Eight of the top medical research discoveries of 2014

2014 has been a year of new discoveries and advancement in the medical field. Here are eight of the top medical research discoveries made in 2014

1. When, how & where AIDS originated?

This question had been baffling the scientific community for quite a while now. Researchers from several countries including the United States and many European nations have now been able to piece when, where and how the first case of AIDS came into being using statistical analysis. It is now understood that it happened in Kinshasa, the capital of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo”sometime during the 1920s and was contracted form a chimpanzee. The study was published in the journal “˜Science'.

2. Cesarean section may cause epigenetic changes:

Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have carried out a study that reveals that delivering babies via cesarean section can result in changes in the baby’s stem cells. These changes are responsible for an increased risk of immunological diseases such as asthma, diabetes type 1, celiac disease, etc. The findings of the study were published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

3. What triggers stress processes in the brain:

A team of researchers working at the Center for Brain Research at MedUni in Vienna and colleagues from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden discovered an important factor that triggers stress. They revealed that the protein secretagogin acted as a trigger in the brain by releasing the stress hormone CRH. The team has published the findings in the EMBO Journal.

4. Identification of the first steps in pancreatic cancer:

Bio-researchers at the Mayo Clinic have identified the initial processes that lead to pancreatic cancer. This finding is crucial as it could lead to therapies that can prevent the cancer from getting started. The findings were published in the journal Cancer Discovery.

5. How to switch off autoimmune diseases discovered by scientists:

Researchers at the University of Bristol have achieved a major breakthrough in finding a cure for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. They have discovered the way how cells convert from an attacker to a protector cell. In the paper that was published in Nature Communications, the researchers showed hope that they would be able to stop the immune system from attacking healthy tissue.

6. Genetic marker behind stroke and cardiovascular disease:

A paper published in the journal PLOS Genetics said that researchers at the University of Virginia have found a genetic variant that is tied to an increased risk of stroke and certain types of cardiovascular disease. The study included analyzing the genomes of over 5000 people.

7. Memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s reversed for first time:

A paper published in the journal ˜Aging' by a combined team of researchers with UCLA and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging revealed that a 36-point therapeutic program they had developed had reduced signs of dementia in nine out of ten patients who volunteered in the study.

8. Human clinical trial of drug shown to completely reverse diabetes in human islets, mice:

Researchers working at the University of Alabama reported that studies they had conducted testing the drug blood pressure medicine verapamil yielded results. They said that it had completely eliminated any signs of diabetes in lab animals. The success of their research has led to $2.1 million grant to them from Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

These were 8 of the top medical discoveries of 2014. Hope our scientists continue to strive for a deeper understanding of the human body and to find ways to prevent and treat ailments.

References

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-12-ten-medical-discoveries-xpress.html

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/12/breakthrough-year-top-10-scientific-achievements-2014