Related Science News

October 17, 2020

New app helps people watching out for the signs of oncoming dementia

Age-related dementia is in the cards for many. It is an incurable condition, which is one of the worst things about aging. It is debilitating to the patient as well as his entire family. Now scientists at UCL have developed an artificial intelligence based app, which can help screening people […]
October 17, 2020

Incorporating Microelectronics into Bioartificial Blood Vessels

Researchers here report on an interesting proof of concept, incorporating electronic device capabilities into the flexible biomaterials used as scaffolding for blood vessel tissue engineering. As a next generation technology to potentially replace the use of stents in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, bioartificial blood vessel sections are already promising. […]
October 17, 2020

Counterintuitive discoveries about immune-like characteristics of cells, chemotherapy’s impact on tissue growth

Vanderbilt University researchers have reported the counterintuitive discovery that certain chemotherapeutic agents used to treat tumors can have the opposite effect of tissue overgrowth in normal, intact mammary glands, epidermis and hair follicles. The researchers also are the first to report the discovery of an innate immune signaling pathway in […]
October 17, 2020

Cells on the run

Many cells in the body must pass through tissue, which sometimes requires them to get out of tight corners. An international research team co-​led by ETH Zurich has now examined how cells recognise and escape from such bottlenecks. Among the results of the team’s work are new pointers for how […]
October 16, 2020

In Search of Common Transcriptional Regulators of Aging

Are there common regulators of aging to be found among transcription factors? Sweeping, complex, tissue-specific and species-specific changes in gene expression take place over the course of aging. If these are reactions to comparatively straightforward processes of molecular damage at the root of aging, processes that are similar between species, […]
October 16, 2020

Lamenting the Incomplete Understanding of Human Immunosenescence

The immune system is inconveniently complicated. Aging is also inconveniently complicated. The overlap between the two is a particularly dark forest for the research community, with few well-tracked paths. The fine details of how exactly the immune system becomes dysfunctional with age, and the sizable variation in those details between […]
October 16, 2020

An Example of the Beneficial Role of Senescence in Injury

Researchers here provide an interesting demonstration of the beneficial role of transient cellular senescence in injury. Applying senolytics to selectively destroy senescent cells immediately following traumatic injury greatly worsens the consequences. Senescent cells are harmful when they build up and linger in tissues over the course of later life. The […]
October 16, 2020

Weakened Hearts Linked to a Build-Up of Phosphate

Heart failure is a debilitating condition that impairs quality of life and shortens life span. Rates of heart failure continue to rise to epidemic levels, in parallel with its risk factors—obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. In essence, heart failure is a condition in which the heart has difficulty generating the pumping […]
October 15, 2020

Wearable tech will help people manage multiple sclerosis

U of A researchers, precision health company team up to develop sensor small enough to wear behind the ear but powerful enough to reduce costly hospital visits. University of Alberta researchers are teaming up with a precision-health innovator to develop a low-cost wearable sensor to help people suffering from chronic […]
October 15, 2020

New Research Shows How Nanoparticles Can Turn Off Genes in Bone Marrow

Using specialized nanoparticles, researchers from Penn Engineering and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a way to turn off specific genes in cells of bone marrow, which play an important role in producing blood cells. These particles could be tailored to help treat heart disease or to boost […]
October 15, 2020

Clues to Brain Development and Disease Emerge from 3D Epigenome Study

Risks for neuropsychiatric disorders including autism, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are in part genetically determined. Now UC San Francisco researchers are finding new clues to how these disorders unfold by focusing on the role of a little-studied form of DNA in early brain development. Like a late-night […]
October 15, 2020

Harnessing the power of nanobodies to rebuild kidneys

UW Medicine scientists are driving a bold, multi-partner experiment to stimulate the repair and regeneration of human kidney cells. A favorable outcome could jump-start a new therapy model for 850 million people worldwide who live with kidney disease. The National Institutes of Health recently announced the project’s funding: $4 million over five […]
October 14, 2020

Cure found for rare form of inflammatory bowel disease

A rare genetic condition which causes inflammatory bowel disease can be successfully treated by bone marrow transplant, according to the University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust researchers. The disease, called G6PC3 deficiency, affects around one in a million people and causes inflammation of the bowel, as well as lung infections. The […]
October 14, 2020

