Related Science News

The cerebral cortex—the brain’s epicenter of high-level cognitive functions, such as memory formation, attention, thought, language and consciousness—has fascinated neuroscientists for centuries. Scientists have long known that this command center is organized into six distinct regions, or layers, but how this complex organization arises during development has remained largely a mystery. […]

Male guppies exposed to predators in the wild or in captivity have heavier brains than those living in relatively predator-free conditions, according to new research published in the journal Functional Ecology. Behavioural ecologists at McGill University in Montreal sampled guppies from two rivers in northern Trinidad. In each river, guppies live […]

When the general public thinks of HIV, they do not think of a neurological disease, yet people living with HIV infection know they need to worry about their brain health. Untreated, HIV can cause severe dementia. Even with good control of the infection, a third or more of patients have […]

The first patients are expected to benefit from the new improved images in 2018. The project revolves around infrared light and finding the ideal wavelengths. Optical crystal fibres and laser technology. And shrinking a laser source that roughly fills two offices into shoebox-sized device. It draws on extensive knowledge of […]

For decades, MRI scans have delivered stunningly beautiful images of the body’s anatomy. It is now possible to use MRI imaging at cellular level to observe cell metabolism. This is particularly useful in cancer treatment. With the help of a new technology, doctors may be able to determine on the […]

Diabetes affects more than 400 million individuals worldwide. In what is becoming a paradigm shift, researchers have begun to find that the disease may result in part through pancreatic beta cells losing their functional identity and shutting down their ability to release the blood sugar-lowering hormone, insulin. Researchers from the […]

By instructing key immune system cells to accept transplanted insulin-producing islets, researchers have opened a potentially new pathway for treating type 1 diabetes. If the approach is ultimately successful in humans, it could allow type 1 diabetes to be treated without the long-term complications of immune system suppression. The technique, […]

An experimental drug that blocks abnormal neural communication after spinal cord injury could one day be the key to improving quality of life by improving bladder function, new research suggests. Researchers at The Ohio State University tested the drug – which is currently available only for research – to gauge […]

Tumour growth and spread rely on angiogenesis, a process of growing new blood vessels that supply the cancer cells with nutrients and hormones, including glucose (sugar). Treatment with antiangiogenic drugs reduces the number of blood vessels in the tumour as well as the blood glucose supply. Many such drugs have […]

You are what you eat. Or so the saying goes. Science now tells us that we are what the bacteria living in our intestinal tract eat and this could have an influence on how well we age. Building on this, McGill University scientists fed fruit flies with a combination of […]

If you’re up there in age and feel like you can coast as a couch potato, you may want to reconsider. A new study suggests, for the first time in women over age 70, that working up a sweat can reduce the influence one’s genes have on obesity. “Our sample, […]

For decades, clinicians treating multiple sclerosis (MS) have interpreted the appearance of new or expanding brain lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans as a sign that a patient’s disease is getting worse. Now, University at Buffalo researchers are finding that it may be the atrophy or disappearance of these […]

What was fiction on a recent episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” is being pioneered for real at the University of Virginia Health System. The episode “Hold Back the River” featured the show’s doctors using focused sound waves to treat a brain mass known as a hypothalamic hamartoma in a young boy. […]

As cancer patients become increasingly ill toward the end of their lives, their pain often intensifies and increases in frequency. This is distressing not only to the patient, but also to the patient’s caregivers, often a spouse or partner. Effectively managing that pain with medications and other therapies is of […]

Enamel, located on the outer part of our teeth, is the hardest tissue in the body and enables our teeth to function for a large part of our lifetime despite biting forces, exposure to acidic foods and drinks and extreme temperatures. This remarkable performance results from its highly organised structure. […]

Arriving early or late can have big consequences for early-stage cells that gather to form a new kidney, USC researchers discovered. The scientists showed how progenitor cells that form the kidney’s filtering units, called nephrons, mature into entirely different types of cells based on when they reach the scene of […]

Using a novel imaging method, Harvard Medical School investigators based at Massachusetts General Hospital have shed light on the mechanisms behind a potential targeted treatment for a form of the deadly brain tumors called gliomas. In a report published in Nature Communications, the research team describes using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) imaging to […]

Risk factors for heart disease and stroke appear to hasten the risk of cognitive decline in normal older individuals with evidence of very early Alzheimer’s disease-associated changes in the brain, according to a new study by Harvard Medical School investigators based at Massachusetts General Hospital. Vascular risk factors increase the […]

Stem cell researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital have, for the first time, profiled a highly elusive kind of stem cell in the early embryo—a cell so fleeting that it makes its entrance and exit within a 12-hour span. They described this “poised pluripotent” cell in the […]

A novel approach to immunotherapy developed by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has led to the complete regression of breast cancer in a patient who was unresponsive to all other treatments. This patient received the treatment in a clinical trial led by Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., chief […]

Homeowners know that one little termite can lead to big problems: while termites are efficient at gnawing away at wood, they can do even more damage if the wood is already broken or has another defect. Mechanical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have found the same effect in […]

Most people with the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma die less than 18 months after diagnosis. But a multicenter clinical trial of a personalized vaccine that targets the aggressive cancer has indicated improved survival rates for such patients. The study appears in the Journal of Translational Medicine. The phase three clinical […]

People who take drugs that suppress the immune system are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings, published in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, suggest that a person’s own immune system helps nudge him or […]

Green tea could hold the key to preventing deaths from heart attacks and strokes caused by atherosclerosis, according to research funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Scientists from Lancaster University have discovered that a compound found in green tea, currently being studied for […]

A strong social network could be the key to preserving memory. New research from The Ohio State University found that mice housed in groups had better memories and healthier brains than animals that lived in pairs. The discovery bolsters a body of research in humans and animals that supports the […]

The American Cancer Society has announced significant new guidelines for colorectal cancer screenings, and a major contributor to the new protocol is the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Dr. Andrew Wolf. The previous recommendation for adults was to begin getting regular colorectal cancer screenings at the age of 50. […]

Writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that a first-in-human phase I clinical trial in which neural stem cells were transplanted into participants with chronic spinal cord injuries produced measurable improvement in three of four subjects, with no serious adverse […]

As cancer patients become increasingly ill toward the end of their lives, their pain often intensifies and increases in frequency. This is distressing not only to the patient, but also to the patient’s caregivers, often a spouse or partner. Effectively managing that pain with medications and other therapies is of […]

Researchers at the University of Tokyo revealed that a phosphorous-containting lipid in the membrane plays a critical role in activating a protein involved in the transcription of genes regulating cell proliferation. This research outcome points to new drug targets for malignant cancer cells where this signaling pathway is involved. The […]

Three years ago, on one cold March afternoon, James Costello slipped on black ice. He hit his head hard enough that he expected the worst: a concussion. Although he was feeling a bit off, he continued his usual duties—trekking eight miles a day as a mail carrier in South Jersey. […]