Related Science News

June 19, 2021

Electroconvulsive therapy: Peeling back the mystery

Christina often struggled to get through the average day. A former teacher diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression – along with OCD, bipolar disorder and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) – was unable to work. At one point she was taking almost 60 different pills per day, with little to no effect […]
June 18, 2021

Intermittent fasting ‘no magic bullet for weight loss’ says new study

New research published challenges a popular belief that intermittent fasting diets such as alternate day fasting or the ‘5:2’ are the most effective ways to lose weight. Over recent years, diets that see people fast on a few days each week have increased in popularity, reinforced by images of people’s […]
June 17, 2021

Several persistent chemicals were found in fetal organs

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet found industrial chemicals in the organs of fetuses conceived decades after many countries had banned the substances. In a study published in the journal Chemosphere, the researchers urge decision-makers to consider the combined impact of the mix of chemicals that accumulate in people and nature. “These […]
June 17, 2021

Mitochondrial ribosome assembly in 3D

In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers at Karolinska Institutet provide insight into the sequence of events leading to the formation of functional mitoribosomes and sheds light on the mechanism of action of nine mitoribosome assembly factors involved in this process. The results may help yield novel opportunities for […]
June 17, 2021

Top U.S. cancer centers call for urgent action to get cancer-preventing HPV vaccination back on track

Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, a partnership of Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic, has joined with 71 other National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers and partner organizations to issue a joint statement urging the nation’s physicians, parents and young adults to get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination back on […]
June 17, 2021

Scientists unravel the function of a sight-saving growth factor

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have determined how certain short protein fragments, called peptides, can protect neuronal cells found in the light-sensing retina layer at the back of the eye. The peptides might someday be used to treat degenerative retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The […]
June 17, 2021

Study sheds light on treatment options for devastating childhood brain cancer

Medulloblastoma is a rare but devastating childhood brain cancer. This cancer can spread through the spinal fluid and be deposited elsewhere in the brain or spine. Radiation therapy to the whole brain and spine followed by an extra radiation dose to the back of the brain prevents this spread and […]
June 17, 2021

Immune system protein may defend against deadly intestinal disease in babies

The intestinal disease necrotizing enterocolitis is a leading cause of death among premature infants born in the U.S. and across the globe. Characterized by excessive inflammation that can cause tissue decay in the bowels, the disease provides a pathway for infectious and deadly bacteria to enter the bloodstream. Despite four […]
June 17, 2021

Black and White Women Have Same Mutations Linked to Breast Cancer Risk

The prevalence of genetic mutations associated with breast cancer in Black and white women is the same, according to a new JAMA Oncology study of nearly 30,000 patients led by researchers in the Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center. About five percent of both Black and white women have a genetic mutation […]
June 17, 2021

Sickle cell advance incorporates Rice lab’s tech

A Rice University professor involved in the search for a way to treat and perhaps cure sickle cell disease is available to comment on a major advance revealed today in Science Translational Medicine. Rice University bioengineer Gang Bao is a pioneer in sickle cell research and a co-author of the breakthrough study released led […]
June 17, 2021

Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Offers Modest Benefits over Standard Mammography

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer ranks as the most prevalent cancer among American women. For over 40 years, mammography was the standard of care for breast cancer screening and detection but recently the popularity and use of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), or 3D mammography, […]
June 16, 2021

Those breakfast foods are fortified for a reason

Adults who skip breakfast are likely to miss out on key nutrients that are most abundant in the foods that make up morning meals, a new study suggests. An analysis of data on more than 30,000 American adults showed that skipping breakfast – and missing out on the calcium in […]
June 16, 2021

A prescription to ward off cognitive decline – without medication

There’s a pill for many ailments, but ageing isn’t one of them. And while some mounting difficulty in thinking and processing is expected as you grow older, cognition experts say you can take steps to slow it down, no prescription required. Benjamin Hampstead, PhD, recently explained what we know about […]
June 16, 2021

Chatbots for dementia patients and caregivers need more work

Chatbots hold promise for dementia patient or caregiver support, but are still in their infancy, finds a paper published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. None of the interactive digital apps tested by medical researchers and a computer scientist performed well on all testing criteria, and all the apps […]
June 16, 2021

Studying the pre-teen brain for insights into mental health disorders

University of Utah Health scientists and collaborators with the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Consortium have developed a rich resource for studying how the brain changes and matures during adolescence: a collection of functional MRI scans revealed patterns of brain activity in more than 6,000 nine- and ten-year-old children. The […]
June 15, 2021

Osteoporosis: New Approach to Understanding Bone Strength Pays Dividends

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have taken a new approach to understanding how our genes determine the strength of our bones, allowing them to identify several genes not previously known to influence bone density and, ultimately, our risk of fracture. The work offers important insights into […]
June 15, 2021

ALS: decoding its molecular mechanisms to improve treatment

Nearly 3,000 Canadians are living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease or Charcot's disease. Each year, close to 1,000 people are diagnosed with ALS and as many will die from it. ALS is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective loss of motor neurons. […]
June 15, 2021

A Frozen Leap Forward

Scientists at UC Santa Barbara, University of Southern California (USC), and the biotechnology company Regenerative Patch Technologies LLC (RPT) have reported new methodology for the preservation of RPT’s stem cell-based therapy for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The new research, recently published in Scientific Reports(link is external), optimizes the conditions to cryopreserve, […]
June 15, 2021

Toward the first drug to treat a rare, lethal liver cancer

Treatment options for a deadly liver cancer, fibrolamellar carcinoma, are severely lacking. Drugs that work on other liver cancers are not effective, and although progress has been made in identifying the specific genes involved in driving the growth of fibrolamellar tumors, these findings have yet to translate into any treatment. […]
June 15, 2021

Study finds brain areas involved in seeking information about bad possibilities

The term “doomscrolling” describes the act of endlessly scrolling through bad news on social media and reading every worrisome tidbit that pops up, a habit that unfortunately seems to have become common during the COVID-19 pandemic. The biology of our brains may play a role in that. Researchers at Washington […]
June 15, 2021

Mathematics to improve macular degeneration treatment

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a degenerative disease of the macula, the central area of the retina. There is currently no cure for the disease and it is characterised by a gradual loss of central vision and is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries in people over the […]
June 15, 2021

Teams Engineer Complex Human Tissues, Win Top Prizes in NASA Challenge

Two teams of scientists from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, have won first and second place in NASA's Vascular Tissue Challenge. The prize competition aims to accelerate tissue engineering innovations to benefit people on Earth today and space explorers in the future. Competing as teams […]
June 15, 2021

Scientists deploy creativity, speed to disrupt COVID-19

In early 2020, when the novel coronavirus was gaining momentum but had not yet been named a pandemic, computational chemist Marti Head of Oak Ridge National Laboratory – along with scientists and researchers around the globe – abruptly switched her focus to the fight against COVID-19. The world was struggling to understand this new […]
June 14, 2021

They build proteins that are not known to nature

Using chemical synthesis, Bright Peak Therapeutics can produce proteins that have never before existed. This holds great potential for cancer immunotherapy. The Basel-​based spin-off has its beginnings at ETH Zurich. Jeffrey Bode’s long, bold journey began over an after-work beer in Tokyo. A biologist friend said to the then postdoc, […]