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Alzheimer's Research

Uncovering the Mystery: Research Suggests Single Unknown Respiratory Virus Causes Kawasaki Disease

New research strongly suggests that Kawasaki disease is caused by a single respiratory virus that is yet to be identified. Findings contradict the theory that many different pathogens or toxins could cause this disease that can lead to serious cardiac complications in young children.

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The discovery of a single unknown respiratory virus as the cause of Kawasaki disease is a major breakthrough in medical research. For over 50 years, the exact origin of this condition has been a mystery. However, recent findings from the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago strongly suggest that a single respiratory virus is responsible for Kawasaki disease.

“We have compelling data that provide a clear direction for the field to identify and sequence the virus that causes Kawasaki disease in susceptible children,” said Anne Rowley, MD, pediatric infectious diseases expert and scientist at Manne Research Institute at Lurie Children’s. “This will be critical to advancing the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Kawasaki disease.”

Kawasaki disease is a relatively uncommon condition affecting mostly children between 6 months and 5 years of age. Currently, there is no diagnostic test for Kawasaki disease. Clinical signs include fever, rash, swelling of the hands and feet, irritation and redness of the whites of the eyes, swollen lymph glands in the neck, and irritation and inflammation of the mouth, lips, and throat.

Children with Kawasaki disease have a 20 percent chance of developing heart disease, while infants are at higher risk with a 50 percent chance of cardiac complications. The standard treatment is intravenous immunoglobulin and aspirin, which substantially decreases the risk of heart disease in patients with Kawasaki disease. Steroids may be added for the highest-risk patients.

In their study, Dr. Rowley and colleagues prepared antibodies from blood cells of children with Kawasaki disease to see what these antibodies would target in tissue samples of patients who died from the disease. They found that the antibodies recognized inclusion bodies, which are by-products of a virus, in all 20 tissue samples representing cases from the U.S. and Japan over 50 years.

“We saw the same inclusion bodies targeted in every tissue sample spanning five decades and two continents, which shows that we are dealing with one predominant virus causing Kawasaki disease,” said Dr. Rowley. “It appears to be a respiratory virus since the inclusion bodies were in the medium-sized airways. Going forward, we need to focus on studies of pathology specimens to gain understanding of what is inside the inclusion bodies so that we can identify the Kawasaki disease virus and finally solve the mystery.”

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grant R01AI150719 to Dr. Rowley, the Max Goldenberg Foundation, the Center for Kawasaki Disease at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the Northwestern University NUSeq Core Facility, and the Northwestern University Flow Cytometry Core Facility supported by Cancer Center Support Grant (NCI CA060553).

Alternative Medicine

A Pain-Free Patch Revolutionizes Cancer Detection with Nanoneedles

A new nanotechnology breakthrough may soon eliminate the need for painful biopsies. Scientists have developed a patch filled with nanoneedles thinner than a human hair that can painlessly extract molecular data from tissues without removing or damaging them. This enables real-time disease monitoring, particularly for conditions like brain cancer and Alzheimer s, and could radically change how doctors diagnose and track disease. The patch works quickly, integrates with common medical tools, and provides results using AI, opening doors to personalized medicine and better surgical decisions.

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The article has been rewritten to improve clarity, structure, and style, making it understandable to the general public:

A groundbreaking patch, containing tens of millions of microscopic nanoneedles, could soon replace traditional biopsies. This innovative technology offers a painless and less invasive alternative for millions of patients worldwide who undergo biopsies each year to detect and monitor diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Biopsies are among the most common diagnostic procedures worldwide, performed millions of times every year. However, they can be invasive, cause pain and complications, and deter patients from seeking early diagnosis or follow-up tests. Traditional biopsies also remove small pieces of tissue, limiting how often and how comprehensively doctors can analyze diseased organs like the brain.

Now, scientists at King’s College London have developed a nanoneedle patch that painlessly collects molecular information from tissues without removing or damaging them. This breakthrough could allow healthcare teams to monitor disease in real-time and perform multiple, repeatable tests from the same area – something impossible with standard biopsies.

The nanoneedles are incredibly thin, measuring 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, and cause no pain or damage. For many patients, this means earlier diagnosis and more regular monitoring, transforming how diseases are tracked and treated.

Dr. Ciro Chiappini, who led the research published in Nature Nanotechnology, said: “We have been working on nanoneedles for twelve years, but this is our most exciting development yet. It opens a world of possibilities for people with brain cancer, Alzheimer’s, and for advancing personalized medicine.”

