Author Archives: Rocio Gallegos, MD

A research group has uncovered how rapid tendon regeneration occurs in newts. In the future, their findings could help physicians to treat human athletes recovering from tendon injuries. Tendon injuries are a serious obstacle for athletes, who currently require several months of treatment before they can return to competition. However, animals such as newts can […]

A gene mutation linked to Alzheimer’s disease alters a signaling pathway in certain immune cells of individuals with the disease, according to a new study by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine.  The study focused on microglia, immune cells of the central nervous system that are the first to respond when something goes wrong in the […]

Worldwide, 1 in 4 people will suffer from a depressive episode in their lifetime. While current diagnosis and treatment approaches are largely trial and error, a breakthrough study sheds new light on the biological basis of mood disorders, and offers a promising blood test aimed at a precision medicine approach to treatment. Led by Alexander […]

Asthma is a debilitating condition that affects millions of people each year. A group of scientists led by immunologists and pulmonologists used advanced tools of immunology, molecular biology and unbiased computational and bioinformatic approaches to characterize immune profiles of patients with severe asthma. These findings invite a new appreciation for the complexity of disease mechanisms […]

Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are caused when the immune system mistakenly attacks a person’s own tissues or organs. These illnesses affect an estimated 10 million people in the U.S. alone. Treatments are available and can be effective for many patients, but they tend to suppress the immune system indiscriminately, creating an enhanced susceptibility […]

Researchers from the University of Jyväskylä and the Central Finland Health Care District have developed an AI based neural network to detect an early knee osteoarthritis from x-ray images. AI was able to match a doctors’ diagnosis in 87% of cases.  Osteoarthritis is the most common joint-related ailment globally. The new AI based method was […]

Exposure to phthalates, a group of plasticizing and solvent chemicals found in many household products, was linked to a lower probability of getting pregnant, but not to pregnancy loss, according to research. Phthalates are found in such common products as shampoo, makeup, vinyl flooring, toys and medical devices. People are exposed primarily by ingesting food […]

mRNA — or ‘messenger ribonucleic acid’ — is the genetic material that tells cells in the body how to make a specific protein. Researchers from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit have discovered that the cellular machinery that ‘reads’ mRNAs ‘slips’ when confronted with repeats of a chemical modification commonly found in mRNA therapeutics. […]