Related Science News

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 […]

Many breast cancer drugs block estrogen receptors inside cancer cells. Blocking the receptors early in disease progression staves off metastasis. But most patients with advanced disease eventually develop drug resistance, leaving doctors desperate for alternatives. Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Argonne National Laboratory and the Lawrence […]

Cancer is a complex set of diseases that researchers are studying to improve therapy and develop prevention strategies. Although there is no single way to prevent cancer, oncologists agree that taking steps to mitigate risk is key. Experts at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James […]

New research from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) underscores the importance of genomic analysis of rare malignant tumors that are genetically unstable and have high numbers of gene mutations. OSUCCC – James investigators […]

A study published today in eLife, led by University of Wisconsin–Madison Professor of Biochemistry and Bacteriology Robert Landick and his research team, reveals for the first time the elemental mechanism behind transcriptional pausing, which underlies the control of gene expression in all living organisms. It also provides new understanding of the enzyme RNA polymerase, an […]

Bone marrow transplants, which involve transplanting healthy blood stem cells, offer the best treatment for many types of cancers, blood disorders and immune diseases. Even though 22,000 of these procedures are performed each year in the US, much remains to be understood about how they work. A new USC and […]

About 31 million U.S. adults have food allergies, nearly half of which develop after age 18, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. The research, a collaboration between Stanford food allergy expert Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, and scientists at Northwestern University, is the first comprehensive examination of the prevalence of food allergies […]

A new study by Keck School of Medicine of USC researchers shows there's yet another reason to avoid high fat, high cholesterol diet: It can trigger changes in the immune system that lead to a serious form of non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD) known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NAFLD is […]

Researchers from The University of Western Australia have conducted a study that has found young women who start having periods early and often have a high body mass index are more prone to cardiovascular problems later in life such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. More than 800 young women […]

Undifferentiated uterine sarcoma is a very rare but extremely aggressive cancer type. It can be divided into four groups with different characteristics of clinical importance – a new study at Karolinska Institutet reveals. The results, published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, also show that the survival rate of patients with […]

Substantial numbers of Cleveland’s youngest students have had elevated levels of lead in their blood prior to kindergarten and these children have a higher risk of academic issues, according to two new studies by researchers at Case Western Reserve University. The first study, in coordination with Cuyahoga County’s Invest in […]

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a previously unknown route for cellular fuel delivery, a finding that could shed light on the process of aging and the chronic diseases that often accompany it. With age, cells gradually lose their ability to take in and […]

Mice that sleep fitfully could help researchers unravel the mystery of insomnia. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis studied mice genetically modified to mimic the genetic disease neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), which is associated with sleep problems. They found that the animals, like some people with […]

African-Americans may be twice as likely as Caucasian Americans to develop Alzheimer’s disease, but nobody knows why because studies investigating the underlying causes of illness have historically drawn from a nearly all-white pool of research participants. Consequently, little is known about how the neurodegenerative disease arises and progresses in people […]

Longevity is heritable, but that primarily applies to persons from families where multiple members are among the top 10 percent survivors of their birth cohort. The key to a long life can probably be found in the genes of these families. These are the conclusions of researchers at Leiden University […]

Blood levels of a special protein found only in the inner ear spike after exposure to loud noise, UConn Health researchers report. The findings point the way to blood tests that could warn people at risk of hearing loss before they suffer serious damage. Hearing loss can sneak up on […]

A research team from Imperial College London, led by Dr Ben Almquist, has developed a new molecule based on so-called traction force-activated payloads (TrAPs) which allow materials to talk to the body‘s natural repair systems and thereby activate healing processes. “Creatures from sea sponges to humans use cell movement to […]