Disability News -- ScienceDaily

• Hearing loss tied with mental, physical, and social ailments in older people

  Hearing loss has a profound impact on older people, as it can lead to anxiety, restricted activity, and perhaps even cognitive decline and dementia. Research has examined associations of hearing loss with outdoor activity limitations, psychological distress, and memory loss in people aged 65 and over. All three conditions were significantly worse when there was hearing loss. The findings support early interventions such as use of hearing aids.

• Boosting the discovery of new drugs to treat spinal cord injuries using zebrafish

  A research team led by Leonor Saúde, Principal Investigator at Instituto de Medicina Molecular, in partnership with the company Technophage, SA, has designed a simple and efficient platform that uses zebrafish to discover and identify new drugs to treat spinal cord lesions. This study is the proof-of-concept for the use of this zebrafish platform that, combined with drug repurposing, has the potential to accelerate the translation period from the discovery to the clinics.

• Link found between gut bacteria, successful joint replacement

  Having healthy gut flora -- the trillions of bacteria housed in our intestines -- could lower the risk of infection following knee and hip replacement surgeries, while an unhealthy intestinal flora may increase the risk of infection.