Investigators from the Thomas Jefferson University have presented a case report of a 27-year-old pregnant patient in whom cystic hygroma, extensive anasarca, bilateral pleural effusions, ascites, abnormally curved sacrum and hydrocephalus with parenchymal volume loss, among others were detected by prenatal imaging during pregnancy (onset was at about 21 weeks of gestation).
Acid sphingomyelinase deficiency (ASMD) is a progressive lysosomal storage disease caused by autosomal recessive pathogenic variants in the SMPD1 gene encoding acid sphingomyelinase (ASM). In a recent study, researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine aimed to assess the levels of plasma lyso-sphingomyelin, a deacylated form of sphingomyelin, in patients with ASMD pre- and post-treatment with olipudase alfa (recombinant-human acid sphingomyelinase).
T cells do not have the last word in some breast cancers. According to a study from the University of Pittsburgh, the key to estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast tumors are macrophages, not T cells, and targeting them could prevent immunotherapy failure in this type of cancer.
When undertaking a study on allergen-induced anaphylaxis in mice, researchers have found that not only the immune but also the nervous system may potentially play a part in the anaphylactic response. In their study published March 17, 2023, in Science Immunology, researchers from Duke University Medical Center reported that mice undergoing anaphylaxis displayed an “extended posture behavior” similar to the one that mice exhibit when exposed to high temperatures.
By adapting computational methods for dealing with large volumes of data, and slimming down that data, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered previously unknown genetic associations with 19 rare diseases, and validated three of those associations.
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