January 17, 2021

Why cancer cells waste so much energy

In the 1920s, German chemist Otto Warburg discovered that cancer cells don’t metabolize sugar the same way that healthy cells usually do. Since then, scientists have tried to figure out why cancer cells use this alternative pathway, which is much less efficient. MIT biologists have now found a possible answer […]
January 17, 2021

Artificial intelligence tool for reading MRI scans could transform prostate cancer surgery and treatment

Researchers at the Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics (CCIPD) at Case Western Reserve University have preliminarily validated an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to predict how likely the disease is to recur following surgical treatment for prostate cancer. The tool, called RadClip, uses AI algorithms to examine a variety of data, […]
January 16, 2021

Tackling rare genetic diseases with own genome editing technology

Haruhiko Morita had never aspired to be an entrepreneur, but his astute foresight was instrumental in landing his current position of a chief executive officer at Modalis Therapeutics Corp. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, while Morita was an undergraduate and graduate student at the Faculty of Engineering and […]
January 16, 2021

Frail Older Individuals Exhibit a Worse Response to Vaccination

Frailty is usually accompanied by greater immune dysfunction, given that chronic inflammation is a strong component of both immune aging and the various dysfunctions of frailty. Thus frail individuals exhibit a worse response to vaccinations intended to prevent infectious disease. This is unfortunate, as this is the population in greatest […]
January 16, 2021

U of A research offers insights into how people cope with chronic back pain

Chronic back pain can keep us from living our best lives, but a University of Alberta study shows why some people don’t let it stop them. The research, published in the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, sheds light on what motivates people to soldier through their persistent pain. The qualitative study is one […]
January 16, 2021

Motor Control

New tool reveals details about motor neuron circuitry in fruit flies. How do networks of neurons connect to form functional circuits? To address this long-standing question in neuroscience, researchers from Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School have developed a new pipeline to study neural circuits and, in the process, […]
January 15, 2021

Renaissance molecule – dopamine and its multiplicative role in the organism

Dopamine is one of the essential neurotransmitters in the brain. Its action is limited to the brain; it acts as a chemical messenger throughout the body. Dopamine stimulates the cardiovascular system's work and is responsible for cognitive abilities, coordination of movements, and even feelings. Here, we will try to explain […]
January 15, 2021

New computational method detects disrupted pathways in cancer

Cancer is a notoriously complex disease, in part because it may be caused by mutations among hundreds or even thousands of genes. In addition, most cancers exhibit an extraordinary amount of variation among genetic mutations, even between patients with the same types of cancers. Consequently, cancer researchers have chosen to […]
January 15, 2021

Virus Versus Virus: ‘ReScan’ Antibody Test is a Powerful New Tool

pandemics and epidemics, public health officials must identify individuals who are actively infected or have previously been infected, both to control the spread of disease and, in the case of vaccine-preventable illnesses, to prioritize individuals for vaccination. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has shone a bright light on the crucial need for […]
January 15, 2021

Towards new methods for replacing animal testing

For many years, researchers at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark have studied the harmful effects of chemicals and developed methods to best and most effectively investigate their harmful effects. Of the many thousands of chemical substances to which humans can be exposed, the majority has not been […]
January 15, 2021

Declining Resilience as a Manifestation of Aging

Resilience, meaning the ability to recover from wounds, infection, and other forms of damage, is more or less the flip side of frailty in aging. Frailty increases, resilience decreases. A damaged system is less robustly resilient to further damage, as reliability theory tells us. Degenerative aging is precisely an accumulation […]
January 15, 2021

Killing cancer by unleashing the body’s own immune system

The body’s immune system is the first line of defence against infections like bacteria, viruses or cancers. Some cancers, however, have developed the art of molecular deception to avoid destruction by the body’s immune system. However, a University of Missouri researcher might have found a new way to help the […]
January 14, 2021

Too Many Donor Kidneys Are Discarded in U.S. Before Transplantation

When kidneys are removed from deceased organ donors in the United States, they are often subjected to “procurement biopsies” and are discarded if certain abnormalities are seen in the kidney tissue — a practice that worsens the already-severe shortage of transplant-eligible kidneys in the country. However, a large portion of […]
January 14, 2021

Cannabidiol use during pregnancy affects the brain and behavior in adulthood

The use of cannabidiol (CBD), the major non-psychoactive compound in cannabis, is on the rise across the United States. Pregnant women, in particular, may view CBD as more “natural” than other remedies for concerns such as nausea and pain, but the consequences of use for the developing fetus are unknown. […]
January 14, 2021

