PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

New at-home test for gingivitis protects oral health

Engineers create home test that uses saliva to detect periodontal disease

New at-home test for gingivitis protects oral health
2023-09-07
(Press-News.org) Engineers at the University of Cincinnati have developed a new device that can warn consumers about early risks of tooth decay from diseases such as gingivitis and periodontitis.

Gingivitis, the earliest form of gum disease, is caused by bacteria. But not just any bacteria.

The problem for researchers was getting a device to single out the particular type responsible for the disease, said Andrew Steckl, an Ohio Eminent Scholar and distinguished research professor in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science.

“It’s been quite the challenge to get to the point where we can detect this toxin created by the bacteria responsible for gingivitis,” he said.

Steckl and UC Senior Research Associate Daewoo Han collaborated with Sancai Xie, a principal scientist at Procter & Gamble Co., and described their results in a paper published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Sensors and Diagnostics.

Steckl’s research team has been exploring biosensing for various applications. They studied stress hormones in sweat in collaboration with the Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Now they are studying saliva.

“There are good reasons to use saliva,” he said. “It’s relatively plentiful and easy to obtain through noninvasive methods. And saliva has a lot of important elements that can act as indicators of your health.”

Bacteria from gingivitis can travel through the bloodstream, leading to cardiovascular disease and other serious health problems, Steckl said.

But saliva is a complicated biofluid, said Han, the study's lead author.

Researchers pretreated the sample using potato starch to remove a protein called amylase that could interfere with the test results. Their test uses antibodies that react to the endotoxins found in the bacteria.

“Daewoo worked very hard on many dead-ends before he had success,” Steckl said. “I tell my students that research is search, search and re-search until you find the answer.”

At-home health testing has been available for generations in niche uses such as detecting pregnancy. But the COVID-19 pandemic introduced a wide audience of consumers to the concept of monitoring their health with new technology.

The at-home testing industry is expected to generate $45 billion annually by 2031, according to Allied Market Research.

Steckl said he sees a lot of opportunity for new consumer products.

“Our results definitely show promise,” Steckl said. “Sometimes it comes easy. Most of the time you have to persevere.”

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
New at-home test for gingivitis protects oral health New at-home test for gingivitis protects oral health 2 New at-home test for gingivitis protects oral health 3

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Internationally recognized computational researcher Spyridon Bakas, PhD, to serve as inaugural director of Division of Computational Pathology

Internationally recognized computational researcher Spyridon Bakas, PhD, to serve as inaugural director of Division of Computational Pathology
2023-09-07
INDIANAPOLIS—Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Pathology is launching a new Division of Computational Pathology and a Research Center for Federated Learning in Precision Medicine. Both will be led by Spyridon Bakas, PhD, an internationally recognized computational researcher who brings ten years of experience and NIH grant funding to this growing field that combines artificial intelligence and medicine. “Computational pathology is a growing area of medicine around the world,” Bakas said. “The idea is to leverage information that exists within tissue slides ...

Two in one: FSU researchers develop polymer that can be adapted to high and low temperature extremes

Two in one: FSU researchers develop polymer that can be adapted to high and low temperature extremes
2023-09-07
The modern world is filled with synthetic polymers, long-chained molecules designed by scientists to fill all manner of applications. Researchers at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering have developed two closely related polymers that respond differently to high and low temperature thresholds, despite their similar design. The polymer pair could be used in applications in medicine, protein synthesis, protective coatings and other fields. Their work is published in Macromolecules. “Typically, in order to have one thermal behavior, we have to prepare a polymer for that specific application, and if you ...

New stroke treatment in development at UTHSC

New stroke treatment in development at UTHSC
2023-09-07
A study at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center aims to develop a new way to treat ischemic stroke, a leading cause of death in adults worldwide. The study is funded by a $1,155,000 translational grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health. Jianxiong Jiang, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, and Jiawang Liu, PhD, director of the Medicinal Chemistry ...

