General

A new study identifies some of the most critical genes that may drive a rare but deadly liver cancer, providing a road map for developing drugs that target those genes. The cancer, fibrolamellar carcinoma, accounts for 1-5% of all liver cancers, and disproportionately affects children and young adults. By the […]

A pioneering study has shed new light on how a group of novel organelle-based disorders affect cells. The study led by Professor Michael Schrader from the University of Exeter, and featuring an international, multi-disciplinary team of scientists, has explored on peroxisome alterations and their contribution to the disease. Organelles are the functional units […]

A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed tiny sensors that measure oxygen transport in bovine lung tissue. The study – which establishes a new framework for observing the elusive connection between lung membranes, oxygen flow and related disease – was published in the […]

Researchers trying to turn off a gene that allows cancers to spread have made a surprising U-turn. By making the gene overactive and functional in the hearts of mice, they have triggered heart cell regeneration. Since adult hearts cannot usually repair themselves once damaged, harnessing the power of this gene […]

Timing is everything. A fresh example supporting the old saying has been found in connection with the systems regulated by biological clocks. Research on circadian rhythms, our internal 24-hour patterns that affect sleep-wake and metabolic cycles, has shown that timing is key for human health. When our activities and internal […]

A new technique makes it possible to track changes in gene activity across a cell’s entire genome over time in more detail than has been possible before, researchers in Seattle report. “We hope this method will improve our understanding of normal cell physiology and as well as of cell dynamics […]

Lung cancer spreads to the brain in about one-quarter of patients with an advanced form of the disease. To date, radiation has been the only treatment option, but it comes with toxic side effects. Researchers at Yale Cancer Center (YCC) have found that the use of the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab in […]

Autoimmunity, a condition in which the body’s immune system reacts with components of its own cells, appears to be increasing in the United States, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health and their collaborators. In a study published in Arthritis and Rheumatology, the researchers found that the prevalence […]

For patients with malignant brain tumors, the prognosis remains dismal. With the most aggressive treatments available, patients are usually only expected to live about 14 months after diagnosis. This is because, chemotherapy, the most common form of treatment for cancer, is uniquely challenging for brain tumor patients. The delicate organ […]

This open access paper is an example of one of the less well known connections between processes of aging. Loss of efficiency of the cellular maintenance processes of autophagy is a characteristic of cells in old tissues. Here, researchers note that this dysfunction in the hematopoietic cells responsible for creating blood and immune […]

In most cell therapies, the transplanted cells do not survive for long, or in large numbers. They produce beneficial effects, such as reduced inflammation or enhanced regeneration, via signaling that changes the behavior of native cell populations. Considerable effort is going into finding ways to make cells used in therapy survive for […]

A prospective “PARP inhibitor” drug that has struggled to show effectiveness in clinical trials against cancers can be structurally modified to greatly increase its power to kill tumor cells, researchers from Penn Medicine report in Science. The team also showed that PARP inhibitor compounds can be “tuned” in the opposite […]

From early prenatal development through childhood, the prefrontal cortex of the human brain undergoes an avalanche of developmental activity. In some cases, it also contains seeds of neuropsychiatric illnesses and conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, according to a new genetic analysis led by researchers at Yale University […]

People with celiac disease have increased risk of dying prematurely, despite increased awareness of the disease in recent years and better access to gluten-free food. This is according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Columbia University in the U.S. published in the prestigious journal JAMA. Celiac […]

Cells will ramp up gene expression in response to physical forces alone, a new study finds. Gene activation, the first step of protein production, starts less than one millisecond after a cell is stretched – hundreds of times faster than chemical signals can travel, the researchers report. The scientists tested […]

Millions of people around the world are suffering from autoimmune diseases. It is conditions when immune system mistakenly attacks body’s healthy cells. Think Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. Now scientists from Victoria University in Australia found that  a common probiotic could help people with autoimmune diseases by reducing […]

A study led by an NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre scientist has identified, for the first time, how the human skin suppresses inflammation after exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Dr. Nathan Hawkshaw is the lead author of a research paper published in Clinical & Translational Immunology, open access, peer-reviewed journal. […]

The first published data from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) study supports the hypothesis that higher levels of the amyloid protein in the brain represent an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Results of an analysis of participant screening data for the study, published in JAMA Neurology, also […]

Researchers have captured an atomic-level high-definition image of a protein and the small molecule that binds to it. Both have been implicated in conditions including dry eye and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Full understanding of their structures will hopefully lead to the development of an effective drug to regulate the […]

Lighting color and intensity affects sleep at nursing home. The science of lighting is about more than brightness, efficiency, and cost. Just ask anyone with seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, how gray skies and short days can affect their mood. It turns out that light—the right kind of light, at […]

Expectations are growing for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), a new cancer treatment, with few side effects, that combines thermal neutron irradiation and drug delivery. In BNCT, drugs are used to introduce boron specifically into cancer cells. The cancer cells are then irradiated, killing them with thermal neutrons. By targeting […]

Consuming excess alcohol has always been associated with poor health. However, some scientists suggest that a small glass of wine per day can actually do a lot of good for you. Why? As this new study from UCL has noted it is all due to a dietary compound resveratrol, found […]

You know lobsters from TV documentaries, school biology books and restaurant menus. You may know that they can grow up to be pretty big and that they are delicious. You might also have seen a bizarre fact about them floating on the internet – lobsters do not age and are […]

In the future, treating a concussion could be as simple as cooling the brain. That’s according to research conducted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers, whose findings support the treatment approach at the cellular level. “There are currently no effective medical treatments for concussions and other types of traumatic brain […]

Prions, a class of misfolded proteins, have a tendency to form infectious aggregates, causing deadly neurodegenerative diseases in humans (such as Alzheimer's). In a new study, scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and Kanazawa University use high-speed atomic force microscopy to uncover the structural and dynamic properties of […]

Eisai Co., Ltd. has announced that drug discovery research conducted on lenvatinib mesylate (brand name: LENVIMA, lenvatinib), the orally available multikinase inhibitor discovered by Eisai, has been honored with The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (PSJ) Award for Drug Research and Development '20 by the PSJ. The PSJ Award for Drug […]

Over the past several decades we managed to increase the average lifespan of people. However, now scientists are more focused on healthspan – the duration of the time in your life when you are feeling healthy. Old age is still associated with frailty and cognitive problems. However, scientists from King’s […]

Everyone wants to live a long, happy and healthy life. However, some of us are young and stressed already. In fact, sometimes young people are looking up to older people, because they look so calm and composed. Why is that? Is it true that life gets better with age? Scientists […]

Your energy levels fluctuate throughout the day. Sometimes you feel full of energy and ready to tackle whatever the day is going to throw at you. And then you feel tired and want to go to sleep. These fluctuations are controlled by the circadian clock. If it does not work […]

An analysis of a large Swedish cohort revealed that breast density, microcalcifications, and masses are heritable features, and that breast density and microcalcifications were positively associated with a genetic predisposition to breast cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Research. “Breast features identified through mammography are important for identifying women […]