New method could fast-track existing drugs as novel treatments for depression

London: Research from King’s College London reveals a new method of repurposing existing drugs as novel treatments for depression, using laboratory studies of brain cells. The results reflect a growing movement towards repurposing drugs that have been developed for one condition to tackle another. This approach effectively bypasses the discovery phase of drug development, which could save significant time and money in finding effective treatments. Finding ways to fast-track the discovery of new antidepressants is crucial as around half of all people diagnosed with depression do not respond to first-line treatments.

How is big data used in healthcare?

Philadelphia: Big Data. We’ve all heard the term, but many of us may not fully understand the concept or all the its many layers.  Some still think it’s a trendy buzzword thrown around by twenty-something executives in Silicon Valley working on the latest gaming system or website. But the reality is big data is literally everywhere, and it’s not just a thing, it’s also an action. Big data is gathering right now, all the time: As your mouse hovers over this webpage, when you receive book or movie recommendations from Amazon and Hulu, as you share files via DropBox or WeTransfer, and even when physicians are caring for their patients – as detailed a recent Wall Street Journal piece.

How can research on big data improve diabetes therapy?

Karolinska Institute: “As the incidence of type 2 diabetes rises around the world, we need to find new strategies for understanding, preventing and treating this serious, chronic disease,” says conference co-arranger Professor Anna Krook at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. “Large data sets, or Big Data, can help us understand how genes and environment interact, giving rise to possibilities for personalised intervention strategies .” Most people who develop type 2 diabetes are never cured and have to live with chronic type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes is a precursor of diabetes found in many people before the diagnosis and as we will hear from Steven E. Kahn from the University of Washington, USA, early intervention can prevent its development into full-blown diabetes.

When data is the best medicine

Ann Arbor: One of the biggest challenges in health care is balancing cost with patient needs. Compounding the problem is a lack of good data and analysis. But Wally Hopp and Jun Li, Prs at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, are trying to change that. They applied cost-benefit analyses common in operations management to surgery outcomes. One of their first findings, which studied mitral valve surgery, can help patients and health insurers find better options and save money.

UK biobank: when big data is at the service of humanity's health

UK Biobank is a major national health resource, and a registered charity in its own right, with the aim of improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses – including cancer, heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, eye disorders, depression and forms of dementia. UK Biobank recruited 500,000 people aged between 40-69 years in 2006-2010 from across the country to take part in this project. They have undergone measures, provided blood, urine and saliva samples for future analysis, detailed information about themselves and agreed to have their health followed. Over many years this will build into a powerful resource to help scientists discover why some people develop particular diseases and others do not.

Encrypted analysis of data in the cloud would allow personalized medicine

Nature: The dream for tomorrow’s medicine is to understand the links between DNA and disease — and to tailor therapies accordingly. But scientists working to realize such ‘personalized’ or ‘precision’ medicine have a problem: how to keep genetic data and medical records secure while still enabling the massive, cloud-based analyses needed to make meaningful associations. Now, tests of an emerging form of data encryption suggest that the dilemma can be solved.

Big data research to defeat dementia

A UNSW research initiative that will harness 'big data' to defeat dementia has received backing from the big end of town, raising hopes for more understanding of the disease. “By pooling data we can create ‘big data sets’ that produce more robust statistical models involving multiple risk factors and more precise estimates than can be reliably obtained from individual cohort studies,” says Sachdev.