General

Living a healthy lifestyle may help offset a person’s genetic risk of dementia, according to new research. The study was led by the University of Exeter – simultaneously published in JAMA and presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2019 in Los Angeles. The research found that the risk of dementia […]

Preventing a protein from doing its job may keep a certain type of ovarian cancer cell from growing and dividing uncontrollably in the lab, according to a new study from Penn State College of Medicine. In a study with cell cultures, the researchers identified the protein as a potential therapeutic target for high-grade […]

Researchers at the University of Oxford, in collaboration with colleagues from Hannover Medical School and Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, have discovered the specific gene mutations that are required for the development of leukaemia in children with Down’s syndrome. Children with Down’s syndrome have a 150-fold increased risk of myeloid leukaemia, and while […]

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is an adult-onset neurodegenerative disease that causes paralysis and ultimately death when the nerves enervating the lungs cease to carry the signals needed for breathing. The disease has what is called a “focal onset,” where paralysis starts with an arm or a leg and spreads […]

A research team headed by scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UC San Diego has identified an enzyme involved in remodeling the plasma membrane of multiple cancer cell types that is critical to both survival of tumors and […]

A promising new way to treat some types of cancer is to program the patient’s own T cells to destroy the cancerous cells. This approach, termed CAR-T cell therapy, is now used to combat some types of leukemia, but so far it has not worked well against solid tumors such […]

University of Southampton researchers have developed an innovative solution to treating sight loss in old age. Led by Professors Andrew Lotery, Jessica Teeling and Dr Arjuna Ratnayaka, the study has been able to replicate important features of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in mice. These mice quickly develop damage in their retinas similar to […]

High intensity interval training (HIIT) may be doing more than just keeping you fit and strong – it may also help prevent age-related cognitive illnesses, such as dementia. A University of Queensland study found high intensity interval exercise may be more effective than continuous exercise in increasing brain blood flow […]

Researchers at the University of Toronto have uncovered an immune mechanism where host cells combat bacterial infection – and that a protein crucial to the process can sense and respond to misfolded proteins in all mammalian cells. The protein is called heme-regulated inhibitor, or HRI, and the researchers showed that […]

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have studied the mechanism of action of a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis. The results, which are published in the journal Nature Communications, show that the drug affects cells in the innate immune system and that there is an unexpected link between therapeutic […]

A new study by Harvard Medical School scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital is offering clues about how to prevent inflammation of brain tissue, which promotes Alzheimer’s disease. The findings of this study, published in the journal Neuron, could contribute to the development of new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. It’s known that […]

Researchers at Penn Medicine and Geisinger find only 5 percent of patients with a mutation of the TTN gene have dilated cardiomyopathy, despite changes in heart function. More than 750,000 people in the United States have dilated cardiomyopathy, a potentially life-threatening condition in which the heart’s main pumping chamber, the […]

Babies whose mothers underwent surgery before pregnancy have an increased risk of opioid withdrawal symptoms at birth, according to a new study done at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. “Use of opioids for pain control after surgery may increase the risk of […]

A new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet shows that the protein alpha-synuclein, which accumulates in patients with Parkinson’s disease, occurs bound to lipoprotein particles in cerebrospinal fluid, which may explain how the disease spreads in the nervous system. The study is published in the scientific journal PNAS. Some 23,000 […]

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that neural signatures in sleeping zebrafish are analogous to those of humans, suggesting that the brain activity evolved at least 450 million years ago, before any creatures crawled out of the ocean. Scientists have known for more than 100 years that fish […]

An injection of nanoparticles can prevent the body’s immune system from overreacting to trauma, potentially preventing some spinal cord injuries from resulting in paralysis. The approach was demonstrated in mice at the University of Michigan, with the nanoparticles enhancing healing by reprogramming the aggressive immune cells—call it an “EpiPen” for […]

A new type of therapeutic food, specifically designed to repair the gut microbiomes of malnourished children, is superior to standard therapy in an initial clinical trial conducted in Bangladesh. An interdisciplinary team of investigators from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease […]

For patients with prostate cancer, treating the disease with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is linked to a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, compared to patients who do not receive the therapy, according to a study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the […]

It’s possible to take precancerous cells back in time, so to speak, revealing individual DNA mutations in their earliest state and the likely sequence in which those mutations were acquired, according to scientists in Seattle. The discovery could shed light on the natural rules that govern how cancers evolve through […]

Sequencing a genome is getting cheaper, but making sense of the resulting data remains hard. Researchers have now found a new way to extract useful information out of sequenced DNA. By cataloging subtle evolutionary signatures shared between pairs of genes in bacteria, the team was able to discover hundreds of previously […]

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have identified, for the first time in oesophageal cancer, the cancer killing capability of a lesser-known type of immune cell, presenting a new potential therapeutic target. Their research has been published in the international journal Frontiers in Immunology. Oesophageal cancer is a very aggressive type […]

When it comes to killing cancer cells, two drugs are often better than one. Some drug combinations offer a one-two punch that kills cells more effectively, requires lower doses of each drug, and can help to prevent drug resistance. MIT biologists have now found that by combining two existing classes […]

New research from the University at Buffalo provides pathophysiologic evidence of the effect of air pollution on cardiovascular disease in China. The findings also suggests that China may need to revise its standard for one type of pollutant. Researchers found that long-term exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, as […]

A new study from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center found that children born to obese mothers were more likely to develop cancer in early childhood. Using Pennsylvania birth records, the researchers found a correlation between pre-pregnancy body-mass index (BMI) in mothers and subsequent cancer diagnosis […]

Certain plants, insects, crustaceans and fish possess the uncanny ability to change the sex of their offspring before they are born. Mammals have never before demonstrated this genetic skill, until now. A new Tel Aviv University study reveals a genetic system in mammals that enables two animals to mate and produce only […]

Their findings, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, come from a detailed assessment of 121 species ranging from humans to sponges, may have important implications for conservation strategies and for predicting which species will be the winners and losers from the global environment crisis. “Pace of life” relates to how […]

A new machine-learning method accurately identifies regions of the human genome that have been duplicated or deleted — known as copy number variants — that are often associated with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The new method, developed by researchers at Penn State, integrates data from several algorithms that attempt […]

A worldwide coalition of researchers and clinicians has agreed that light therapy is among the most effective interventions for the prevention of oral mucositis, painful ulcers in the mouth resulting from cancer therapy. The new guidelines from the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) and International Society of […]

The finding is a promising step forward in understanding eye growth – and potentially fixing near- and far-sightedness. Those with a rare genetic condition called nanophthalmos have abnormally small eyes whose internal structures – including the size of the lens – are otherwise normal. The condition can cause a host […]

In recent decades, treatment options for people with cystic fibrosis have improved dramatically. The newest drugs, known as potentiators, target a protein called cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, which is mutated in people with the disease. Yet, while these medications can help some people with cystic fibrosis, they are far […]