2021

If you’ve ever experienced shift work, you know it can be extremely taxing on your overall wellbeing. On the other hand, in some places it is simply unavoidable – you have to keep some factories and healthcare institutions running. Now scientists at the University of Waterloo found that irregular work […]

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found that a calorie labelled is not the same as a calorie digested and absorbed when the food source is almonds. The findings, published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, should help alleviate concerns that almonds contribute to weight gain, which persist despite the widely […]

Imagine you’re walking your dog down the street when you see someone ahead of you collapse. Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, you’d rush to their side, check to see if they are breathing, feel for a heartbeat. Unable to detect either, you’d begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with chest compressions […]

For reasons not yet clear, pregnant women infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 are more likely to experience preterm births, pre-eclampsia, and other neonatal problems than non-infected women. A team of Yale scientists decided to investigate whether the virus could be affecting the placental tissue of infected expectant mothers. […]

Fentanyl, oxycodone, morphine—these substances are familiar to many as a source of both pain relief and the cause of a painful epidemic of addiction and death. Scientists have attempted for years to balance the potent pain-relieving properties of opioids with their numerous negative side effects—with mostly mixed results. Work by John […]

Researchers have identified the mechanisms of scar formation in skin and demonstrated in mice a way to make wounds heal with normal skin instead of scar tissue. A simple question from a mentor — Why do we scar after an injury or surgical incision? — set Michael Longaker, MD, on a […]

Resolving a missing link of research, Canadian researchers find significant microbiome changes in crew who spent 520 days in isolation to simulate a mission to Mars Crew members who took part in the Mars500 experiment showed significant changes in their gut microbiota from their 520 days in confinement, according to […]

CRISPR’s potential to prevent or treat disease is widely recognized. But the gene-editing technology can also be used as a research tool to probe and understand diseases. That’s the basic insight behind KSQ Therapeutics. The company uses CRISPR to alter genes across millions of cells. By observing the effect of […]

Although haemorrhoids are a common health problem, relatively little is known about the field, possibly because many people find them difficult to talk about. Researchers linked to Karolinska Institutet have been involved in a study that has analysed the genomes of almost a million people and found previously unknown causes […]

A novel drug almost entirely cleared moderate to severe psoriasis in over 60% of the patients who took part in two-phase three clinical trials of a new drug. The University of Manchester and Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust led studies on Bimekizumab, both published in the prestigious New England Journal […]

The ability to cryopreserve and thaw organs via vitrification, without ice formation and significant tissue damage, allowing for indefinite storage time, would go a long way towards simplifying the logistics and reducing the costs of present organ donation and future tissue engineering of organs for transplantation. Cryopreservation via vitrification also […]

A new study by an international team of scientists, published on 22 April in the journal Science, has found that, in terms of genetic mutations, children whose parents were exposed to harmful contaminants during the Chernobyl accident, which took place in Ukraine in 1986, are no different from the general […]

It’s common knowledge that our surroundings affect our health — decades of research have linked things like air, water and soil quality to various measures of physical well-being. But much less is known about how the environment changes our brain. Now, a research team at the Keck School of Medicine […]

New research shows how drinking sugary beverages early in life may lead to impaired memory in adulthood. The study, published in Translational Psychiatry, also is the first to show how a specific change to the gut microbiome — the bacteria and other microorganisms growing in the stomach and intestines — can […]

If you feel your brain power diminishing as you advance into middle age and beyond, blame your neural stem cells. In a study published in Cell Stem Cell, a team led by USC Stem Cell scientist Michael Bonaguidi demonstrates that neural stem cells—the stem cells of the nervous system—age rapidly. “There is chronological […]

A new ERC project aims to improve our understanding of enzyme stability and broaden the field of potential applications for biocatalysis. Professor John Woodley from DTU Chemical Engineering has received an Advanced Grant from ERC, the European Research Council. The grant of EUR 2.4 M will for the next five […]

There are millions of people who face the loss of their eyesight from degenerative eye diseases. The genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa alone affects 1 in 4,000 people worldwide. Today, there is technology available to offer partial eyesight to people with that syndrome. The Argus II, the world’s first retinal prosthesis, […]

Real-world evidence is suggesting, for the first time, the most beneficial treatment courses that could help extend the lives of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, according to research from the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. In a new study published online in JAMA Oncology, researchers show that […]

Many approaches shown to slow aging in animal studies involve an increased efficiency of cell maintenance processes such as the ubiquitin-proteasome system and various types of autophagy. Here researchers discuss the improvement of autophagy in order to slow the age-related decline of mitochondrial function. Mitochondria are the power plants of […]

COVID-19 is not the first viral epidemic and it is not going to be the last one either. Humans have always dealt with such issues, but in the future they may become increasingly more common. One reliable way to make your body more resilient to such threats is regular physical […]

A new study of nearly 5 million live births recorded in California from 2001 to 2012 found that babies born to mothers diagnosed with cannabis use disorders at delivery were more likely to experience negative health outcomes, including preterm birth and low birth weight, compared to babies born to mothers […]

In two landmark studies, researchers have used cutting-edge genomic tools to investigate the potential health effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, a known carcinogen, from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. One study found no evidence that radiation exposure to parents resulted in new […]

Cancer accounted for nearly 10 million deaths worldwide in 2020, and almost 2 million new cases are expected to be diagnosed this year in the United States alone. Fighting cancer’s many forms is a complex endeavour for doctors and researchers since there is no one-size-fits-all treatment option, but researchers at […]

The immune system is intimately involved in tissue function throughout the body, but particularly so in the brain. The immune system of the brain is distinct from that of the rest of the body, the two separated by the blood-brain barrier, and the immune cells of the brain participate in […]

Patients with atherosclerosis today usually receive preventive treatment only after a heart attack or stroke because diagnostic methods that can identify individuals and atherosclerotic plaques with high risk are lacking. In addition, the choice of treatment, both surgical and medical, is based on large patient studies and the possibilities for […]

The diagnosis of diseases like cancer almost always needs a biopsy – a procedure where a clinician removes a piece of suspect tissue from the body to examine it, typically under a microscope. Many areas of diagnostic medicine, especially cancer management, have seen huge advances in technology, with genetic sequencing, […]

University of Manchester scientists have cast new light on how our skin repairs itself, bringing the possibility of regeneration of the organ a step closer. The study team, funded by the Medical Research Council and Helmut Horten Foundation, showed the activation of specific parts of the DNA leading to better division of human skin cells. […]

New research has uncovered a possible link between vitamin D deficiency and impaired muscle function, which could help older adults better maintain muscle strength as they age. A study led by Dr Andrew Philp from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, recently published in the Journal of Endocrinology, used experimental models to […]

The gut microbiome is a highly varied collection of microbial populations that acts in symbiosis with the body to process food and provide needed metabolites. With age, there is a detrimental shift in these populations. Those generating useful metabolites, such as butyrate, diminish in number. Those capable of infiltrating tissue, […]

A new study in laboratory rats has discovered a direct link between low oxygen in the womb and impaired memory function in the adult offspring. It also finds that anti-oxidant supplements during pregnancy may protect against this. Low oxygen in the womb – known as chronic fetal hypoxia – is […]