Aging entails a loss of muscle mass and strength, which in some cases impairs mobility, hinders walking or performance of day-to-day tasks, and exposes the elderly to the risk of falls and hospitalizations. In clinical practice, handgrip measurement is the most widely used method to identify loss of overall muscular strength in older people. Values…
Look deep inside the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s disease, most forms of dementia or the concussion-related syndrome known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and you’ll find a common suspected culprit: stringy, hairball-like tangles of a protein called tau. Such conditions, collectively known as “tauopathies” strike scores of people across the globe, with Alzheimer’s alone…
Scientists have figured out how to modify CRISPR’s basic architecture to extend its reach beyond the genome and into what’s known as the epigenome — proteins and small molecules that latch onto DNA and control when and where genes are switched on or off. In a paper published April 9, 2021, in the journal Cell,…
LA JOLLA, CALIF. – April 16, 2021 – Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have identified a set of human genes that fight SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus that causes COVID-19. Knowing which genes help control viral infection can greatly assist researchers’ understanding of factors that affect disease severity and also suggest possible therapeutic options. The genes…
One of the most comprehensive statistical analyses of drivers of food insecurity across 65 countries has concluded that household income consistently explains more discrepancy in food security than any other factor, including agricultural land resources and production. The Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth study, “Cross-national analysis of food security drivers: comparing results based on…
Although antibodies induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection are largely protective, they do not completely protect against reinfection in young people, as evidenced through a longitudinal, prospective study of more than 3,000 young, healthy members of the US Marines Corps conducted by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Naval Medical Research…
The main concern about B.1.1.7 is that it is highly infectious and spreads quickly among the unvaccinated, potentially overwhelming hospitals in areas where cases are surging. Do the vaccines work against B.1.1.7? All of the major vaccines in use — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik and Novavax — have been shown to be…
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said on Thursday that he hoped the nation would soon be able to resume use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as a “pause” that now looks indefinite threatened to upend vaccination efforts overseas and in some of the most marginalized communities in the United States. Dr. Fauci, President Biden’s chief…
For more than a year, Dr. Andrew Wollowitz has mostly been cloistered inside his home in Mamaroneck, N.Y. As chief of emergency medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, Dr. Wollowitz, 63, was eager to help treat patients when the coronavirus began raging through the city last spring. But a cancer treatment in 2019…
President Biden’s $400 billion proposal to improve long-term care for older adults and those with disabilities was received as either a long overdue expansion of the social safety net or an example of misguided government overreach. Republicans ridiculed including elder care in a program dedicated to infrastructure. Others derided it as a gift to the…