Tag Archives: sars

Roboter als Rehabilitationshelfer

Warum Vertrauen bei der Entwicklung intelligenter Maschinen für medizinische Therapien eine zentrale Rolle spielen sollte

Der Bedarf an effektiven Strategien für die medizinische Rehabilitation wird in den kommenden Jahrzehnten deutlich zunehmen, da die Überlebensrate von Patientinnen und Patienten nach Krankheiten mit schweren funktionellen Defiziten, wie zum Beispiel einem Schlaganfall, steigen wird. Bereits jetzt werden deshalb sozial-assistive Roboter (SARs) in der Rehabilitation eingesetzt. (more…)

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Map shows hotspots for bat-human virus transmission risk

West Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia are most at risk from bat viruses ‘spilling over’ into humans resulting in new emerging diseases, according to a new global map compiled by scientists at UCL, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the University of Edinburgh. (more…)

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Tactics of new Middle East virus suggest treating by altering lung cells’ response to infection

A new virus that causes severe breathing distress and kidney failure elicits a distinctive airway cell response to allow it to multiply.  Scientists studying the Human Coronavirus-Erasmus Medical Center, which first appeared April 2012 in the Middle East, have discovered helpful details about its stronghold tactics.

Their findings predict that certain currently available compounds might treat the infection.  These could act not by killing the virus directly but by keeping lung cells from being forced to create a hospitable environment for the virus to reproduce.  The researchers caution that their lab and computer predictions would need to be tested to see if the drugs work clinically. (more…)

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Vampire Bat Study May Lead to Better Rabies-Control Strategies

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A new study of rabies in vampire bats in Peru has found that culling bats—a common rabies control strategy—does not reduce rates of rabies exposure in bat colonies, and may even be counterproductive.

The findings may eventually help public health and agriculture officials in Peru develop more effective methods for preventing rabies infections in humans and livestock, according to a team of scientists from the United States and Peru led by Daniel Streicker, a postdoctoral associate at the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology.

The study was published online this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The research team includes University of Michigan population ecologist Pejman Rohani. (more…)

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Andrew Artenstein: Essential Enzymes Key to Disease, Maybe Treatments

*Proprotein convertases are enzymes that activate many essential proteins, but they are also implicated in many processes that cause disease. In a research review in the New England Journal of Medicine, Andrew Artenstein and Steven Opal argue that proprotein convertases are potentially rich targets for developing therapies.*

Most people have never heard of proprotein convertases, but the enzymes activate many proteins that are essential for life. Unfortunately, their fundamental role puts them in the middle of many processes that cause disease – not just cancer or athlerosclerosis, but both of those and Alzheimer’s and anthrax and the flu and an amazing variety of other maladies.

In a research review article appearing Dec. 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Andrew Artenstein, physician-in-chief in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Hospital, and Steven Opal, chief of infectious diseases at Memorial Hospital, argue that proprotein convertases (PCs) are potentially rich targets for developing therapies. Artenstein, who with Opal is on the faculty of the Warren Alpert School of Medicine, explained PCs to David Orenstein. (more…)

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