Health

Illustration of a human human nerve cell © Shutterstock/Sebastian Kaulitzki

26 July 2013

Pioneering treatment offers paraplegics hope

Scientists have managed to get paralysed rats to walk again, using a combination of chemicals and electrical stimulation, an achievement that might one day help wheelchair-bound humans.

Highly magnified microscopic view of small intestine (duodenum) with enteritis in immunodeficiency status. © Shutterstock

health

19 July 2013

Gut bacteria linked to longevity

A Mediterranean-style diet rich in fish, fruit and olive oil can help people live longer, and scientists believe this could be because of its effect on the bacteria in our stomachs.

Researchers on the EU-funded RARE project are trying to slow down or stop the evolution of antibiotic resistance by studying how it evolves in the laboratory. © Len Rubenstein

health

10 July 2013

Alternating antibiotics to tackle superbugs

Researchers believe they can take on drug-resistant superbugs by changing the way that drugs are prescribed in hospitals.

Researchers on the Research Vessel Jan Mayen (belonging to the University of Tromsø, Norway) sorting specimens brought up by a trawl net. The cold seas of Norway might yield new species of interesting marine micro-organisms. © Marcel Jaspars

health

05 July 2013

New drugs... at the bottom of the ocean

European researchers are heading to some of the deepest and coldest places on the planet as part of a race against time to find new medicines that can protect society from increasingly drug-resistant bacteria.

Innovative nanotools for cancer diagnostics based on photoluminescent, plasmonic, second harmonic generating and magnetically barcoded nanoparticles and nanowires (clockwise from upper left) could help detect the disease earlier. © Igor Nabiev, Luigi Bonacina, Adriele Prina Mello and Darragh Crotty

health

01 July 2013

Nano-tech sensors to find cancer earlier

New medical devices working with particles so small that they are invisible to the human eye are paving the way for earlier cancer detection, helping save lives.

Through the EU-funded EpiTarGene project, Dr Katarzyna Kalita, from the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology in Poland, has identified a group of genes controlled by one of the major regulatory proteins in the brain: the Serum Response Factor (SRF). This could lead to the better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of epilepsy.

health

26 June 2013

Genes, brain plasticity & epileptic seizures

Researchers studying one of the major regulatory proteins in the brain are advancing knowledge about the behaviour of certain genes upon epileptic seizures.

Radiotherapy treatment at Akademiska Hospital, Sweden. © RaySearch Laboratories

health

24 June 2013

Fighting cancer with high-tech imaging

Researchers who can monitor a cancer tumour as it changes and help direct radiation right into its centre believe they may be able to increase the efficiency of cancer treatment by at least a sixth.

Professor Dirk Verellen, from the Medical Faculty of the Free University of Brussels, shared his views with scientists and medical doctors at the 2nd Estro Forum held in April in Geneva © ESTRO

interview | health

17 June 2013

Radiotherapy needs to become more individualised

Professor Dirk Verellen, director of the medical physics group at the Medical Faculty of the Free University of Brussels, outlines his vision on the future of radiotherapy in Europe.

Thanks to the research carried out by Prof. Gyorgy Buzsaki, it is now clear that during extensive seizures, neurons in the middle part of the Hippocampus often degenerate. The device developed in collaboration with Dr Antal Berényi of Hungary’s Szeged University helps prevent these seizures by detecting abnormal brain activity and delivers electrical current to restore it to a normal state, stopping the seizure. (c) Prof. Buzsaki

health | interview

12 June 2013

Stopping epileptic seizures in their tracks

A carry-around device or implant to predict or prevent seizures could be life changing for millions of people with epilepsy.

The team of the reMYND lab is part of the EU-funded AgedBrainSYSBIO project that studies the ageing brain. The hope is to contribute to slowing the progression of Alzheimer's disease. © Koen De Witte

health

31 May 2013

Decoding the cause of Alzheimer's disease

With Europe’s population living longer, the quest for new Alzheimer’s disease (AD) therapies has never been more urgent. Researchers hope that figuring out which genes and environmental factors trigger the illness will deliver drugs that prevent serious memory loss.

Health