Science and Health News

Going to the doctor might make you want to cry, and according to a new study, doctors could someday put those tears to good use. In ACS Nano, researchers report a nanomembrane system that harvests and purifies tiny blobs called exosomes from tears, allowing researchers to quickly analyze them for disease biomarkers. Dubbed iTEARS, the platform could enable more efficient and less invasive molecular diagnoses for many diseases and conditions, without relying solely on symptoms.

The findings represent an important step toward cell therapies to restore sensation in people with spinal cord injuries

Scientists from the University of Birmingham have shown that a brain-penetrating candidate drug can foster regeneration of damaged nerves after spinal trauma

The loss of the male sex chromosome as many men age causes the heart muscle to scar and can lead to deadly heart failure, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine shows. The finding may help explain why men die, on average, several years younger than women.

Individuals with no dementia risk factors, such as smoking, diabetes or hearing loss, have similar brain health as people who are 10 to 20 years younger than them, according to a new Baycrest study. The study found that a single dementia risk factor could reduce cognition by the equivalent of up to three years of aging.

SLEEP You may think that a good night’s sleep should be uninterrupted. But in fact, the neurotransmitter noradrenaline causes you to wake up more than 100 times a night, new research from the University of Copenhagen concludes. It is perfectly normal and may even indicate that you have slept well.

Triptans, a commonly prescribed class of migraine drugs, may also be useful in treating obesity, a new study by scientists at UT Southwestern suggests.

A new portable medical device for monitoring and early detection of chronic kidney disease, which affects an estimated 9% of the world’s population, has been shown to have potential to service rural and remote patients and communities with limited medical services.