Smartphone App may Help Reduce Hospital Readmissions after Heart Attack
A new smartphone app may help reduce the number of hospital readmissions in patients who have been treated for a heart attack, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's Cardiovascular Summit in Las Vegas. The "Corrie" app, developed for iPhone, is the first cardiology app for the Apple CareKit platform. The app is designed to help patients navigate the hospital discharge process by educating them about heart disease.
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Mobile Health Applications Put the Personal Data of Millions of Users at Risk
80% of the most popular health applications available on Android do not comply with standards intended to prevent the misuse and dissemination of their users' data. This is the finding of a European study started in 2016 and involving Agustà Solanas, head of the Smart Health research group at the URV's Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics, and researchers from the University of Piraeus (Greece) headed by Constantinos Patsakis.
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Lung Cancer Drug Resistance Explained by Computer Simulations
Scientists from the Universities of Bristol and Parma, Italy, have used molecular simulations to understand resistance to osimertinib - an anticancer drug used to treat types of lung cancer. Osimertinib binds tightly to a protein, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is overexpressed in many tumours. EGFR is involved in a pathway that signals for cell proliferation, and so is a target for drugs. Blocking the action of EGFR (inhibiting it) can switch it off, and so is a good way to treat the disease.
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Cancer-Fighting Nanorobots Programmed to Seek and Destroy Tumors
In a major advancement in nanomedicine, Arizona State University (ASU) scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have successfully programmed nanorobots to shrink tumors by cutting off their blood supply.
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Biosensors Will Be Inexpensive, Do More, Go Everywhere
When it comes to biometric sensors, human skin isn't an ally. It's an obstacle. The University of Cincinnati is developing cutting-edge methods to overcome this barrier without compromising the skin and its ability to prevent infection and dehydration. By making better noninvasive tests, researchers can open up enormous opportunities in medicine and the fitness industry.
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The Benefits of Social Media for Young People in Care
Young people in care benefit from the psychological, emotional and social support gained via social media networks - according to new research from the University of East Anglia's Centre for Research on the Child and Family (CRCF). Until now, the automatic assumption has been that platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp only pose a risk for this vulnerable group.
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Using Virtual Reality to Identify Brain Areas Involved in Memory
Virtual reality is helping neuroscientists at the University of California, Davis, get new insight into how different brain areas assemble memories in context. In a study published Jan. 18 in the journal Nature Communications, graduate student Halle Dimsdale-Zucker and colleagues used a virtual reality environment to train subjects, then showed that different areas of the hippocampus are activated for different types of memories.
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