Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Medicine’ Category

A Match Made in Neural Heaven: How a Neuron Grows an Axon

Posted in Medicine on 02/07/2019|

Scientists unlock new molecular secrets to unravel the mystery to how a neuron obtains an axon. 

Neurons transfer information through electrical impulses. These impulses travel down the long, threadlike axon that extends from the neuron’s central body. At the end of the axon, the impulse arcs across a gap to the fingerlike dendrite of the neighboring neuron. This spark of a synapse conveys information from one neural cell to the next. The complex neural circuit enables every action, emotion, and thought you experience every day.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Global Health Fellows Help the Smallest Patients at Home and Abroad

Posted in Medicine, tagged on 09/08/2018|

Chinle_SpiderRock_altered

Growing up on the island of Kauai, Caitlin Stiglmeier, MD, developed an intense respect and love for the land. After completing a project on the East coast, she was overwhelmed by the same feeling as she drove west, deeper into the rural serenity that brought her to the Navajo reservation.

“I can’t really describe it, but I felt like I was entering into a special place,” she said.

Stiglmeier arrived at this region of northeastern Arizona to apply her medical skills as a fellow in the Global, Rural and Underserved Child Health (GRUCH) Fellowship program.

The GRUCH Fellowship program at University of Utah Health was designed to train pediatricians to become global health leaders. The participants apply their skills both locally and internationally by caring for children whose health care needs are underserved.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Music Activates Regions of the Brain Spared by Alzheimer’s Disease

Posted in Medicine, tagged on 08/28/2018|

Ever get chills listening to a particularly moving piece of music? You can thank the salience network of the brain for that emotional joint. Surprisingly, this region also remains an island of remembrance that is spared from the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the University of Utah Health are looking to this region of the brain to develop music-based treatments to help alleviate anxiety in patients with dementia. Their research will appear in the April online issue of The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Be Still My Beating Heart

Posted in Genetics, Medicine, tagged on 08/14/2018|

MT_Family_banner

Researchers identify a genetic mutation that sets the heart racing, producing an irregular heartbeat that can lead to heart failure.

As a young woman, Martha Aston knew something wasn’t right.

“I was preparing for my junior piano recital in college and I just didn’t feel good,” she said. “Performing one piece of music exhausted me.”

Beyond the bone-grinding fatigue, she also could not catch her breath. During a routine medical check-up a few months later, her doctor paused while listening to her heart.

“He asked me if I knew I had an irregular heartbeat,” she said.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »