Related Science News

September 17, 2020

Problems in synapse connection sites found in rare neurodevelopmental disorders

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe molecular and cellular consequences of unique genetic mutations affecting the CASK gene which has been implicated in various neurodevelopmental disorders. Notably, the results indicate differences in the development of presynapses of inhibitory neurons in individuals with specific mutations. The findings elucidate key mechanisms during early […]
September 17, 2020

Survivors of neonatal heart repair surgery face lifelong risk of kidney disease, high blood pressure

Babies who have life-saving surgery for congenital heart problems within the first month of life face a lifelong risk of chronic kidney disease and high blood pressure, according to new research led by University of Alberta pediatric specialists. “We know that kidneys, like all organs, have to last a lifetime,” said Catherine Morgan, […]
September 17, 2020

Antibiotic pre-treatment reduces joint inflammation

Tearing an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) can be an excruciatingly painful injury. Nearly 50 percent of these patients will develop a secondary form of osteoarthritis, deemed post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the UC Davis Medical Center have found that treatment with antibiotics prior to the injury could reduce inflammation […]
September 16, 2020

Researchers develop tissue engineering platform technology for joint tissue regeneration

A research team led by Professor Kim Gyo-beom of Dongguk University's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering has developed the latest technology for joint tissue regeneration via simultaneous delivery of therapeutic growth factors and adi-pose derived stem cells into the body. The work was published in the Journal of Controlled […]
September 16, 2020

On the Clock

How old are you for your age? Scientists who study ageing have begun to distinguish chronological age: how long it's been since a person was born, and so-called biological age: how much a body is “aged” and how close it is to the end of life. These researchers are uncovering […]
September 16, 2020

Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Linked to Infant Illness

Greater maternal stress during pregnancy is linked with significant increases in the number and variety of infant illness during the first year of life, independent of the level of stress after birth, according to a study led by researchers at UC San Francisco. The study, published in the Journal of […]
September 16, 2020

RNA Information Transfer Could Be Used in Repairing DNA

Genomes are routinely subjected to DNA damage. But most cells have DNA repair systems that enforce genome stability and, ideally, prevent diseases like cancer. The trouble gets serious when these systems break down. When that happens, damage such as unrepaired DNA lesions can lead to tumors, and genomic chaos ensues. […]
September 15, 2020

Stanford technology predicts the slow death of lithium-ion batteries

Batteries fade as they age, slowly losing power and storage capacity. As in people, aging plays out differently from one battery to another, and it’s next to impossible to measure or model all of the interacting mechanisms that contribute to decline. As a result, most of the systems used to […]
September 15, 2020

Fighting breast cancer with nanotech, immunotherapy

A team of scientists led by a researcher at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is making strides to fight deadly metastatic breast cancer by combining nanotechnology with immunotherapy. Efstathios “Stathis” Karathanasis, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, is directing the novel technique—sending nanoparticles into the body to […]
September 14, 2020

Studying the human genome to understand the risk of autism

A team of researchers at CHU Sainte-Justine and Université de Montréal has succeeded in using bioinformatics to develop a statistical model to assess how the gain or loss of genetic material impacts the risk of autism. The results of this work are presented in the American Journal of Psychiatry. This […]
September 14, 2020

Why is COVID-19 more severe in men and elders?

The immune system usually mounts a strong immune response to infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. That defensive response, however, appears to be weaker in men and people over the age of 60, a study led by researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle has […]
September 13, 2020

Preserving Brain Tissue with Stem Cells

UT Health physicians use supercomputers to interpret results of traumatic brain injury clinical trial. Individuals with traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, frequently experience the shrinking or atrophying of brain tissue near where the injury occurred, causing additional damage beyond the original harm. If this can be prevented, many could function […]
September 11, 2020

Seeing the eye like never before

Researchers are able to visualize the retina's function at the cellular level, which will help accelerate cures for blinding diseases. While there is no cure for blindness and macular degeneration, scientists have accelerated the process to find a cure by visualizing the inner workings of the eye and its diseases at […]
September 11, 2020

Mutation leading to biological changes may play role in cancer

A new study from McGill University’s Goodman Cancer Research Centre (GCRC) has revealed significant biological changes in mice expressing an activated, mutant form of the Estrogen Receptor alpha (ER alpha), shedding new light on the role of this important gene in development and cancer. Over-expressed in approximately 70 % of breast cancer cases, the Estrogen Receptor is often associated […]
September 11, 2020

Powerful push to use AI for cancer immunotherapy

For artificial intelligence (AI) tools being developed at Case Western Reserve University to have impact in the fight against cancer, they’re going to have to be validated in rigorous human clinical trials. That validation may be a step closer following two recent agreements among bioengineering pioneer Anant Madabhushi, a longtime […]
September 11, 2020

Imagery reveals autism-related brain differences

People with autism spectrum disorder have lower levels of a protein that regulates the amount of serotonin in the brain, a paper from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry reports. For their study, the researchers used a molecular brain imaging technique to compare people with and […]
September 10, 2020

Probiotic skin therapy improves eczema in children, NIH study suggests

An experimental treatment for eczema that aims to modify the skin microbiome safely reduced disease severity and increased quality of life for children as young as 3 years of age, a National Institutes of Health study has found. These improvements persisted for up to eight months after treatment stopped, researchers report […]
September 10, 2020

New Nanosystem from TAU Enhances Treatment for Melanoma in Animal Models

Researchers at Tel Aviv University, led by Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro of TAU's Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Sackler School of Medicine, have developed an innovative nanotechnological drug delivery system that significantly enhances the effectiveness of treatment for the aggressive skin cancer melanoma. The nanocarrier is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer, which comprises repeating units […]
September 10, 2020

As It Unfolds

New research from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with Boston University and the University of California, Los Angeles, provides an accelerated platform for studying early-stage lung cancer and identifying and testing potential treatments: “organoids” created from lung cells. The researchers reported in Cell Stem Cell that […]
September 10, 2020

The genetics of blood: a global perspective

What’s the risk of different human populations to develop a disease? To find out, a team led by Université de Montréal professor Guillaume Lettre created an international consortium to study the blood of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. In one of the largest studies of its kind, published in […]
September 9, 2020

New gene regulation model provides insight into brain development

A well-known protein family binds to many more RNA sequences than previously thought in order to help neurons grow. In every cell, RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) help tune gene expression and control biological processes by binding to RNA sequences. Researchers often assume that individual RBPs latch tightly to just one RNA […]
September 9, 2020

Research unravels what makes memories so detailed and enduring

In years to come, personal memories of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to be etched in our minds with precision and clarity, distinct from other memories of 2020. The process which makes this possible has eluded scientists for many decades, but research led by the University of Bristol has made […]
September 8, 2020

How we sleep today may forecast when Alzheimer’s disease begins

What would you do if you knew how long you had until Alzheimer’s disease set in? Don’t despair. New UC Berkeley research suggests one defense against this virulent form of dementia — for which no treatment currently exists — is deep, restorative sleep, and plenty of it. Neuroscientists Matthew Walker […]
September 8, 2020

The brain can induce diabetes remission in rodents, but how?

In rodents with type 2 diabetes, a single surgical injection of a protein called fibroblast growth factor 1 can restore blood sugar levels to normal for weeks or months. Yet how this growth factor acts in the brain to generate this lasting benefit has been poorly understood. Clarifying how this […]