Lifeboat Foundation

A Chicagoland hospital system has added something new to its patients’ annual checkups: the option to get a genetic test.

Until now, DNA tests have tended to live either in the consumer realm or through referrals to specialists when a patient brings it up.

NorthShore University HealthSystem wants to bring that conversation about genetics into every doctor’s office during annual checkups.

Continue reading “A Chicagoland hospital is adding a new test to its annual checkup — and it could be the future of medicine” »

Say hello to genetic storage.

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(credit: Hashem Al-Ghaili)

More info: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4113395/

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HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed more than 35 million lives so far, and the “cured” man is one of just 50 people currently undergoing this experimental therapy, a small percentage of the estimated 36.7 million people currently living with HIV, only 54 percent of whom know their status.

While the results of the treatment out of the UK are promising, those dormant T cells could still be lurking in the patient, so this new treatment can’t yet be considered a “cure.” However, it is another encouraging step forward on the path to one.

“We will continue with medical tests for the next five years and at the moment we are not recommending stopping Art but in the future, depending on the test results we may explore this,” said Fidlar.

Continue reading “Experimental Treatment Causes HIV Infected Cells To ‘Vanish’ From Patient’s Blood” »

Scientists identify 22 genes associated with intelligence.

• By Alexander P. Burgoyne, David Z. Hambrick on August 22, 2017

British neuroscientist (file pic) Adrian Owen made it his mission to find a way to communicate with patients in a so-called persistent vegetative state.

Since 1997, I had been using hospital brain scanners to test patients in vegetative states to see if they were in fact still conscious, though trapped in their bodies.

I was working as a research fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital when I scanned my first ‘vegetative’ patient, Kate, while showing her photos of her family as she lay inside a brain-scanning machine.

Continue reading “British doctor found way to talk to patients in vegetative state” »

Researchers are using stem cells to fabricate tiny patches they hope will be able to restore function to damaged cardiac tissue.