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When it comes to disease and health, which is more powerful—ZIP code or genetic code? The degree to which nature and nurture affect disease and health remains one of the eternal—and still unanswerable—questions in medicine. Now a team of investigators from Harvard Medical School and the University of Queensland in Australia […]

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal condition that leaves lung tissue permanently scarred and leads to the decline and eventual failure of the respiratory system. For those diagnosed with the disease, treatment options are limited and the prognosis is poor. But a new study published in the journal Nature Immunology breathes […]

In laboratory experiments, UC San Francisco researchers successfully beat back the growth of aggressive liver cancers using a surprising new approach. Traditionally, targeted cancer therapies aim to disable proteins borne of cancer-driving genes. Instead, the UCSF scientists prevented these proteins, including those that shield tumors from the immune system, from […]

For cancer to spread, it needs a hospitable environment in distant organs. This fertile “soil” can provide a home to circulating malignant cells. Recent research has shown that cancer cells from the primary tumor can help ready this soil by sending out small vesicles. These vesicles contain a cocktail of […]

Gene defect in hereditary forms of the neurological disorder results in manganese poisoning inside cells. A new X-ray study has revealed one of the key mechanisms behind certain familial-parkinsonian disorders. The study demonstrates in detail how poisoning with the metal manganese occurs inside a cell, leading to parkinsonian symptoms. It […]

Everyone wants to live a long and healthy life. It is a bit of a goal that everyone has or should have. And we do our best – we work out, we get frequent check-ups, we eat healthy, but still, a big secret to longevity is our genes. Now scientists […]

Leaky capillaries in the brain portend early onset of Alzheimer’s disease as they signal cognitive impairment before hallmark toxic proteins appear, new USC research shows. The findings, which appeared in the journal Nature Medicine, could help with earlier diagnosis and suggest new targets for drugs that could slow or prevent the […]

Short-lived wild insects “get old” – losing some of their physical abilities – before they die, new research shows. Few studies have examined whether insects such as field crickets – whose adult life lasts a few weeks – experience “ageing” in the sense of physical decline in nature. Insects are used […]

Scientists have created the most comprehensive method yet to predict a woman’s risk of breast cancer, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge. The study, funded by Cancer Research, is published today in Genetics in Medicine. They have a developed a way of calculating the […]

Couples considering medically assisted reproduction (MAR) because they have difficulties conceiving naturally, have feared that they could do harm to their baby by opting for medical intervention. Doctors may warn that MAR raises the risk of preterm birth (less than 37 weeks of pregnancy) and low birth weight (less than […]

Differences in the geographic origin of genes may affect the function of human mitochondria — energy-generating organelles inside of cells — according to a new study. Mitochondria have their own genome, separate from the nuclear genome contained in the nucleus of the cell, and both genomes harbor genes integral to […]

For the first time, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Institute of Engineering in Medicine have used rapid 3D printing technologies to create a spinal cord, then successfully implanted that scaffolding, loaded with neural stem cells, into sites of severe spinal cord injury in rats. […]

New research shows that healthy infants have intestinal bacteria that prevent the development of food allergies. Researchers from the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Naples Federico II in Italy found that when gut microbes from healthy human infants were transplanted into germ-free mice, the animals […]

A new investigation heading to the International Space Station will provide space-flown samples to scientists from academia, industry and government agencies, who have agreed to share their data and results in an online database that is open to the public. Rodent Research-8 (RR-8) examines the physiology of aging and the […]

Approach avoids potential toxicity Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University researchers have developed a novel way to deliver drugs and therapies into cells at the nanoscale without causing toxic effects that have stymied other such efforts. The work could someday lead to more effective therapies and diagnostics for […]

Our DNA is under constant attack. The delicate molecule that contains our genetic information is extremely vulnerable to everything from environmental agents, such as radiation, to the chemicals in the air we breathe and the food we eat. Genome instability can lead to genetic disorders, chronic diseases and a predisposition […]

A handful of brain cells deep in the brain may play a surprising role in controlling women’s bone density, according to new research by UC San Francisco and UCLA scientists. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers showed that blocking a particular set of signals from these cells causes female […]

During normal pregnancy, mothers always gain body weight within a proper range. However, many women worry that extra pounds put on during pregnancy will not be lost after childbirth and, in fact, past studies have shown that excessive gestational weight gain is associated with immediate postpartum weight retention. But in […]

Studying fruit flies, an international team led by Harvard Medical School researchers reports that it has uncovered one of the molecular roots of cachexia, a poorly understood and currently incurable muscle-wasting and fat-loss condition responsible for as many as one-third of cancer deaths. The findings, published online in Developmental Cell, suggest […]

A large-scale study conducted among East Asians and led by Vanderbilt researchers has identified multiple, previously unknown genetic risk factors for colorectal cancer. Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, Anne Potter Wilson Professor of Medicine, said the research published recently in Gastroenterology is the second largest discovery of novel genetic risk variants for colorectal […]

Poor sleep is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. People with the disease tend to wake up tired, and their nights become even less refreshing as memory loss and other symptoms worsen. But how and why restless nights are linked to Alzheimer’s disease is not fully understood. Now, researchers at Washington […]

Our DNA is under constant attack. The delicate molecule that contains our genetic information is extremely vulnerable to everything from environmental agents, such as radiation, to the chemicals in the air we breathe and the food we eat. Genome instability can lead to genetic disorders, chronic diseases and a predisposition […]

Missing GP appointments is associated with early death, and those with long-term mental health conditions are at particular risk. The study was co-authored by Dr David Ellis from Lancaster University with Dr Ross McQueenie from the University of Glasgow, along with colleagues from the University of Aberdeen. In the largest […]

With the help of sponges inserted in the bloodstream to absorb excess drugs, doctors are hoping to prevent the dangerous side effects of toxic chemotherapy agents or even deliver higher doses to knock back tumors, like liver cancer, that don’t respond to more benign treatments. The “drug sponge” is an […]

It is often expected that as parents age, the children they once cared for will need to care for them. Expectations become less clear in non-traditional families and can be even murkier when the aging adult might be responsible for his or her situation. In a new study about responsibility […]

Scientists at UW Medicine’s Institute for Protein Design  have created a new protein that mimics the action of a key immune regulatory protein, interleukin 2 (IL-2).  IL-2 is a potent anticancer drug and an effective treatment for autoimmune disease, but its toxic side effects have limited its clinical usefulness. In a paper in […]

How does your garden grow? A paper published in the journal Nature gives scientists a deeper understanding of that very thing – the molecular mechanisms that cause plant tissues and organs to get larger and more complex after seeds germinate. Ross Sozzani, an NC State University plant biologist, is part of an […]

Our bodies hold roughly 14 trillion cells, each containing a nucleus with DNA measuring two meters long by 20 atoms wide. To fit inside each nucleus, DNA coils around specialized proteins. These spools of wrapped DNA inhibit gene regulatory proteins from binding to protein-coding stretches along the genome, which help […]

Pairing a novel personalized cancer vaccine with an established immunotherapy drug administered to patients in a new way, Harvard Medical School scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are testing a first-of-its-kind strategy aimed at improving outcomes for kidney cancer patients who are at high risk of recurrence following surgery. This two-pronged approach to […]

Lifestyle changes often follow a cancer diagnosis, both during treatment and after. Eating well is often the first step. And there is good reason for it. A healthy diet can help prolong life for cancer patients and cancer survivors, says University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center member Suzanna Zick, N.D., MPH. Surveys show […]