news 2023

In less than a month, researchers have used AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered protein structure database, to design and synthesize a potential drug to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of primary liver cancer. The researchers successfully applied AlphaFold to an end-to-end AI-powered drug discovery platform called Pharma.AI.

By Melissa Shaw Researchers with the SFU Nanodevice Fabrication Group are developing a new biosensor that can be used to screen for Alzheimer's disease and other diseases. An overview of their work has been recently published in the journal Nature Communications. Their sensor works by detecting a particular type of small protein, in this case a cytokine known as Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF alpha), which is involved with inflammation in the body.

According to an international study, the use of videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom and FaceTime has a negative effect on social cognition and its development. Videoconferencing services are proliferating-there's Zoom, Teams, Messenger, FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp-and since the COVID-19 pandemic they have been seeing heavier use than ever before.

Waterloo researchers use MRI data to further personalize cancer medicine Researchers at the University of Waterloo have created a computational model to predict the growth of deadly brain tumours more accurately. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a brain cancer with an average survival rate of only one year.

Researchers at the University of Toronto have demonstrated that a new smartphone application helps to significantly improve memory recall, which could prove beneficial for individuals in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease or other forms of memory impairment. Dubbed HippoCamera  for its ability to mimic the function of the brain's hippocampus in memory construction and retention, the app enhances the encoding of memories stored in the brain by boosting attention to daily events and consolidating them more distinctly - thus later enabling richer, more comprehensive recall.

A recent study shows most women would give birth in water as long as it's safe for their baby, but despite the benefits very few hospital facilities now offer this option. CONTENU - Around 80 percent of women would be interested in giving birth in water, as long as the procedure poses no risks to their newborn.

A new research study has found that banning menthol cigarettes does not lead more smokers to purchase menthols from illicit sources, contradicting claims made by the tobacco industry that the proposed ban of menthol cigarettes in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will lead to a significant increase in illicit cigarettes.

A team of researchers from the University of Toronto's Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research and McMaster University have made a potential breakthrough in medulloblastoma, a form of brain cancer that predominantly affects children and infants - a finding that could lead to new, targeted treatments that are less harmful to developing brains.

When the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects a person's body, it permanently inserts its genetic material into the genome where it often remains dormant and barely detectable for years. A major obstacle in finding a cure for HIV has been solving the mystery of how this dormant pool of HIV-infected cells, also called HIV latency, is established.

Pharmacist-administered vaccination sites unevenly distributed across Ontario New research out of the University of Waterloo has identified "vaccination deserts" in parts of northern and rural Ontario and in locations where French is predominantly spoken. These areas have little to no access to pharmacist-administered vaccination sites for COVID vaccines or the flu shot.

With Canadian health-care systems in crisis,  Monica Aggarwal and her colleagues at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health are working to advise health providers on building better integrated primary care systems - work she hopes will help realize real change in the sector.

Talking about complex societal issues requires trusted experts to combat disinformation Faculty of Arts Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher is the Canada Research Chair in Science, Health and Technology Communication and leading expert on how communication practices shape how people engage with scientific and technical subject matters.

A new study led by the University of Toronto and its partner institutions has found that older adults - who account for more than 70 per cent of cancer diagnoses - would benefit from undergoing a geriatric assessment screening before they start chemotherapy. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and led by Martine Puts , an associate professor in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, examines whether the use of the geriatric assessment and management (GAM) model in cancer patients would show an improvement in their quality of life.

Women that experience recent intimate partner violence (IPV) are three times more likely to contract HIV, according to a new study led by McGill researchers. In regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, women face an intersecting epidemic of intimate partner violence and HIV. -Worldwide, more than one in four women experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime," says McGill University Professor Mathieu Maheu-Giroux , a Canada Research Chair in Population Health Modeling.