Related Science News

January 22, 2021

Following the hops of disordered proteins could lead to future treatments of Alzheimer’s disease

Study shows how to determine the elusive motions of proteins that remain disordered. Researchers from the University of Cambridge, Google Research and the University of Milan have used machine learning techniques to predict how proteins, particularly those implicated in neurological diseases, completely change their shapes in a matter of microseconds. […]
January 22, 2021

Designer DNA Therapeutic Wipes Out Cancer Stem Cells, Treats Multiple Myeloma in Mice

Many patients with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, eventually develop resistance to one treatment after another. That’s in part because cancer stem cells drive the disease — cells that continually self-renew. If a therapy can’t completely destroy these malignant stem cells, the cancer is likely to keep coming […]
January 22, 2021

Treating moms with postpartum depression helps their babies’ brains

New research from McMaster has found that psychiatric help for mothers with postpartum depression results in healthy changes in the brains of their babies. The study, published in the journal Depression and Anxiety this week, found treating mothers who had postpartum depression with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) not only helped […]
January 22, 2021

Key Pathway for Activated T-cells Might Be Targeted to Fight GVHD

When they are activated to mount an immune response, T cells produce secretory proteins that help to manage their growth and other functions. But the intracellular pathways involved and molecular components that regulate this key process aren’t well understood. New research from a team of scientists at the University of […]
January 22, 2021

Proteins unspool DNA so cells can take on unique properties

Biologists have long wondered how complex organisms contain a variety of dramatically different types of cells with specialized functions, even though all of those cells are genetically identical. New research reveals how proteins, called “pioneer transcription factors,” help turn on key genes that give cell types their unique properties and […]
January 22, 2021

NIH researchers identify new genetic disorder that affects brain, craniofacial skeleton

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered a new genetic disorder characterized by developmental delays and malformations of the brain, heart and facial features. Named linkage-specific-deubiquitylation-deficiency-induced embryonic defects syndrome (LINKED), it is caused by a mutated version of the OTUD5 gene, which interferes with key molecular steps in embryo development. […]
January 22, 2021

Obesity – overlooked epidemic of the XXIst century

Nowadays, the fashion trends and cosmetics industry promote fitness and “perfect” body types. Strict following of these “recommendations” may have harmful consequences. Social media do not help, promoting standards – to stay healthy and beautiful, measured in clothing sizes. Usually, there is no room for being “just average”. A larger […]
January 22, 2021

Study reveals links between fatty liver disease, liver cancer

The United States is facing an epidemic of liver disease linked to obesity. Cases of nonalcoholic fatty liver have more than doubled in the past two decades, now affecting around one-quarter of the country’s population. The condition leads to inflammation and scarring in the liver, similar to that caused by […]
January 22, 2021

Discovery could lead to more precise way to treat symptoms of advanced Parkinson’s disease

University of Alberta researchers have discovered a potential biomarker—the response of a particular reflex in the body dubbed the Hoffmann reflex—that would help surgeons deliver deep brain stimulation (DBS) more precisely and effectively to patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease. The work, led by U of A neurosurgeon Tejas Sankar, was recently published in […]
January 22, 2021

Mutations Commonly Linked to Breast Cancer Found to Pose No Increased Risk, Population Study Reveals

Several genetic mutations previously linked to breast cancer and included on commercial genetic tests, including direct-to-consumer tests, were found not to increase a woman’s risk of disease, according to a population study of more than 64,000 women published online in the New England Journal of Medicine from several institutions, including Penn Medicine. […]
January 22, 2021

STRANGE COLON DISCOVERY EXPLAINS RACIAL DISPARITIES IN COLORECTAL CANCER

The colons of African Americans and people of European descent age differently, new research reveals, helping explain racial disparities in colorectal cancer – cancer that killed beloved “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman at only 43. Scientists led by UVA Health’s Dr Li Li and Graham Casey, along with Matt Devall […]
January 22, 2021

AI-Based Urine Test Diagnoses Prostate Cancer with Almost 100% Accuracy

Although prostate cancer is one the most common types of malignancy in men, diagnosis is typically made on the basis of the Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), with an accuracy as low as 30%. Given how unreliable PSA-based testing can often be, many patients require invasive biopsy which often leaves them with […]
January 21, 2021

Proteomic analysis reveals when and how which proteins are degraded in cancer cells by Autophagy pathways

A fundamental process by which cellular components are degraded is Autophagy. Defects in Autophagy pathways are strongly associated with multiple human diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. Despite their importance, to date, a comprehensive characterization of the extent and selectivity for Autophagic degrades has remained largely uncharacterized. Researchers at Karolinska […]
January 21, 2021

