From letting us know when to sleep to influencing the effectiveness of medications, our circadian clock exerts a powerful influence on our lives. However, you can’t simply check the time of your circadian clock with a watch. A new paper published today Genome Medicine showcases a new machine learning tool to monitor the clock in human blood named
ZeitZeiger. Here, author of the study, Dr. Jacob Hughey, tells us more.
In recognition of Rare Disease Day, Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases Editor-in-Chief Ségolène Aymé discusses the importance of research in working to cure these diseases, the paradoxes sometimes presented in this effort, and the usefulness of direct patient participation.
This year’s edition of Rare Disease Day is dedicated to research and its importance. As these illnesses are difficult to diagnose and treat, it is of great significance to continue efforts to find as much relevant information as possible. Raremark’s Sarah Venugopal delves into the usefulness of the patients’ voice as one of the best sources of knowledge we have.
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Rare Disease Day occurs annually, on the last day of February. It is an awareness day meant to increase cognizance and spark conversation among decision-makers, the public, and patients about rare diseases and the effects they have on lives. Take our quiz to see how much you know about rare diseases and to discover some things you might not know!
The UK Strategy for Rare Diseases was published in late 2013, as a plan geared towards recognizing and responding to the needs of the patients, families, and caretakers affected by rare diseases. The strategy covers patient services and scientific research. Srinivasa Rambhatla, a student at the University of Birmingham, examines the different areas covered by the Strategy, and makes suggestions for improvements which would benefit patients.
In an article by University of Dundee student Ferenc Gutai, we examine the current state of rare disease research and explore how it will drive the next step of medical innovation, touching on scientific areas such as genetics and biomarkers, as well as diving into exciting developments that have resulted in ever closer involvement of patients in drug development and clinical trial design.
Because of the immense genetic diversity of tumors, developing cancer vaccines is a daunting prospect. To investigate the feasibility of non-individualized cancer vaccines, a new study published today in Genome Medicine examines the genomic profiles of more than 63,000 tumors. Here, one of the authors of the study, Dr. Ryan Hartmaier, tells us about their findings.
There is an increasing concern over the lack of research reproducibility in biomedical literature, particularly in meta-research where there have been few attempts to investigate it. A study published today in Systematic Reviews compares two concurrent systematic reviews from the Medtronic-Yale partnership that established the Yale Open Data Access (YODA) Project, which offered a unique opportunity to study meta-research reproducibility and to test models of data sharing.
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a debilitating condition that affects the limbs and can be induced by trauma or surgery. An article recently published in Burns & Trauma provides a comprehensive summary of this little known condition and gives an update on recent progress in treatment.