Aicardi syndrome: Everything you need to know

Aicardi syndrome is a very rare condition that usually affects girls. Depending on its severity, it can cause developmental delay, epilepsy, problems with vision, and a shortened life expectancy. In this article, learn more about Aicardi syndrome, including its risk factors, symptoms, and treatments. Aicardi syndrome is a rare condition that almost exclusively affects females,…

Mortality rate is cut in half by a lung rescue team at Massachusetts General

BOSTON – A specialized Lung Rescue Team established by clinicians at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to evaluate and treat patients with obesity receiving mechanical ventilation [MV] due to acute respiratory failure (ARF) has significantly reduced the risk of mortality compared to standard treatment. In a paper published in the journal Critical Care, MGH investigators reported…

Banking on a new community isotope database

Stable isotopes act like fingerprints or fibers in forensics, capturing details of where someone or something lived, what it ate or breathed, and how its environment changed over time. Isotopes are variants of elements whose nuclei contain the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Some isotopes are unstable and short-lived, but…

Are bigger brains better?

EAST LANSING, Mich. – When it comes to certain parts of the brain, bigger doesn’t necessarily equate to better memory. According to a new study led by Michigan State University, a larger hippocampus, a curved, seahorse-shaped structure embedded deep in the brain, does not always reliably predict learning and memory abilities in older adults. It’s…

Edible ‘security tag’ to protect drugs from counterfeit

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Manufacturing prescription drugs with distinct markings, colors, shapes or packaging isn’t enough to protect them from counterfeiting, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reports have shown. Purdue University researchers are aiming to stump counterfeiters with an edible “security tag” embedded into medicine. To imitate the drug, a counterfeiter would have to uncrack a…