Scientists uncover new clues about Parkinson’s disease

Tool developed at MIT simultaneously measures chemical and electrical brain signals, revealing unexpectedly complex relationship between brain signals. As the brain processes information, electrical charges zip through its circuits and neurotransmitters pass molecular messages from cell to cell. Both forms of communication are vital, but because they are usually studied […]
October 14, 2020

Technique recovers lost single-cell RNA-sequencing information

Boosting the efficiency of single-cell RNA-sequencing helps reveal subtle differences between healthy and dysfunctional cells. Sequencing RNA from individual cells can reveal a great deal of information about what those cells are doing in the body. MIT researchers have now greatly boosted the amount of information gleaned from each of […]
October 14, 2020

To make mini-organs grow faster, give them a squeeze

The closer people are physical to one another, the higher the chance for exchange, of things like ideas, information, and even infection. Now researchers at MIT and Boston Children’s Hospital have found that, even in the microscopic environment within a single cell, physical crowding increases the chance for interactions, in […]
October 14, 2020

Childhood cancer program powered by genomics and philanthropy

Children with high-risk cancers have received effective treatments leading to complete or partial regression of their cancer thanks to a pioneering research program that tailors therapy based on the complete DNA sequence of a patient’s individual tumour. A report of 247 participants of the Zero Childhood Cancer Program published in […]
October 14, 2020

ADHD genetic risk score associated with intervention outcomes in autism.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet demonstrate that genetic risk score for ADHD can influence how autistic individuals respond to standard interventions and the specific program on social skills training KONTAKT®. This study is now published in npj Genomic Medicine. “Our ultimate goal is to be able to use genetic information to […]
October 14, 2020

University of Minnesota opens first of its kind clinical trial to treat metastatic GI cancers using CRISPR genetic engineering

reatment of metastatic gastrointestinal solid tumor cancer. The Phase II clinical trial, which will use cutting-edge CRISPR genetic engineering, has opened exclusively at the M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center, and has already begun enrolling patients. This trial comes on the heels of groundbreaking research from a consortia […]
October 13, 2020

Ancient tiny teeth reveal first mammals lived more like reptiles

Pioneering analysis of 200 million-year-old teeth belonging to the earliest mammals suggests they functioned like their cold-blooded counterparts – reptiles, leading less active but much longer lives. The research, led by the University of Bristol, UK and University of Helsinki, Finland, published in Nature Communications, is the first time palaeontologists have […]
October 13, 2020

Women with Inflammatory Breast Cancer Are Living Longer, But the Gap Between White and Black Patients Persists

Women with inflammatory breast cancer — a rare, highly aggressive form of the disease — are living about twice as long after diagnosis than their counterparts in the mid-to-late 1970s, according to a new University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center study. The researchers found that from 1973-1977, patients diagnosed with inflammatory breast […]
October 13, 2020

Inhalable Treatment Enhances Lung Regeneration in Lung Fibrosis Model

In response to certain types of injury and inflammation, many organs produce tough scar tissue, a process called fibrosis, which can ultimately lead to organ failure or even death. Fibrosis is such a central component of so many different diseases – from cardiovascular disease to kidney failure – that scientists […]
October 13, 2020

Predicting the cancer-causing potential of chemicals released from wildfires, fossil fuel burning

Oregon State University scientists have developed a method that could potentially predict the cancer-causing potential of chemicals released into the air during wildfires and fossil fuel combustion. The research, which was recently published in the journal Toxicology in Vitro, was conducted as a part of the OSU Superfund Research Program.  The findings […]
October 13, 2020

Brain imaging can predict childhood weight gain

A greater density of cells in a key reward centre of the brain is associated with obesity in children and predicts future weight gain, a new Yale-led study finds. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that a greater concentration of specialized cells in […]
October 12, 2020

Researchers disrupt signaling pathway to treat colitis

The white blood cell TH17 helps the immune system fight infection by promoting inflammation. But it can be too much of a good thing: Excessive inflammation from TH17 overload has been tied to autoimmune disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and arthritis. Researchers led by Hening Lin, professor of chemistry […]
October 12, 2020

Research offers new insights on infertility

A University of Oregon-initiated project using tiny roundworms has identified defects tied to infertility that result when too much DNA is exchanged in the formation of sperm and eggs. The fundamental research, detailed in a paper placed online in PLOS Genetics, probed what happens when too many DNA exchanges, called […]