General

Hard skulls help protect our brains from physical injuries. In addition to a tough outer shell, brains have internal defences, including a powerful shield called the blood-brain barrier that defends brain cells from substances in the bloodstream that are toxic and dangerous to nerve cells. If the blood-brain barrier is […]

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most common inherited heart disease, marked by an abnormally thickened heart muscle that can obstruct blood flow and lead to sudden death in young adults. A dizzying array of over 1,400 genetic mutations can lead to the disease, puzzling doctors on how to treat so many […]

Macrophages of the innate immune system, cells derived from monocytes, are involved in many processes in tissue beyond merely hunting down invading pathogens. They are also important to the processes of tissue maintenance regeneration following injury. Like all aspects of the immune system, macrophage behavior becomes dysregulated with age, a […]

Myotonic dystrophy type I is the most common type of adult-onset muscular dystrophy. People with the condition inherit repeated DNA segments that lead to the toxic buildup of repetitive RNA, the messenger that carries a gene’s recipe to the cell’s protein-making machinery. As a result, people born with myotonic dystrophy […]

No matter how much we try and fight it, aging is a part of life. High cholesterol, diabetes, and fatty liver, the collection of conditions referred to as lifestyle diseases, all become more commonplace as we get older. Interestingly, however, many of these age-related conditions are caused by changes inside […]

The study describes an innovative approach for identifying and evaluating candidate molecules that can image and track the progression of a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases. For any of the 200,000 patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the United States every year, the diagnosis often occurs only after the appearance of […]

Calorie restriction lowers body temperature in mammals, but most research on how reduced calorie intake produces benefits to long-term health and longevity has focused on nutrient sensing as the primary trigger for the upregulation of stress responses and other helpful changes to cellular metabolism. Here, researchers demonstrate that reduced body […]

Osteoporosis is the name given to the characteristic age-related loss of bone mass and strength. The extracellular matrix of bone tissue is constantly remodeled, created by osteoblasts and broken down by osteoclasts. The proximate cause of osteoporosis is a tilt in the balance of these processes, favoring osteoclast activity and […]

Most people use cannabis for recreation. They don’t really care about the positive health effects that cannabis might have. However, cannabis is being researched for its positive characteristic against many chronic health conditions. Now scientists in Australia found that cancer patients could benefit from medical cannabis. Scientists from the University […]

Researchers at Osaka University have identified a fault in the RNA quality control system of cells that leads to the haywire production of toxic proteins in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTLD/ALS). Their new study, published in The EMBO Journal, shows that an abnormality of the C9orf72 gene […]

The first UK study to estimate the proportion of womb cancers caused by an inherited cancer predisposition called Lynch syndrome has been carried out by The University of Manchester. Almost 3% of womb cancers are linked to a hereditary condition named Lynch syndrome, according to new clinical research findings published […]

A three-year grant from the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s initiative will support the most in-depth look at the cellular mechanisms that lead to Parkinson’s disease to date. Leading researchers from the USA and Garvan will use cutting-edge technology to reveal the complex interplay of genes, molecules, cells and age-related factors […]

The stem cells tasked with creating and maintaining biological tissues have a difficult job. They have to precisely divide to form new specialized cells, which are destined to different fates even though they contain identical DNA. An obvious question then is: How do the cells divide in all the right […]

A deadly combination of two mosquito-borne viruses may be a trigger for stroke, new research published in The Lancet Neurology has found. University of Liverpool researchers and Brazilian collaborators have been investigating the link between neurological disease and infection with the viruses Zika and chikungunya. These viruses, which mostly circulate in […]

SLC25A51 gene encodes a protein that transports NAD+, a critical coenzyme in cellular metabolism, to mitochondria. Penn Medicine researchers have solved a decades-old mystery around a key molecule fueling the power plant of cells that could be exploited to find new ways to treat diseases, from neurodegenerative disorders to cancer. […]

Researchers have gained a better understanding of the complexity of the environment in which T cells thrive and, by extension, the tolerance mechanisms of these cells which are an obstacle to cellular immunity. Published in Nature Communications, the new study was directed by Dr. Marie-Ève Lebel, a post-doctoral intern at the […]

“Do not erase.” “Recycle me.” “Free to a good home.” Humans post these signs to indicate whether something has value or not, whether it should be disposed of or not. Inside our cells, a sophisticated recycling system uses its own enzymatic signs to flag certain cells for destruction — and […]

Your spine deteriorates naturally over time, even if you tread lightly and are mindful of good posture. Radiologists are keenly aware of this truth due to an endless queue of patients with low back pain whose imaging scans reveal no acute injury but, instead, show typical signs of activity, gravity, […]

Two new grants totaling nearly $14 million over three years will jump-start research at UC Berkeley into the molecular and genetic causes of Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that afflicts more than 1 million Americans, yet whose cause remains a mystery. The grants are among 21, for a total of […]

As society ages, we have more and more people living with dementia. It is an incurable disease and we are sort of accepting it as a sad part of life. Your lifestyle, genes and some other factors influence the risk of dementia. And the goal for you is to reduce […]

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe molecular and cellular consequences of unique genetic mutations affecting the CASK gene which has been implicated in various neurodevelopmental disorders. Notably, the results indicate differences in the development of presynapses of inhibitory neurons in individuals with specific mutations. The findings elucidate key mechanisms during early […]

You have probably heard of the promise of bioprinting for controllably creating tissues and organs thanks to a layer-by-layer deposition of biomaterial-based inks (bioinks). So far, it is fulfilling those expectations as it is now one of the most rapidly growing sectors thanks to the regenerative capacity of most of […]

Babies who have life-saving surgery for congenital heart problems within the first month of life face a lifelong risk of chronic kidney disease and high blood pressure, according to new research led by University of Alberta pediatric specialists. “We know that kidneys, like all organs, have to last a lifetime,” said Catherine Morgan, […]

Penn Medicine researchers have found that middle-aged individuals — those born in the late 1960s and the 1970s — may be in a perpetual state of H3N2 influenza virus susceptibility because their antibodies bind to H3N2 viruses but fail to prevent infections, according to a new study led by Scott Hensley, […]

Tearing an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) can be an excruciatingly painful injury. Nearly 50 percent of these patients will develop a secondary form of osteoarthritis, deemed post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the UC Davis Medical Center have found that treatment with antibiotics prior to the injury could reduce inflammation […]

Lab study shows promise of aiming genetically engineered T-cell therapy at a gene fusion. Precision immunotherapies that aim the power of the body’s soldier cells at cancer have revolutionized the care of certain types of leukemia. But not all types — yet. New research by a team from Fred Hutchinson […]

A research team led by Professor Kim Gyo-beom of Dongguk University's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering has developed the latest technology for joint tissue regeneration via simultaneous delivery of therapeutic growth factors and adi-pose derived stem cells into the body. The work was published in the Journal of Controlled […]

How old are you for your age? Scientists who study ageing have begun to distinguish chronological age: how long it's been since a person was born, and so-called biological age: how much a body is “aged” and how close it is to the end of life. These researchers are uncovering […]

Greater maternal stress during pregnancy is linked with significant increases in the number and variety of infant illness during the first year of life, independent of the level of stress after birth, according to a study led by researchers at UC San Francisco. The study, published in the Journal of […]

Genomes are routinely subjected to DNA damage. But most cells have DNA repair systems that enforce genome stability and, ideally, prevent diseases like cancer. The trouble gets serious when these systems break down. When that happens, damage such as unrepaired DNA lesions can lead to tumors, and genomic chaos ensues. […]