News by Subject Medicine & Health

A new paper analyzes the metrics used to evaluate organ procurement organizations and proposes three complimentary metrics to reflect more accurate and equitable performance rankings.

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have shown that the skin fibrosis seen in chronic graft-versus-host disease is mediated by transforming growth factor-β1 expressed by epidermal cells undergoing programmed death when they are stimulated by interferon-γ. Further investigations elucidate the sclerodermatous changes characteristic of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions such as systemic sclerosis, discoid lupus erythematosus and toxic epidermal necrolysis, thus opening up research avenues in pharmacotherapeutics based on targeting apoptosis and interferon-γ.

MSK researchers have uncovered an important finding about the relationship between the microbiota and the immune system, showing for the first time that the concentration of different types of immune cells in the blood changes in relation to the presence of different bacterial strains in the gut.

A new study shows that robotic-assisted kidney transplant and weight loss surgery can be performed safely.

Researchers at RIKEN in Japan have developed an improved human-skin equivalent that reproduces a property that controls the structure and physiological function of skin. This artificial skin will enhance in-depth analyses of physiological skin functions, provide solutions to skin problems caused by diseases or ageing, and reduce the need for animal testing.

Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) developed a novel microcarrier for large-scale cell production and expansion that offers higher yield and cost-effectiveness compared to traditional methods, and reduces steps required in the cell retrieval process. The findings can help treat ailments such as bone and cartilage defects and graft vs. host disease.