New study reveals the power of railroads to buffer coal plants from a carbon emissions tax

2023-09-07
A new study by University of Maryland Economist Louis Preonas provides empirical evidence that railroads are likely to cut transportation prices to prop up coal-fired plants if U.S. climate policies further disadvantage coal in favor of less carbon-intensive energy sources. One strategy being considered to help reduce the country’s contribution to global climate change is a tax or fee on greenhouse gas emissions by coal-burning power plants. The hope is that such fees will reduce competitiveness of coal-fired energy and consumers will chose lower-emission options at a competitive cost. The new study, published September 7, 2023, in The ...

Mount Sinai scientists unlock secrets of red blood cell transporter, potentially paving the way for new drugs

Mount Sinai scientists unlock secrets of red blood cell transporter, potentially paving the way for new drugs
2023-09-07
New York, NY (September 7, 2023)—Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified the structure of a special transporter found in red blood cells and how it interacts with drugs.  Details on the findings, which were reported in the September 7 issue of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology [DOI: 10.1038/s41594-023-01085-6], could lead to the development of more targeted medicines. The research team, led by Daniel Wacker, PhD, Bin Zhang, PhD, and Avner Schlessinger, PhD, found that this transporter facilitates ...

Research spotlight: History of Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) linked to increased risk of head or neck injury and concussion

2023-09-07
Altaf Saadi, MD, MSc, principal investigator of the Neurodisparities & Health Justice Lab in the Department of Neurology at Mass General and an assistant professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, is lead author of a new study in the Journal of Head Trauma and Rehabilitation, Examining the Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Lifetime History of Head or Neck Injury or Concussion in Children From the United States.  What Question Were You Investigating? Is there an association between adverse childhood experiences ...

University of Houston researcher aids in creation of groundbreaking report on invasive species

University of Houston researcher aids in creation of groundbreaking report on invasive species
2023-09-07
A new report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) presents major findings on the gravity of impacts from invasive alien species on our planet. Researchers found more than 37,000 alien species have been introduced by human activities over the centuries, and this conservative estimate is rising at unprecedented rates. Additionally, more than 3,500 of these are harmful invasive alien species, impacting humans, animals and plants. Dozens of international biodiversity ...

CAR-T-cell therapy without side effects? Hollings researchers show results in preclinical models

CAR-T-cell therapy without side effects? Hollings researchers show results in preclinical models
2023-09-07
When Richard O’Neil, Ph.D., joined MUSC Hollings Cancer Center two years ago, he knew that he wanted to continue finding ways to make CAR-T-cell therapy easier on patients. What he didn’t expect was that a side project – worked on by Megan Tennant, a graduate student in his lab, as a way to keep busy while a key piece of equipment was being serviced – would potentially open up this treatment beyond the world of cancer. “I don't think that either of us expected that first initial experiment to work,” Tennant said. “But when we saw how well it worked and really started to conceptualize where this could go and how important ...

The timing of fireworks-caused wildfire ignitions during the 4th of July holiday season

2023-09-07
Every year on the 4th of July, fireworks cause cause a precipitous increase of wildfire ignitions in the United States (U.S.). This human-environmental phenomenon is noteworthy and highlights the impact of American culture on wildfire activity in the U.S. In other regions of the world, research has increasingly shown that human culture impacts fire activity, with weekly cycles of fire activity reflecting the local structures of workweeks and the timing of religious days of rest  (e.g., Saturdays and Sundays). Although 4th of July peak in wildfire igntions has ...

Dosage tweaks may hint at undiscovered interactions between medications

Dosage tweaks may hint at undiscovered interactions between medications
2023-09-07
Analysis of data from more than 1 million Danish inpatients identifies nearly 4,000 drug pairings that are associated with more frequent dosage adjustments when prescribed together—potentially hinting at previously undiscovered drug interactions. Søren Brunak of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Digital Health. In some cases, especially among elderly populations, a person may be prescribed several different medications at once in order to treat one or multiple health conditions—a phenomenon known as polypharmacy. Polypharmacy is associated with increased health risks due to the potential ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

[Press-News.org] New at-home test for gingivitis protects oral health
Engineers create home test that uses saliva to detect periodontal disease