The global burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is rising, with more than 800 million people affected worldwide. Vascular diseases in patients with CKD are unique and grouped as uremic vascular diseases. One of them, calciphylaxis, typically affects patients with end-stage, advanced kidney disease. It is a condition characterized by severe, painful and non-healing skin ulcers with no known cure.

 

For the first time, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital, have discovered a novel biological pathway, called the IL6 pathway, central to the skin lesion initiation and progression. Blocking this pathway they believe, will likely prevent progression of the skin ulcers and resolve the pain seen in patients with calciphylaxis.

Piperacillin, an antibiotic in the same class as penicillin, effectively cured mice of Lyme disease at 100-times less than the effective dose of doxycycline, the current gold standard treatment. At such a low dose, piperacillin also had the added benefit of “having virtually no impact on resident gut microbes."

The link between proximity to greenspace — including trees and parks— and healthy birth outcomes is well established. Now new data from researchers at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health adds to our understanding of these health benefits, accounting for other factors that may influence this link, such as education, income and body mass index, but also taking the body of knowledge a step further by exploring the effect of residing near newly planted trees. The findings were recently published in the journal Science of The Total Environment.

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have uncovered a critical, previously underappreciated role for B cells in vaccine protection. Best known for producing antibodies, B cells also guide other immune cells, specifically CD8 T cells, teaching them how to mount lasting defenses after vaccination.

In a study published in Ophthalmology, physicians followed 562 patients in the United States and India over a three-month period to identify risk factors that could be easily managed with early intervention.

Maria A. Woodward, M.D., an associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and a member of the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, answers questions about what causes microbial keratitis, symptoms and preventative measures.

University of New Mexico Health Sciences researchers hope to launch human clinical trials in their quest for a vaccine to prevent the buildup of pathological tau after demonstrating that thes vaccine generated a robust immune response in both mice and non-human primates.