General

Researchers encourage more conversation, better documentation of wishes. Careful documentation of a hospice patient’s end-of-life wishes – and prominently noting that information in health records early – could prevent unwanted hospitalizations and medical interventions, a new study suggests. Researchers at The Ohio State University analyzed the health records of 1,185 […]

Cells prepare for different developmental paths and make multiple choices on their way to their final state, a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Harvard Medical School and elsewhere published in Science shows. The findings can help pinpoint where cells may “take the wrong turn” and become malignant. The human […]

PNNL scientist sifts for clues from more than 1,000 human brains A substance known as amyloid beta protein gets a lot of attention from scientists. Beta amyloid, as it’s also called, is a normal brain protein found in everyone, but for unknown reason it gunks up in the brains of […]

According to the Mayo Clinic, about 20% of breast cancers make abnormally high levels of a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). When displayed on the surface of cancer cells, this signaling protein helps them proliferate uncontrollably and is linked with a poor prognosis. Now, researchers have […]

From the light-sensing cones of the retina to the blood-pumping muscle of the heart to the waste-filtering units of the kidneys, the human body is made up of hundreds of cell types exquisitely specialized to perform their jobs with great precision. This complexity, however, belies the fact that each of […]

To treat large gaps in long bones, like the femur, which result from bone tumor removal or a shattering trauma, researchers at Penn Medicine and the University of Illinois at Chicago developed a process that partially recreates the bone growth process that occurs before birth. A bone defect of more […]

A mutation has been found in a rare form of brain aneurysm that might be treated with a drug already approved for cancer therapy. The finding suggests that other, more common, forms of aneurysms may be caused by yet undiscovered mutations.  These might also be treated with medication instead of […]

Schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder that affects about 1% of the population, is a leading cause of functional disability in the United States. Typically diagnosis has hinged on the display of visible “positive symptoms” such as hallucinations and delusions, but one key to earlier identification and treatment is a recognition of […]

Nematodes, worms found in virtually all environmental habitats, are among the most studied model organisms. They reproduce quickly and their genome contains nearly the same number of genes as the human genome. A new Tel Aviv University study finds a mechanism exhibited in nematodes allows the nervous system cells — neurons — […]

A new study by researchers at the University of Virginia and other institutions has discovered a type of pigment cell in zebrafish that can transform after development into another cell type. David Parichy, the Pratt-Ivy Foundation Distinguished Professor of Morphogenesis in UVA’s Department of Biology, said that researchers in his […]

A new phase of the IGNITE Network will conduct clinical trials of genomic medicine interventions. The National Institutes of Health will fund clinical trials to assess the benefits, applicability and efficacy of applying genomic medicine interventions to improve management of diseases such as high blood pressure, depression and chronic pain. […]

Parkinson's disease is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease, affecting everything from speech, posture and gait to digestion, sleep, impulse control and cognition. Therapies exist that alleviate some symptoms of the disease, but there is still no cure for Parkinson's, which affects close to one million Americans and 10 million people worldwide. […]

A new study has found that not sticking to a regular bedtime and wakeup schedule — and getting different amounts of sleep each night — can put a person at higher risk for obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension, high blood sugar and other metabolic disorders. In fact, for every hour of variability […]

Pancreatic cancer kills more than 45,000 people in the U.S. each year, mostly due to the fact that it is detected too late for surgery to remove and halt the spread of the cancer. Cysts in the pancreas sometimes develop into the invasive cancer, depending on the type of cyst, […]

Like fishermen, Rice University bioengineers are angling for their daily catch. But their bait, biomolecules in a hydrogel scaffold, lures microscopic stem cells instead of fish. These, they say, will seed the growth of new tissue to heal wounds. The team led by Brown School of Engineering bioengineer Antonios Mikos and graduate student Jason Guo […]

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania have developed a unique technique that uses stem cells and flexible implantable bone-stabilizing plates to help speed the healing of large breaks or defects. The technique allows the stem cells applied to break sites to experience some […]

Cancer-related inflammation impacts significantly on cancer development and progression. New research has observed in zebrafish, for the first time, that inflammatory cells use weak spots or micro-perforations in the extracellular matrix barrier layer to access skin cancer cells. The research, led by the University of Bristol and published in Cell Reports, used translucent […]

Children can keep full visual perception — the ability to process and understand visual information — after brain surgery for severe epilepsy, according to a study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health. While brain surgery can halt seizures, it carries significant risks, […]

A mouse model of autism has revealed how exercise changes the structure of the brain by eliminating the excess connections between neurons characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). After one month of voluntary running on a wheel, behavioral differences disappeared and structural differences in ASD model mice’s brains were reduced. […]

Canadian researchers have discovered a molecular indicator of a mechanism that drives cancer progression, giving doctors the possibility of using precision medicine, that is, choosing which patients will respond to a particular anticancer drug. In a study published in Cancer Research, a team of biochemists at Université de Montreal found that a group […]

New University of Iowa research demonstrates that interactions between indoor and outdoor air pollution contribute to increased emergency room visits for asthma in both children and adults. The research by investigators in the UI College of Public Health is the first nationwide study to examine children and adults co-exposed to […]

A genetic mutation that a Chinese scientist attempted to create in twin babies born last year, ostensibly to help them fend off HIV infection, is also associated with a 21% increase in mortality in later life, according to an analysis by University of California, Berkeley, scientists. The researchers scanned more […]

PNNL team pinpoints changes that ease immune attack. PNNL scientist Wei-Jun Qian and colleagues have contributed to a study that offers clues for delaying or even preventing the autoimmune attack that’s at the core of type-1 diabetes. The study team, led by Rohit Kulkarni at the Joslin Diabetes Center at […]

Researchers hope to learn how cancer cells generate enough force to move from a tumor site through the body and then settle into bones. To fully understand why breast cancer spreads, or metastasizes, you must also consider the how. That's what researchers in a biophysics and imaging laboratory in the […]

In a discovery that might be likened to finding medicine’s version of the Loch Ness monster, a research team from Johns Hopkins Medicine, IBM Research and four collaborating institutions is the first to document the existence of long-doubted “X cell,” a “rogue hybrid” immune system cell that may play a […]

Growing up in poverty and experiencing traumatic events like a bad accident or sexual assault can impact brain development and behavior in children and young adults. Low socioeconomic status (L-SES) and the experience of traumatic stressful events (TSEs) were linked to accelerated puberty and brain maturation, abnormal brain development, and […]

A study has lodged a new kink in the breastfeeding dilemma that adds to the angst of exhausted new parents: While most newborns lose weight in the first days of life, do you or don’t you offer a little formula after breastfeeding if the weight loss is more than usual? […]

Help for patients with sickle cell disease may soon come from gene editing to fix the mutation that causes the disease and boost the patient’s own protective fetal hemoglobin. New research shows that using CRISPR-Cas9 and a corrective short DNA template to repair the sickle cell mutation in a patient’s hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) could be efficient […]

There are no approved treatment options for patients with advanced bladder cancer after they’ve received standard chemotherapy and immune treatments, but the results of a phase II clinical trial led by Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital researchers demonstrate an effective treatment for this deadly disease. The findings were presented […]

Diagnosing genetic diseases is a difficult task. Biomarkers are not always identified and analysing DNA takes a considerable amount of time. But now thanks to advancements in DNA testing diseases caused by genetic changes could be detected more readily. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh say that this achievement allows […]