Related Science News

May 11, 2021

Study Suggests Path to Blocking Common Genetic Driver of Lung Cancer

KRAS is one of the most common drivers of cancer and is involved in one-third of non-small cell lung cancers. It’s proved an elusive target thanks to its smooth structure and biochemistry. And although new inhibitors are demonstrating some success against one type of KRAS, new paths are needed. A […]
May 11, 2021

Feds back probe of understudied gut nervous system

Rice University neurobiologist Rosa Uribe will be hitting the books for her latest study of the digestive system, but some of the pages in her books are a billion years old. Uribe, an assistant professor of biosciences, has won a five-year, $2 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to […]
May 11, 2021

Radiology study seeks fuller picture of 'incidentalomas'

Say you get a CT scan to confirm whether your chest pain is from a fractured rib. You learn a few days later that no bone break was detected – yay! – but joy gives way to anxiety as you read the radiologist’s note, from the same scan, of a […]
May 11, 2021

Oregon State researchers discover new class of cancer fighting compounds

A team of Oregon State University scientists has discovered a new class of anti-cancer compounds that effectively kill liver and breast cancer cells. The findings, recently published in the journal Apoptosis, describe the discovery and characterization of compounds, designated as Select Modulators of AhR-regulated Transcription (SMAhRTs). Edmond Francis O’Donnell III […]
May 11, 2021

Mild COVID-19 cases do not leave lasting heart damage

COVID-19 can cause significant health problems. At one point it was reported that it can even cause lasting heart damage. And it is true. However, now scientists from UCL found that mild Covid-19 infection is very unlikely to cause lasting damage to the heart. This is good to hear because […]
May 10, 2021

Research finds new way to reduce scarring

Researchers have been able to reduce scarring by blocking part of the healing process in research that could make a significant difference for burns and other trauma patients. University of Queensland Professor Kiarash Khosrotehrani said scars had been reduced by targeting the gene that instructs stem cells to form them in an […]
May 10, 2021

Study: Vitamin D won’t limit risk, severity of COVID-19

New Cornell-led research finds “little to no evidence” of a link between a person’s normal blood levels of vitamin D and risk of getting COVID-19, or the severity of an infection, in the most comprehensive study of its kind to date. Multiple studies had suggested an association between vitamin D […]
May 10, 2021

VUMC to lead national study to treat severe COVID complications

The Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) has been awarded a major federal grant to lead a national trial of treatments targeting the Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System (RAAS) in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Comprised of the hormones renin, angiotensin and aldosterone, RAAS is essential for the regulation of […]
May 10, 2021

New bonobo genome fine tunes great ape evolution studies

Chimpanzees and bonobos diverged comparatively recently in great ape evolutionary history. They split into different species about 1.7 million years ago. Some of the distinctions between chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and bonobo (Pan paniscus) lineages have been made clearer by a recent achievement in hominid genomics. A new bonobo genome assembly […]
May 10, 2021

Researchers identify blood markers that indicate labor is approaching

For the first time, researchers have found a way to predict when a pregnant woman will go into labor by analyzing immune and other biological signals in a blood sample, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The study, which was published online in Science Translational Medicine, […]
May 9, 2021

Brain Wave Recordings Reveal Potential for Individualized Parkinson’s Treatments

Pioneering neural recordings in patients with Parkinson’s disease by UC San Francisco scientists are providing the groundwork for personalized brain stimulation to treat Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders. In a study published in Nature Biotechnology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences researchers implanted novel neurostimulation devices that monitor brain activity for many months, […]
May 9, 2021

U of A researcher discovers marker that may predict response to cancer immunotherapy

University of Alberta researchers have uncovered a link between the expression of the protein galectin-9 (gal-9) and whether a cancer patient will benefit from immunotherapy. The discovery could help inform physicians about which patients will likely respond to immunotherapy, and lead to better treatment options. Shokrollah Elahi, a member of […]
May 7, 2021

Blanks for the Memory

Researchers report that one kind of perceptual learning can occur in memory-impaired persons who do not actually remember what they learned. There are many types of memory, but fundamentally, humans remember in two ways. Declarative memory consists of ordinary recollections consciously summoned from the brain. It is dependent on the […]
May 7, 2021

