Mass drug administration reduces scabies cases by 90% in Solomon Islands’ communities

Mass drug administration (MDA) of two antibiotics can be highly effective at reducing cases of scabies and the bacterial infection impetigo, according to new research published in Lancet Infectious Diseases. The study was conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney and the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health and Medical Services. It saw the entire population of Choiseul Province of the Solomon Islands (26,000 people), in the Pacific, given one round of the antibiotics ivermectin and azithromycin…

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Wearable sensors mimic skin to help with wound healing process

Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York, have developed skin-inspired electronics to conform to the skin, allowing for long-term, high-performance, real-time wound monitoring in users. “We eventually hope that these sensors and engineering accomplishments can help advance healthcare applications and provide a better quantitative understanding in disease progression, wound care, general health, fitness monitoring and more,” said Matthew Brown, a PhD student at Binghamton University. Biosensors are analytical devices that combine a biological component with a physiochemical detector to observe and analyze a chemical substance and its reaction…

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Natural gene therapy for intractable skin disease discovered

Pathogenic gene mutations causing a type of intractable skin disease can be eliminated from some parts of patients’ skin as they age, according to Hokkaido University researchers and their collaborators in Japan. This represents a form of natural gene therapy. In general, there is no fundamental treatment method capable of curing diseases caused by gene abnormality because it is difficult to remove certain genetic mutations from all affected cells. Loricrin keratoderma (LK) is one such disease; caused by loricrin mutations, it is characterized by dry, thickened, scaly skin from birth.…

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Clinical and environmental factors impact absorption of common sunscreen ingredient

With the growing awareness of ultraviolet (UV) exposure resulting in an increased risk of photoaging and skin cancers, consumers are using higher sun protection factor (SPF) sunscreens with frequent reapplication. New research, Evaluation of Reapplication and Controlled Heat Exposure on Oxybenzone Permeation from Commercial Sunscreen Using Excised Human Abdominal Skin, presented today at the 2018 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) PharmSci 360 Meeting demonstrates that heat and reapplication influences different sunscreen products containing the same amount of a key ingredient, oxybenzone, potentially affecting safety and toxicity of the UV…

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Skin cancer can spread in mice by hijacking the immune system

Scientists have uncovered molecules released by invasive skin cancer that reprogram healthy immune cells to help the cancer to spread. Targeting these molecules with inhibiting drugs could help to prevent this aggressive skin cancer coming back after treatment. The findings of the Cancer Research UK-funded study are published in Cell, today (Thursday). Researchers from Queen Mary University of London looked at cells from the edges of invasive melanomas in mice and human tumour samples, to investigate the effects of a protein they produce — called Myosin II*. They found that high…

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