The patch is covered in tens of millions of nanoneedles that extract molecular “fingerprints” – including lipids, proteins, and mRNAs – from cells without harming the tissue. The tissue imprint is then analyzed using mass spectrometry and artificial intelligence, giving healthcare teams detailed insights into whether a tumor is present, how it’s responding to treatment, and how disease is progressing at the cellular level.

This technology could be used during brain surgery to help surgeons make faster, more precise decisions. For example, by applying the patch to a suspicious area, results could be obtained within 20 minutes and guide real-time decisions about removing cancerous tissue.

Made using the same manufacturing techniques as computer chips, the nanoneedles can be integrated into common medical devices such as bandages, endoscopes, and contact lenses. Dr. Chiappini added: “This could be the beginning of the end for painful biopsies. Our technology opens up new ways to diagnose and monitor disease safely and painlessly – helping doctors and patients make better, faster decisions.”

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Alzheimer's

Epilepsy Strikes with Surprising Frequency in Frontotemporal Dementia Patients

According to a recent study, in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), epileptic seizures are significantly more common than previously known. The discovery deepens understanding of the symptoms of this memory disorder and emphasises the importance of taking epileptic seizures into account in the treatment and monitoring of patients.

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Epileptic seizures are more common in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) than previously known, according to a recent study. This discovery sheds new light on the symptoms of this memory disorder and emphasizes the importance of considering epileptic seizures in treatment and monitoring patients.

The research project, led by Neurocenter Finland, analyzed data from 12,490 medical records at the University Hospitals of Kuopio and Oulu between 2010-2021. The study identified 245 patients with FTD and found that epilepsy was significantly more common among them than those with Alzheimer’s disease or healthy controls.

“Our results show that epilepsy is considerably more common among those with FTD than those with Alzheimer’s disease or in healthy controls,” says Doctoral Researcher Annemari Kilpeläinen, the first author of the research article and a medical specialist in neurology. “It is noteworthy that epilepsy occurred in some patients with FTD already ten years before their dementia diagnosis, and it was more common in all the examined stages of the disease than previous international studies have reported.”

The prevalence of epilepsy increased over time in patients with FTD, reaching approximately 11% five years after the diagnosis. In addition to diagnosing epilepsy, medications used for epilepsy were more common among patients with FTD, further strengthening the reliability of the results.

Diagnosing epilepsy in patients with FTD can be challenging due to the resemblance between the symptoms of the disease and epileptic seizures. However, untreated epilepsy can significantly worsen patients’ condition. Identifying epilepsy is essential because its treatment can improve patients’ functional capacity and quality of life.

“Knowledge about the association between epilepsy and FTD raises new research questions: do these diseases share some pathophysiological mechanisms and could some FTD symptoms be caused by alterations in the specific electrical systems of the brain?” asks Associate Professor Eino Solje, the principal investigator of the project.

The recently published study is part of an extensive project that combines real-life patient data with different kinds of unique registers. The project involves a strong cooperation between the University of Oulu and the University of Eastern Finland as well as different fields of science, including between researchers in medicine and law.

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Alzheimer's

Breaking New Ground: Immune System Discovery Offers Potential Solution to Alzheimer’s

A new way of thinking about Alzheimer’s disease has yielded a discovery that could be the key to stopping the cognitive decline seen in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS and Parkinson’s.

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Breaking New Ground: Immune System Discovery Offers Potential Solution to Alzheimer’s

A groundbreaking study has shed new light on the relationship between the immune system and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered that an immune molecule called STING plays a crucial role in driving the formation of amyloid plaques and tau tangles, hallmarks of Alzheimer’s.

The study found that blocking STING activity in lab mice protected them from mental decline, suggesting a promising new target for developing treatments. This breakthrough has far-reaching implications for understanding and treating not only Alzheimer’s but also other neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and dementia.

“The findings demonstrate that the DNA damage that naturally accumulates during aging triggers STING-mediated brain inflammation and neuronal damage in Alzheimer’s disease,” said researcher John Lukens, PhD. “These results help to explain why aging is associated with increased Alzheimer’s risk and uncover a novel pathway to target in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.”

The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, involved a team of researchers from UVA’s Department of Neuroscience and Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG Center). They found that removing STING dampened microglial activation around amyloid plaques, protected nearby neurons from damage, and improved memory function in Alzheimer’s model mice.

The discovery of STING as a key player in the development of neurodegenerative diseases opens new doors for research into potential treatments. While much more work is needed to translate these findings into effective therapies, this breakthrough has sparked hope among researchers and patients alike.

“Our hope is that this work moves us close to finding safer and more effective ways to protect the aging brain,” said Lukens. “Shedding light on how STING contributes to that damage may help us target similar molecules and ultimately develop effective disease-modifying treatments.”

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