Exercise as a Mild Senotherapeutic

Exercise is known to improve health and extend the healthy portion of life span, but not extend life span itself in mice. This is a much lesser effect than that of calorie restriction, which does extend maximum life span in addition to improving health. From a very high level view, […]
January 13, 2021

Breaking Bad: How Shattered Chromosomes Make Cancer Cells Drug-Resistant

Cancer is one of the world’s greatest health afflictions because, unlike some diseases, it is a moving target, constantly evolving to evade and resist treatment. In a paper published in an online issue of Nature, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the UC San Diego […]
January 13, 2021

Study: E-Cigarettes Trigger Inflammation in the Gut

Touted by makers as a “healthy” alternative to traditional nicotine cigarettes, new research indicates the chemicals found in e-cigarettes disrupt the gut barrier and trigger inflammation in the body, potentially leading to a variety of health concerns. In the study, published in the journal iScience, Soumita Das, PhD, associate professor […]
January 13, 2021

Metabolism May Play Role in Recurrent Major Depression

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, in collaboration with Dutch scientists, have found that certain metabolites — small molecules produced by the process of metabolism — may be predictive indicators for persons at risk for recurrent major depressive disorder. The findings were published in an online […]
January 13, 2021

Study Finds Neglected Mutations May Play Important Role in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Mutations that occur in certain DNA regions, called tandem repeats, may play a significant role in autism spectrum disorders, according to research led by Melissa Gymrek, assistant professor in the UC San Diego Department of Computer Science and Engineering and School of Medicine. The study, which was published in Nature, […]
January 13, 2021

APL-106 (uproleselan) Granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation in China for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Apollomics, Inc., an innovative biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of mono- and combination- oncology therapies, and GlycoMimetics (Nasdaq: GLYC), announced APL-106 (uproleselan) has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) from the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) for the treatment of relapsed/refractory […]
January 13, 2021

New therapy helps some regain motion lost to spinal injury

Almost 18,000 Americans experience traumatic spinal cord injuries every year. Many of these people are unable to use their hands and arms and can't do everyday tasks such as eating, grooming or drinking water without help. In a small study of physical therapy combined with a non-invasive method of stimulating spinal-cord nerve […]
January 13, 2021

UM171: the molecule that keeps on giving

A new step has been taken in the understanding of the cancer-fighting molecule UM171: a team led by Université de Montréal haematologist Guy Sauvageau has succeeded in describing the molecule’s mechanism of action. “Finally, we know how UM171 works,” said Sauvageau, commenting the results of a study published in Cell Stem Cell. […]
January 13, 2021

Early research shows promise for therapeutics that delay Type 2 Diabetes

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a unique pathway that initiates islet β cell inflammation—a hallmark of type 2 diabetes—putting them a step closer to developing targeted therapeutics for the disease that affects one in 10 Americans. The article, “RIPK3-mediated inflammation is a conserved β-cell response to ER stress” was published in the journal Science […]
January 13, 2021

Weaker skin barrier leads to faster uptake of chemicals

The ability of our skin to protect us from chemicals is something we inherit. Some people are less well-protected which could imply an increased risk of being afflicted by skin disease or cancer. A new study from Karolinska Institutet that has been published in Environmental Health Perspectives shows how the […]
January 13, 2021

New research shows the importance of consuming enough Vitamin B12 in pregnancy

A new study published in Nutrition Research has found that children born to a mother with low intake of Vitamin B12 during pregnancy were at increased risk of adverse development specific to certain speech and mathematical abilities. The study, from Professor Jean Golding and colleagues at the University of Bristol, used data […]
January 13, 2021

Study: High doses of saccharin don’t lead to diabetes in healthy adults

For those trying to live a healthy lifestyle, the choice between sugar and artificial sweeteners such as saccharin can be confusing. A new study led by Ohio State University researchers found the sugar substitute saccharin doesn’t lead to the development of diabetes in healthy adults as previous studies have suggested. […]
January 13, 2021

Protecting lungs from ventilator-induced injury

An unfortunate truth about the use of mechanical ventilation to save the lives of patients in respiratory distress is that the pressure used to inflate the lungs is likely to cause further lung damage. In a new study, scientists identified a molecule that is produced by immune cells during mechanical […]