New discovery in breast cancer treatment

Liverpool cancer researchers have contributed to important new findings of the positive role of androgens in breast cancer treatment, with immediate implications for women with oestrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) advanced disease. ER-positive breast cancer is the most common type of breast cancer diagnosed today, accounting for around 75 out of every […]
January 21, 2021

Target of new cancer treatment valid for breast as well as blood cancers: study

One more piece of the puzzle has fallen into place behind a new drug whose anti-cancer potential was developed at the University of Alberta and is set to begin human trials this year, thanks to newly published research. “The results provide more justification and rationale for starting the clinical trial in […]
January 20, 2021

Assessing Technology of Cellular Senescence with Minimally Invasive Sampling Technique

NineSigma, representing Suntory Global Innovation Center Ltd. (“Client”), which serves as the Suntory Group's basic research department, seeks technologies for making a minimally invasive assessment of cellular senescence in the human clinical setting. The Client has in mind biomarker-based assessment methods but welcomes proposals for a wide range of other approaches. Anti-ageing is […]
January 20, 2021

New discovery in breast cancer treatment

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have found new evidence about the positive role of androgens in breast cancer treatment with immediate implications for women with estrogen receptor-driven metastatic disease. Published in Nature Medicine, the international study conducted in collaboration with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, looked at the […]
January 20, 2021

Fatty acid may help combat multiple sclerosis

The abnormal immune system response that causes multiple sclerosis (MS) by attacking and damaging the central nervous system can be triggered by the lack of a specific fatty acid in fat tissue, according to a new Yale study. The finding suggests that dietary change might help treat some people with […]
January 19, 2021

An Example of High Dose Fisetin Exhibiting Senolytic Effects in Mice

Fisetin is perhaps the most intriguing of the first generation senolytic compounds, those capable of selectively destroying senescent cells in old tissues and thus producing rejuvenation to a meaningful degree. Senolytics have been demonstrated in animal studies to reverse many age-related conditions to a greater degree than any other approaches. […]
January 19, 2021

A mathematical study describes how metastasis starts

A scientific study carried out by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) has produced a mathematical description of the way in which a tumour invades the epithelial cells and automatically quantifies the progression of the tumour and the remaining cell islands after […]
January 19, 2021

Genetic factors involved in shaping the composition of the human gut microbiome, finds international research team

Human genes have an impact on shaping our gut ecosystem according to new evidence from the international MIBioGen consortium study involving more than 18,000 people. The findings, led by the University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands and involving researchers at the University of Bristol, are published today [18 January] in Nature […]
January 19, 2021

The immune system mounts a lasting defense after recovery from COVID-19

As the number of people who have fought off SARS-CoV-2 climbs ever higher, a critical question has grown in importance: How long will their immunity to the novel coronavirus last? A new Rockefeller study offers an encouraging answer, suggesting that those who recover from COVID-19 are protected against the virus […]
January 19, 2021

Personalized Brain Stimulation Alleviates Severe Depression Symptoms

Targeted neuromodulation tailored to individual patients’ distinctive symptoms is an increasingly common way of correcting misfiring brain circuits in people with epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease. Now, scientists at UC San Francisco’s Dolby Family Center for Mood Disorders and Weill Institute for Neurosciences have demonstrated a novel personalized neuromodulation approach that – at least in […]
January 19, 2021

Where do our minds wander? Brain waves can point the way

Anyone who has tried and failed to meditate knows that our minds are rarely still. But where do they roam? New research led by UC Berkeley has come up with a way to track the flow of our internal thought processes and signal whether our minds are focused, fixated or […]
January 18, 2021

Arterial Stiffening with Age Correlates with Structural Damage to the Brain

Today's open access research paper is a reminder of one of the more direct mechanistic links between vascular aging and brain aging. Blood vessels stiffen with age, becoming progressively worse at the necessary task of contracting and relaxing in response to circumstances. This is in part due to cross-linking in […]
January 18, 2021

Acute itching in eczema patients linked to environmental allergens

In addition to a skin rash, many eczema sufferers also experience chronic itching, but sometimes that itching can become torturous. Worse, antihistamines — the standard treatment for itching and allergy — often don’t help. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that allergens in the environment often […]
January 18, 2021

UNH Researchers Discover New Inhibitor Drug Combination for Rare Form of Cancer

Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM), a rare form of lymphoma, does not have any known cure and only one FDA-approved treatment making it challenging to treat patients. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire took the novel approach of targeting specific cell proteins that control DNA information using inhibitors, or drugs, that […]
January 17, 2021

Moonshots for the Treatment of Aging: Less Incrementalism, More Ambition

There is far too much incrementalism in the present research and development of therapies to treat aging. Much of the field is engaged in mimicking calorie restriction or repurposing existing drugs that were found to increase mouse life span by a few percentage points. This will not meaningfully change the […]