Pinpointing Cancer’s Epicenter

When someone is diagnosed with cancer, the epicenter of the tumor is easily identifiable, but in 1 to 2 percent of cases, the primary site of tumor origin cannot be determined. Because many modern cancer therapies target primary tumors, the prognosis for a cancer of unknown primary origin is poor, […]
May 7, 2021

Accelerating the pace of engineered cell therapies, from lab to bedside

What if a cancer patient could receive life-saving cellular therapy within days of diagnosis rather than weeks? What if pharmaceutical researchers could bring new treatments to market in months rather than years? Kytopen is significantly speeding up both discovery and delivery of engineered cell therapies with its transformative Flowfect platforms. […]
May 7, 2021

‘Causal’ blood pressure genes found in the human kidney

An international team of scientists led by The University of Manchester have discovered 179 kidney genes responsible for high blood pressure. High blood pressure, known as “silent killer”, is one of the most common human diseases and remains the key risk factor for strokes and heart attacks. High blood pressure […]
May 6, 2021

Repairing Nerves Requires Prods of Protein

It turns out the 'bad guys' of the brain aren't so bad after all. When there’s damage in the body, our cells call for help. UConn brain researchers just found a new way cells do this—like in the old AT&T ad campaign, they reach out and touch someone. Or some […]
May 6, 2021

Cores of discovery

A revolution is coming to Mizzou. Instead of a rabble, it’s genteel scientists inciting this upheaval, which comes in the form of large, shiny instruments that can peer deep inside bodies, individual cells and even molecules — all in remarkable detail. One machine so huge that a crane must lift […]
May 6, 2021

Study: what brain scans reveal about learning math

When you’re solving a challenging math problem, you know your brain is working hard. But what, exactly, is going on in there? Despite decades of research into math teaching and learning, there is still much to learn about how specific brain functions are tied to math skills. A new University […]
May 6, 2021

Epilepsy research reveals why sleep increases risk of sudden death

New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine reveals why sleep can put people with epilepsy at increased risk of sudden death. Both sleep and seizures work together to slow the heart rate, the researchers found. Seizures also disrupt the body’s natural regulation of sleep-related changes. Together, in […]
May 6, 2021

Exploring the possibilities of hyaluronic acid

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is more than a buzzword ingredient touted by skincare brands. The “workhorse” capabilities of this biopolymer, which is present in most mammalian tissues, have fascinated scientists for decades. A new cover story in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, details HA’s complex […]
May 6, 2021

New marker predicts benefit of radiotherapy for early-stage breast cancer

A study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Gothenburg University has found that low levels of a protein called PDGFRb are associated with particularly good results of radiotherapy in women with early-stage breast cancer. The study, which is published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, also suggests that the efficacy […]
May 6, 2021

Large study links dementia to poor kidney function

Older people with kidney disease have a higher risk of dementia, and the risk increases with the rate and stage of kidney function decline. That is according to a large observational study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, published in the journal Neurology. The findings stress the significance of […]
May 6, 2021

New map reveals genes that control the skeleton

Researchers have mapped the gene activity of osteocytes to improve their understanding of skeletal disease. Research led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has for the first time mapped the unique genetic profile of the skeleton’s ‘master regulator’ cells, known as osteocytes. The study published in Nature Communications outlines the […]
May 6, 2021

Researchers develop better way to determine safe drug doses for children

Determining safe yet effective drug dosages for children is an ongoing challenge for pharmaceutical companies and medical doctors alike. A new drug is usually first tested on adults, and results from these trials are used to select doses for pediatric trials. The underlying assumption is typical that children are like […]
May 6, 2021

Biologists discover a trigger for cell extrusion

For all animals, eliminating some cells is a necessary part of embryonic development. Living cells are also naturally sloughed off in mature tissues; for example, the lining of the intestine turns over every few days. One way that organisms get rid of unneeded cells is through a process called extrusion, […]
May 5, 2021

Researchers find obesity linked to reduced blood flow to the brain

A new study from scientists at The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) at Trinity College Dublin reveals important findings, indicating that being overweight or obese significantly reduces blood flow in the brain. The study also shows that increased physical activity can positively modify, or even negate, this reduction in […]