support e-Commerce, Healthcare and Video Production

In the last fortnight, leading technology companies have unveiled a number of artificial intelligence tools which could have a huge impact on the e-commerce, healthcare and video production fields. Adobe released its Firefly Video production tool. The model allows corporate users to reduce the costs associated with video production and also streamline the entire process. With the AI tools from Adobe, users can provide text prompts in any of at least 100 supported languages and have custom videos generated. Experts clarify that the efficiency-boosting attributes of these video creation tools shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for humans. Instead, the…

ThursdayOct 24, 2024 10:00 am

Change Healthcare Cyberattack Toll Could Reach Almost $3 Billion This Year

Andrew Witty, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group, gave his testimony on the ransomware attack on Change Healthcare to the Senate Finance Committee in June. The attack occurred in February of this year, with the initial point of entry for the ransomware being a server whose multifactor authentication hadn’t been enabled. This is despite the fact that multifactor authentication is a standard practice for servers exposed to the public internet. After gaining access to the server, the ransomware then acquired access to the Microsoft Active Directory Server. This ransomware attack was a wake-up call to others in the healthcare industry, prompting…

FridayOct 18, 2024 10:00 am

Toxic Protein Could Be Behind the Development of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

New research has found that a toxic protein may affect the skeletal muscle tissues, spinal cord, and brain, aiding the development and progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS in short, is an illness that affects an individual’s nervous system, causing nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain to degenerate. As it progresses, this motor neuron illness leads to muscle weakness and atrophy. The research was carried out by a team of scientists from Penn State College of Medicine. It was based on prior studies which implicated mutations of the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) protein in…

WednesdayOct 16, 2024 10:00 am

Analysis of Medical Records Repeatedly Links Viruses to Alzheimer’s

New research has observed that serious viral infections, including pneumonia and encephalitis, heighten the risk of neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. This comes after previous research found a connection between the Epstein-Barr virus and a heightened risk of developing multiple sclerosis. Michael Nalls, a neurogeneticist and the senior author of the study, revealed that the research team decided to use a data science-based approach for its research. Using this approach, the investigators focused on analyzing medical records, which made it easier to systematically look for all potential links at a go. They focused on the medical records of…

MondayOct 14, 2024 10:00 am

Researchers Shine Spotlight on New Barriers to Vaccination

The 20th century saw many advancements being adopted in the medical field, among them, potable water, penicillin and, most importantly, vaccines. Vaccines have saved millions of lives, from the eradication of smallpox globally in the 1980s to their use in curbing the spread of the coronavirus in 2020. Over the last 10 years, however, rates of vaccination have begun to drop, threatening the great beneficial effects of vaccinations not only in the United States but also around the globe. A recent review examined the new public health and clinical barriers to vaccination in the United States. The review was conducted…

FridayOct 11, 2024 10:00 am

Siblings of Autistic Kids Have Sevenfold Higher Risk of Autism

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental and neurological disorder that affects how an individual communicates and interacts with others as well as the individual behaves and learns. Now, a new study has determined that siblings of children with autism have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with the developmental disorder. The research was carried out by researchers from the Baby Siblings Research Consortium and the UC Davis MIND Institute. The researchers’ objective was to determine the likelihood that a child born after an autistic child in one family would have the disorder. Huge increases in autism diagnoses, as observed in…

WednesdayOct 09, 2024 10:00 am

Eight New e-Commerce Tools Businesses Can Leverage

Businesses seeking to grow their sales may benefit from e-commerce tools that reduce their workloads while making it easier for their products to reach consumers. We discuss new e-commerce tools that businesses can leverage, below. Supply chain by Amazon Amazon recently rolled out its supply chain service, which allows Amazon to automate and manage product movement for sellers. To access this service, sellers only have to provide pick-up locations and product details, leaving Amazon to handle things such as the consolidation of inventory, carrier pickup and optimization based on costs, inventory and demand. Cross-border ecommerce platform DHL Global Forwarding recently…

MondayOct 07, 2024 10:00 am

At Least 14 Million Americans Affected by Data Breaches in Healthcare

A brief generated by a cybersecurity company has revealed that nearly 14 million patients in the United States have been affected by breaches in healthcare data thus far this year. The report also found that 91% of the breaches involved ransomware, which calls attention to the targeting of the country’s healthcare sector. SonicWall based the report it generated on data from Capture Labs, which utilizes machine learning to gather and retain data on threats and attack vectors in real time. The researchers’ analysis highlighted an increasing prominence of ransomware actors that specialized in targeting healthcare, such as ALPHV/BlackCat and LockBit.…

FridayOct 04, 2024 10:00 am

Jimmy Carter Survival Thanks to Novel Cancer Immunotherapy Treatment

In August 2015, former president Jimmy Carter revealed at a conference held at the Carter Center that cancer had spread to his brain. Carter, then aged 91, discussed how his initial diagnosis of melanoma had led to the disease’s spread. If he had been diagnosed with the illness just a few years prior, he would have had about six months to live. Instead, the former president celebrated his 100th birthday on Oct. 1, 2024. While luck did play a role, experts believe Carter is alive today because of immunotherapy treatments. At the time, immunotherapy was a new treatment following the…