News by Subject Medicine & Health

Girls are stronger with higher levels of vitamin D, but the association was not found in boys. These are the results from a new large study from the Odense Child Cohort, recently published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. According to the study's first author, medical student Rada Faris Al-Jwadi, girls with low vitamin D have a 70 percent increased risk of being among the lowest 10 percent in a test for muscle strength.

Newest results were showcased at the International Myology School in Moscow on May 16th - 19th, 2018. KFU was represented by Junior Research Associate Mikhail Mavlikeev. In particular, he spoke about an expedition to the Republic of Dagestan, a multiethnic region in Southern Russia, conducted by a combined team of researchers from Kazan, Ryazan, Moscow, and Saint-Petersburg.

Research to improve our understanding of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and the development of new therapies, has previously relied on mouse models. However, physiological differences between the two species has limited how successfully findings in mice can be applied to humans. A newly developed rabbit model, created through the use of CRISPR/Cas-9 genome editing, exhibits greater clinical similarity to human patients than the mouse models currently in use, with huge potential to advance DMD research.

Patients with low-back pain are better off seeing a physical therapist first, according to a study of 150,000 insurance claims. The study was published in Health Services Research.

Researchers from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland have found that continued treatment of muscle wasting with a soluble growth factor receptor protein, produced at the University of Helsinki, improved survival in a preclinical cancer model without affecting the tumor size. This effect was not found when the mice were treated with the recombinant protein only prophylactically before cancer.