According to the Center for Disease Control, 1.25 million people suffer from type 1 diabetes in the US alone. So far, it can only be managed with diet and regular doses of insulin, but scientists at UT Health San Antonio have invented a way of curing the disease in mice that may one day do the same for humans even with type 2 diabetes. read more
Sperm that’s been loaded with chemotherapy drugs could be used to fight cancer in women.
The guided missile technique involves using drug-treated sperm to deliver the medicines to 
tumors deep inside the body.
The revolutionary treatment could help thousands of women affected by cancers of the reproductive system, which can be reached by the drug- carrying sperm. Cancer of the womb kills more than 2,000 women a year in the UK and cervical cancer claims the lives of around 900.
Treatment includes chemotherapy to try to poison the cancer cells before they spread.
But this also damages healthy cells. For years, scientists have been exploring ways to deliver toxic anti-cancer medicines directly to tumor sites, leaving healthy tissues unscathed.
One method used bacteria as a form of transport, as they can penetrate the body easily.
from IBD:
The Freedom Caucus was the most vociferous in its opposition to the American Health Care Act — or at least its criticisms of the bill attracted the most attention.
The Wall Street Journal editorial page blamed the group, calling it the “Freedom-From-Reality Caucus.” CNN reported that “its members … are Public Enemy No. 1 on Capitol Hill.”
President Trump went so far as to tweet that “The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” read more
The Australian funnel-web spider is generally something you’d want to steer well clear of, but the creepy crawly could soon be helping out stroke victims. A peptide found in the spider’s venom has been shown to reduce the brain damage that occurs in the hours following a stroke, with early preclinical studies involving rats having delivered extremely promising results.
Tiny magnetic beads coated in sugar could help doctors to check if a cancer has spread. Once injected into the patient, the beads can be detected using a handheld magnetic wand — similar to a metal detector — and are used to identify the lymph nodes nearest to the cancer.
The lymph nodes form part of the lymphatic system, which drains fluid from tissues all over the body back into the bloodstream. If cancerous cells get into this system, the disease can then spread to other parts of the body.
The key to determining if cancer has spread is identifying the sentinel node — the lymph node that is nearest the tumour.
There has been plenty of recent research focusing on how your gut bacteria can send messages to your brain controlling appetite and feelings of satiation, but a recent discovery by researchers from the Columbia University Medical Centre has revealed a previously unknown appetite-regulating mechanism that is secreted by bone cells. read more
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What is the number one complaint amongst conservatives regarding healthcare? That it is completely void of the free market. Whether it is ObamaCare, or what we currently know of RyanCare, for all intents and purposes, the free market simply doesn’t 
exist.
We on the right understand that free market forces like competition and innovation are the keystones to any successful industry – any mutually beneficial transaction. Insurance is no different.
Health Insurance, which, to reiterate for the thousandth time, is not healthcare, anymore than auto insurance equals car repair, etc. We would never think of attempting to use our auto insurance for a tire change or a new muffler. Yet we don’t think twice about using our health insurance when we see a doctor for the common cold.
And why? Simple, as we know. It’s called third party payer, or worse, single payer. As long as we perceive that someone, the insurance company, will pay for the visit, we don’t ask what the charges are before service is rendered. We don’t ask after the services are rendered, nor do most even care. It’s the antithesis of the free market. read more
Using stem cells to create insulin-producing beta cells that could be transplanted into diabetics is being investigated as a possible cure for type 1 diabetes and treatment for type 2, but new research suggests that a special diet could reprogram cells in the pancreas to do the same thing. read more
from IBD:
The need for an overhaul of ObamaCare just got more acute, as a new survey shows that satisfaction rates among those enrolled in ObamaCare plans has taken a steep nose-dive this year amid premium hikes and reduced choices.
The new coverage of ObamaCare these days has been all about protests against repeal and the alleged increase in public support for the law.
But a survey of actual ObamaCare customers released this week paints an entirely different picture.
It found that just 22% of the 44,200 ObamaCare enrollees polled rate their health plan as good to excellent. That’s down from 77% who gave their ObamaCare plans high marks last year. read more
Human stem cells grown on Kyoto University’s “fiber-on-fiber” culturing system(Credit: Kyoto University)
Mighty promising as they are, stem cells certainly aren’t easy to come by. read more
