General

A single dose of radiotherapy is as “effective” as five doses for end-of-life cancer patients suffering with painful spinal canal compression, finds a large study conducted by UCL, including The University of Manchester. Spinal canal compression is a common complication in cancer patients when the cancer has spread to their […]

Long-term treatment with gabapentin, a commonly prescribed drug for nerve pain, could help restore upper limb function after a spinal cord injury, new research in mice suggests. In the study, mice treated with gabapentin regained roughly 60 percent of forelimb function in a skilled walking test, compared to restoration of […]

Obesity and gum (periodontal) disease are among the most common non-communicable diseases in the United States—and studies show these chronic conditions may be related. This new study explores the effect of obesity on non-surgical periodontal care and evaluates potential pathways that may illustrate the connection between the two conditions. The […]

Learned fear responses enable animals — including humans — to flee or freeze in the face of a perceived threat. But if these behaviors persist after the danger lifts, they can become paralyzing and disabling. That’s a key element of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To explore how fear becomes entrenched, […]

Aging is associated with increased inflammation and metabolic disease, including the accumulation of visceral fat — fat stored in the abdominal cavity — which is thought to contribute to inflammation. New research from University of Minnesota faculty member Christina Camell has helped uncover why visceral fat increases with age and points to […]

Women in rural communities experience higher rates of life-threatening complications during or after childbirth than mothers in urban cities, a new study finds. Maternal deaths and deliveries requiring emergency, life-saving treatment are increasing among both rural and urban residents, up from 109 to 152 per 10,000 childbirth hospitalizations, the new […]

Study on babies in Botswana provides strong evidence that early initiation of ART may benefit those who contract HIV at birth. HIV infection among infants remains an enormous global health challenge. Each day, 300 to 500 infants in sub-Saharan Africa become infected with the virus. HIV progresses much faster in […]

A new partnership between the University of Alberta and Atlas Biotechnologies will explore the use of medical cannabis for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. “People are touting (cannabis) for all kinds of things, but without solid scientific evidence,” said Ross Tsuyuki, chair of the U of A’s Department […]

New research sets the stage for exploring a potential cause of Alzheimer’s and a different approach to treating it. New research has found that the most common version of a protein called CD33 plays a crucial role in regulating white blood cells in the human brain, which could have important […]

Type 2 diabetics inject themselves with insulin, a hormone that regulates the movement of sugar into liver, muscle and fat cells, up to four times a day. But insulin injections are linked to weight gain and the loss of control of blood sugar levels. This triggers a vicious cycle of […]

All neurodegenerative diseases have a common thread: the appearance of protein clumps in the brain such as amyloid-beta plaques in Alzheimer’s disease and alpha-synuclein aggregates in Parkinson’s. The root cause of this buildup has been hard to pinpoint, but Rockefeller scientists have identified a likely culprit that opens up a […]

Scientists are developing a new way to identify the unique chemical ‘fingerprints’ for different types of breast cancers. These new chemical footprints will be used to train AI software – creating a new tool for rapid and accurate diagnosis of breast cancers. The team of researchers from Lancaster University and […]

Researchers from the University of Georgia, Emory University School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh have received a $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to test a novel method of producing viable sperm cells from skin cells. The project could mark a pivotal advancement in therapies […]

Scientists are talking about personalized cancer treatment for decades. Each body is different and each cancer case is at least a little bit different, which is why personalized, custom-tailored treatment strategies are desired. And now this goal is coming closer to reality as scientists from the University of Waterloo found […]

In a paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago researchers and colleagues report a new mechanism for detecting foreign material during early immune responses. Viruses, bacteria and cancer have many ways to replicate and survive in our bodies. For viruses and bacteria, they invade […]

Pancreatic cancer is resistant to all current treatments. Patients have extremely poor chances of surviving for five years after being diagnosed. A new Tel Aviv University study finds that a small molecule has the ability to induce the self-destruction of pancreatic cancer cells. The research was conducted with xenografts — transplantations of […]

All babies born to mothers infected with HIV are exposed to the virus in utero, but not all of them become infected with it. Yet, all pregnant women in the U.S. with HIV receive antiretroviral therapy (ART), so both infected and uninfected babies exposed to HIV in utero are exposed […]

Soft tissue sarcoma cells stop a key metabolic process which allows them to multiply and spread, and so restarting that process could leave these cancers vulnerable to a variety of treatments. The enzyme that controls the process is called FBP2, and researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of […]

Imagine if a computer could learn from molecules found in nature and use an algorithm to generate new ones. Then imagine those molecules could get printed and tested in a lab against some of the nastiest, most dangerous bacteria out there—bacteria quickly becoming resistant to our current antibiotic options. Or […]

Binge drinking and alcoholism affect tens of millions of people throughout the country. While it’s certainly a social issue, research has shown that the behaviors and dependencies can have neurological roots. For her work investigating how alcohol and other commonly misused drugs hijack the brain’s adaptability — which leads to […]

Materials scientists at the University of California, Riverside and The University of Texas at Austin have demonstrated that it is possible to achieve photon up-conversion, the emission of light with energy higher than the one that excites the material, when using carefully designed structures containing silicon nanocrystals and specialized organic […]

Researchers from Penn State College of Medicine identified a new gene mutation that may cause a type of familial thyroid cancer. Dr. Darrin Bann, an otolaryngology resident at the College of Medicine and lead author of the study, said that this mutation is the first and only mutation associated with familial thyroid […]

Cancer is  not a rare disease. Depending on your lifestyle, age, sex, genetics and many other factors, you can be likely to get cancer in your lifetime. But aren’t we overestimating the risk of this disease? Scientists from University of Sydney and Bond University say that estimates provided by Australian […]

Researchers have long known that some genes can cause cancer when overactive, but exactly what happens inside the cell nucleus when the cancer grows has so far remained enigmatic. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found a new mechanism that renders one canonical driver of cancer overactive. The […]

A diet high in fiber and yogurt is associated with a reduced risk for lung cancer, according to a study by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers published in JAMA Oncology. The benefits of a diet high in fiber and yogurt have already been established for cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal cancer. The new […]

There are a number of health risks that come with going to space. Aside from the increased exposure to solar radiation and cosmic rays, there are the notable effects that microgravity can have on human physiology. As Scott Kelly can attest, these go beyond muscle and bone degeneration and include […]

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers – by the time most cases are diagnosed, the cancer is advanced and spreading to other parts of the body. But what if these spreading cancer cells could, in fact, hold the key to guiding better treatment? Dr. Omid Faridani, recipient […]

Have you noticed that many older people love playing cards and board games. This is their way to socialize and have some fun. However, what they may not know is that this fun freetime activity also helps them protecting their thinking skills. This what a new study from the University […]

Women in their 70s and 80s who were exposed to higher levels of air pollution experienced greater declines in memory and more Alzheimer’s-like brain atrophy than their counterparts who breathed cleaner air, according to USC researchers. The findings of the nationwide study, published in the journal Brain, touch on the […]

Most of us know camels as curiosities at zoos. As beasts of burden highly adapted to hot and dry climates, they’ve served the trade routes that helped build civilizations, and may indeed flourish in our increasingly hot and dry world. We value their hide, meat, and especially their milk. Camels […]