General

Anyone who has watched an infant’s eyes follow a dangling trinket dancing in front of them knows that babies are capable of paying attention with laser focus. But with large areas of their young brains still underdeveloped, how do they manage to do so? Using an approach pioneered at Yale […]

Nearly every older adult has prescribed a prescription drug that increased their risk of falling in 2017, according to new University at Buffalo research. The study found that the percentage of adults 65 and older who were prescribed a fall- risk-increasing drug climbed to 94% in 2017, a significant leap […]

A worldwide clinical trial aimed at finding treatments for Alzheimer’s disease has expanded to include investigational drugs targeting a harmful form of the brain protein tau. The trial, known as the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Trials Unit (DIAN-TU) and led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, launched […]

New software advances ability to turn stem cells into other cell types. Harvard Medical School researchers and colleagues have developed new software to help scientists generate different types of cells for use in research and medicine. The software aids ongoing efforts to turn induced pluripotent stem cells, or IPSCs—adult cells that […]

This interesting study shows that when given the choice to consume sugar or protein, flies consume a lot of sugar and exhibit reduced life span as a result. Feeding the same proportional mix of sugar and protein to flies without giving them the choice of what to consume does not […]

To date, not much is known about two similar, but different, pediatric rheumatic conditions: juvenile myositis, an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks its own tissue and causes inflammation in the muscles, and systemic lupus erythematosus, the most common and serious form of lupus where the immune systems attacks its own […]

Mapping the cerebral vascular network in human patients, at unprecedented scales: this tour de force has been achieved by the French laboratory Physics for Medicine Paris (ESPCI Paris-PSL, Inserm, CNRS). In a study published on the front page of Nature Biomedical Engineering, the research team details its method: ultrasound localization […]

Scientists report on the structural and molecular factors governing the stability of a protein complex involved in DNA repair pathways in cells. The cells in our body are constantly fighting off the threat of cancer by repairing damaged DNA. In a new study, scientists from Tokyo University of Science investigate […]

Intake of a high-fat diet leads to an increased risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and fatty liver. A study in mice from Karolinska Institutet shows that it is possible to eliminate the deleterious effects of a high-fat diet by lowering the levels of apolipoprotein CIII (apoCIII), a […]

New research by the University of Bristol as part of a team led by the University of Maryland (UMD) identifies age-related changes to DNA, revealing longevity-related differences among bat species. The study found that DNA from tissue samples can be used to accurately predict the age of bats in the […]

Patients with cancers of unknown origin greatly benefited from next-generation sequencing; widespread inherited cancer risk also suggests broad utility, a study finds. When standard cancer treatments don’t work, or if doctors can’t determine where a patient’s cancer originated, genomic sequencing can help pinpoint mutations in a tumor that might be […]

Mouse study focuses on signal from astrocytes to nerves. Researchers were able to enhance memory formation in mice by increasing a specific signal between astrocytes, one of the most numerous types of cell in the brain that occupy more space in the brain than nerve cells. Experts have long known […]

Researchers may have found the earliest changes that occur in seemingly healthy breast tissue long before any tumours appear, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications. The study, funded by Cancer Research UK, showed that before becoming cancerous, breast cells with the BRCA1 gene mutation undergo […]

Newly published research has revealed a close link between proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease and age-related sight loss. The findings could open the way to new treatments for patients with deteriorating vision and through this study, the scientists believe they could reduce the need for using animals in future research […]

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease are in the firing line after researchers identified an attractive therapeutic drug target. An international collaboration, co-led by University of Queensland researchers, has isolated and analysed the structure and function of a protein found in the brain’s nerve fibres called SARM1. Dr […]

Every 12 minutes, someone in the United States dies of pancreatic cancer, which is often diagnosed late, spreads rapidly and has a five-year survival rate at approximately 10 percent. Treatment may involve radiation, surgery and chemotherapy, though often the cancer becomes resistant to drugs. Researchers at University of California San […]

Bioengineers at the University of California San Diego and San Diego State University have discovered a key feature that allows cancer cells to break from typical cell behavior and migrate away from the stiffer tissue in a tumor, shedding light on the process of metastasis and offering possible new targets […]

A gene therapy for chronic pain could offer a safer, non-addictive alternative to opioids. Researchers at the University of California San Diego developed the new therapy, which works by temporarily repressing a gene involved in sensing pain. It increased pain tolerance in mice, lowered their sensitivity to pain and provided […]

For certain blood cancers, such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), deciding whether patients need an aggressive treatment typically hinges on a set of lab tests to identify genetic changes. Some of these tests rely on technology that was invented more than 60 years ago and has […]

Eating is a dangerous business. Naturally occurring toxins in food and potentially harmful foodborne microbes can do a number on our intestines, leading to repeated minor injuries. In healthy people, such damage typically heals in a day or two. But in people with Crohn’s disease, the wounds fester, causing abdominal […]

In response to brain injury, neural stem cells cluster and migrate to the site of injury. The clustering is key – without it, the cells don’t travel. But what causes it? To investigate, Yale researchers created a 3-D model of the brain’s workings. The results of the study, led by […]

Scientists at the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have identified the specialized environment, known as a niche, in the bone marrow where new bone and immune cells are produced. The study, published in Nature, also shows that movement-induced stimulation is required for the maintenance of this niche, […]

The new material, which the Advanced Photon Source helped characterize, is strong yet stretchable, and could be ideal for creating artificial tendons and ligaments for prosthetics and robotics. A research team led by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has developed a new method to make synthetic biomaterials that […]

A team led by scientists at the National Eye Institute (NEI) has noninvasively visualized the light-sensing cells in the back of the eye, known as photoreceptors, in greater detail than ever before. Published in Optica, the researchers report how they improved imaging resolution by a third by selectively blocking the […]

First of its kind study reveals dynamic interactions between dendritic growth and synaptic connectivity in the brain cells of developing mice. A little competition is never a bad thing, especially when it comes to fledging neurons growing in the brain, finds a new Stanford University study. In a first of […]

Scientists at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have determined the structure of protein “fibrils” linked to Lou Gehrig’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders—findings that provide clues to how toxic proteins clump and spread between nerve cells in the brain. Their results may also lead to developing drugs […]

Results published to show it is possible to identify Parkinson’s Disease based on compounds found on the surface of the skin. The findings offer hope that a pioneering new test could be developed to diagnose the degenerative condition through a simple and painless skin swab. Scientists at The University of Manchester […]

Changes in the gut microbiome have a role in aging, and the activities of microbial species (generation of beneficial metabolites, versus generation of harmful inflammation) may be as important as lifestyle choices such as exercise when it comes to the pace of aging. Certainly there is good evidence for rejuvenation […]

A new genome-wide CRISPR screening technique conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University is offering new insights about how tumors in 80 to 90 percent of all cancers grow. This novel approach developed by Maria Fomicheva, a graduate student in the lab of Ian Macara, Louise B. McGavock Professor and professor of cell […]

Approximately two years after establishing a human cerebral organoid system to study Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), National Institutes of Health researchers have further developed the model to screen drugs for potential CJD treatment. The scientists, from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), describe their work in Scientific Reports. Human […]