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Freshwater planarians, found around the world and commonly known as “flatworms,” are famous for their regenerative prowess. Through a process called “fission,” planarians can reproduce asexually by simply tearing themselves into two pieces— a head and a tail—which then go on to form two new worms within about a week. […]

Inspired by the Labyrinth of Greek mythology, a new chip etched with fluid channels sends blood samples through a hydrodynamic maze to separate out rare circulating cancer cells into a relatively clean stream for analysis. It is already in use in a breast cancer clinical trial. Tumor cells isolated from […]

Ketogenic diets – extreme low-carbohydrate, high-fat regimens that have long been known to benefit epilepsy and other neurological illnesses – may work by lowering inflammation in the brain, according to new research by UC San Francisco scientists. The UCSF team has discovered a molecular key to the diet’s apparent effects, […]

Whether it’s running, walking, cycling, swimming or rowing, it’s been well-known since ancient times that doing some form of aerobic exercise is essential to good health and well-being. You can lose weight, sleep better, fight stress and high blood pressure, improve your mood, plus strengthen bones and muscles. “Whether muscle […]

Patients with any stage of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) carry signs of the disease in their blood that may be found through special laboratory tests, according to a new study led by HMS researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. The study, published online in Ophthalmology, describes a new technique known as “metabolomics,” […]

Early-stage UAlberta research suggests that taking a cholesterol-lowering statin regularly may help boost the body’s ability to fight off chronic conditions like HIV and cancer. “We concluded that atorvastatin (marketed under Lipitor, among other brands) may be beneficial to patients with HIV and cancer by preventing their T-cells—a type of white […]

People who handle paper receipts regularly may be at increased risk for exposure to a chemical linked to breast and prostate cancers, according to new UAlberta research. “We found that people who handled receipts printed on thermal paper containing the chemical had it lingering in their body for a week […]

Intricate human physiological features such as the immune system require exquisite formation and timing to develop properly. Genetic elements must be activated at just the right moment, across vast distances of genomic space. “Promoter” areas, locations where genes begin to be expressed, must be paired precisely with “enhancer” clusters, where […]

Checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapy has been shown to be very effective in recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancer but only in a minority of patients. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers may have found a way to double down on immunotherapy’s effectiveness. In a paper published in […]

When breast cancer metastasizes, or spreads, one of its most likely destinations is bone. In fact, four in five metastatic breast cancer patients will develop bone lesions, according to research published by the National Institutes of Health. Most research studies have focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in […]

For years, scientists and physicians have been debating whether personality and behavior changes might appear prior to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Now, the findings of a new and comprehensive study from FSU College of Medicine Associate Professor Antonio Terracciano and colleagues, published today in the journal JAMA […]

Ask someone who gardens what they love most about it, and, research has shown, the answer is almost always the same. “No matter where you go in the world, no matter what language they speak, people say there’s just something about it that makes them feel better,” says Jill Litt, […]

Early-stage UAlberta research suggests that taking a cholesterol-lowering statin regularly may help boost the body’s ability to fight off chronic conditions like HIV and cancer. “We concluded that Atorvastatin (marketed under Lipitor, among other names) may be of benefit to patients with HIV and cancer by preventing their T-cells—a type […]

It is estimated that up to 75 percent of breast cancer survivors experience problems with cognitive difficulties following treatments, perhaps lasting years. Currently, few science-based options are available to help. In the journal Cancer, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report in a pilot study of 87 female […]

Scientists have just discovered how the engine that powers cancer-killing cells functions. Crucially, their research also highlights how that engine is fuelled and that cholesterol-like molecules, called oxysterols, act as a “cut-off” switch making it hard for our ‘Natural Killer’ cells to win the war against cancer. The scientists, led […]

Errors in the regulation of gene expression may contribute to the development of a common form of blood cancer and point to potential treatment strategies, according to a study by scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a difficult-to-treat cancer of […]

Since the 1970s, general mortality rates in developed countries have declined. On average, lifespans have lengthened by almost a decade. One demographic group that has not reflected this trend: persons with schizophrenia, whose life expectancy is 15 to 20 years shorter than the general population. The average life expectancy in […]

A University of Tokyo research team revealed for the first time that colorectal cancer cells activate the intracellular signaling of a protein called BMP-4 that enables the cells to evade apoptosis, or programmed cell death. The team further found that inhibition of BMP signaling prevented the formation of colorectal tumors, […]

Before symptoms become pronounced, there is no reliable way to identify who is on track to develop Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating movement disorder characterized by tremors, slowness of movement, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. But researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have analyzed Medicare […]

The breast milk of mothers with premature babies has different amounts of microRNA than that of mothers with babies born at term, which may help premature babies catch up in growth and development, according to researchers. In a study, researchers compared the breast milk of mothers with babies born prematurely […]

There is an increased risk of thyroid cancer associated with lower-than-normal thyroid hormone levels, a finding that could have a major impact on patients fighting the disease. The Yale-led study, published in American Association for Cancer Research journal examined the effect of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) on the development of human papillary […]

Although KRAS is one of the major oncogenes associated with aggressive cancers, drugs designed to block KRAS function have not been able to halt cancer progression in a clinical setting.  Until now, KRAS has remained infamously “undruggable.” In a new study, published in Cancer Discovery, University of California San Diego School […]

Privately insured children and those with Medicaid at the time of a cancer diagnosis experience largely similar survival trends, with slight evidence for an increased risk of cancer death in children who were uninsured at diagnosis, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. […]

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are recruiting volunteers for a national study that is exploring whether strategies to improve cardiovascular health also reduce the risk of dementia in those at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. The multicenter study is evaluating aerobic exercise, intensive medical management of […]

Older adults are admitted to hospice for short duration despite experiencing symptoms months prior to the end of life, according to a Yale-led study. The finding highlights the need for earlier hospice admission or other strategies to address increasing symptoms and disability at the end of life, the researchers said. […]

Because anticancer drugs are designed to kill growing cells, they also affect normal, fast-growing cells—blood cells forming in the bone marrow, for example, and digestive, reproductive, and hair follicle cells. Chemotherapy may also affect cells in vital organs, such as the heart, kidney, bladder, lungs, and nervous system. Researchers at […]

Scientists working to develop new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases have been stymied by the inability to grow human motor neurons in the lab. Motor neurons drive muscle contractions, and their damage underlies devastating diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy, both of which ultimately lead to paralysis […]

Women who receive a breast cancer diagnosis while they are still young enough to bear children can take time to freeze their eggs and embryos without fear of delaying their cancer treatment, according to research by UC San Francisco scientists who have helped develop a faster fertility preservation technique that can […]

In a two-year study at UCLA, nearly two-thirds of people with advanced melanoma responded positively to a treatment that combines the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab with a herpes virus called talimogene laherpareovec, or T-VEC. Researchers led by Dr. Antoni Ribas found that the treatment’s side effects were manageable, and comparable to […]