Immunotherapy of precancerous skin lesions may prevent squamous cell carcinoma

A treatment previously shown to clear the precancerous skin lesions called actinic keratosis now appears to reduce the chance that the treated skin will develop squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), the second most common form of skin cancer. In their paper being published online in JCI Insight, a team led by a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigator reports that treatment with the combination of two FDA-approved drugs — a topical chemotherapy and an immune-system-activating compound — reduced the risk of SCC development on the face and scalp by almost 75 percent. “This…

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Barack Obama Surprised Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez With a Sweet Letter for Their Engagement

Even superstar Jennifer Lopez and her fiancé, legendary baseball shortstop Alex Rodriguez, can get a little bit starstruck. After former President Barack Obama heard about the power couple’s recent engagement, he wrote them a handwritten letter on his branded stationery. Lopez and Rodriguez were certainly elated over the kind gesture, and A-Rod couldn’t help but share his joy on social media yesterday. The letter read: “Jennifer and Alex – Michelle and I just wanted to congratulate you on your engagement. After 26 years together, we can say that whatever challenges life…

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Brain-inspired AI inspires insights about the brain (and vice versa)

Can artificial intelligence (AI) help us understand how the brain understands language? Can neuroscience help us understand why AI and neural networks are effective at predicting human perception? Research from Alexander Huth and Shailee Jain from The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) suggests both are possible. In a paper presented at the 2018 Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), the scholars described the results of experiments that used artificial neural networks to predict with greater accuracy than ever before how different areas in the brain respond to…

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Balanced diet, exercise may not prevent gestational diabetes

It may be time to reconsider the conventional wisdom for preventing gestational diabetes: limiting weight gain and increasing physical activity. “Our data suggest that in pregnancy, energy balance — the calories consumed versus the calories burned — may not determine the development of gestational diabetes,” said Leanne Redman, PhD, director of LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s Reproductive Endocrinology and Women’s Health Lab. “We and others now believe that there are different types of gestational diabetes that warrant different approaches to treatment and prevention.” The new Pennington Biomedical study is the…

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