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Families living with extremely rare neurodegenerative diseases finally received an answer to the cause of their illnesses, thanks to a researcher’s hunch and decades of improvements in DNA sequencing technology. Four different rare diseases are all caused by the same short segment of DNA repeated too many times, a mutation […]

A study of newborn infants has identified a compound produced by gut bacteria that appears to predispose certain infants to allergies and asthma later in life. “We have discovered a specific bacterial lipid in the neonatal gut that promotes immune dysfunction associated with allergic asthma and can be used to […]

Fifty years ago this month, the Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon, and the first human being took “one small step” onto its surface. Now, the buzz is around getting humans to Mars, and, according to a new report on research in rats published in Frontiers in Physiology, the first […]

A new University at Buffalo-led study supported by NSF describes how researchers wirelessly controlled FGFR1 — a gene that plays a key role in how animals grow from embryos to adults — in lab-grown brain tissue. The ability to manipulate the gene, the study's authors say, could one day lead to […]

The enzyme ribonucleotide reductase is a bottleneck for cancer cell growth. Scientists at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have identified a way of targeting ribonucleotide reductase that may avoid the toxicity of previous approaches, informing focused drug discovery efforts. The results were published in Nature Communications. Ribonucleotide reductase controls […]

A gene linked to Alzheimer’s disease may impact cognitive health much sooner than previously realized. The APOE gene creates a protein, apolipoprotein E, which packages cholesterol and other fats to transport them through the bloodstream. There are three versions, or alleles, of APOE. One of those is the APOE4 allele, […]

Every cell in your body has a copy of your genome, tightly coiled and packed into its nucleus. Since every copy is effectively identical, the difference between cell types and their biological functions comes down to which, how and when the individual genes in the genome are expressed, or translated […]

Frustrated that her sweater got lost in the community laundry, 92-year-old Gigi took advantage of an embroidery machine to label two others. Jewelry lover Betty had been reluctant to wear her fine necklaces, fearful they would get tangled in the tubes of her oxygen mask, so the 96-year-old found a […]

Researchers from The George Institute for Global Health determined that this differential was greater in type 1 than type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is associated with a 47% excess risk of heart failure in women compared to men, whilst type 2 diabetes has a 9% higher excess risk of […]

When patients who smoke begin cancer treatment at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis — or at any of Siteman’s satellite locations — they also now receive advice about quitting smoking, referrals to easy-access smoking-cessation services and, if suitable, prescriptions for medications that […]

An omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid has the potential to help fight heart disease, finds a new study by researchers at Cardiff University in collaboration with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. With funding from the British Heart Foundation, the team found that dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA), an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid, could […]

A massive new analysis published on 8 July in the Annals of Internal Medicine, which included findings from 277 randomised clinical trials using 24 different interventions (and a total of 992,129 subjects from around the world), has found almost all vitamin, mineral, and other dietary supplements, as well as most […]

As cancer cells progress, they accumulate hundreds and even thousands of genetic and epigenetic changes, resulting in protein expression profiles that are radically different from that of healthy cells. But despite their heavily mutated proteome, cancer cells can evade recognition and attack by the immune system. Immunotherapies, particularly checkpoint inhibitors […]

Eisai Co.,Ltd. announced its latest research on evaluation about correlation of amyloid beta (Abeta) in plasma and in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by high precision measurement with the newly developed automated protein assay system, jointly developed with Sysmex Corporation, using fullautomated immunoassay system HISCLTM(1) series for creating the simplified diagnosis of […]

Aging research indicates that better healthspan—the quality of life as we age—may be more important than lifespan. In a report published in Nature Communications, a surprising new genetic discovery by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh suggests that there may be molecular switches that control […]

Marijuana increased in popularity in the mid-1970s when there was interest in cannabinoids for reduction in intraocular pressure (IOP), which is the fluid pressure inside the eye. Now, its usage has increased due to its pleasure-inducing side effects, and behind tobacco, alcohol and caffeine, it is the most widely used […]

University at Buffalo researchers have determined that a human gene present in 75% of the population is a key reason why a class of drugs for Alzheimer’s disease seemed promising in animal studies only to fail in human studies. The researchers say the work suggests that in different Alzheimer’s disease […]

A new study by Montreal scientists published today in Nature demonstrates that a gut infection can lead to a pathology resembling Parkinson’s disease (PD) in a mouse model lacking a gene linked to the human disease. This discovery extends recent work by the same group suggesting that PD has a […]

Brain damage associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) specifically targets a common class of brain cells called projection neurons, according to a new international study by scientists at UC San Francisco, Cambridge University, and the University of Heidelberg. MS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease of the brain and spinal cord that […]

Mental health issues are real, people. Scientists estimate that life expectancy of people with mental illness is around 18 years shorter than general population. This is not something to be overlooked – if you feel like you might be suffering from some kind of mental illness, look for help. But […]

Eisai has received a New Drug Approval for its in-house developed anticancer agent Halaven (eribulin mesylate) for use in the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, previously treated with at least two prior chemotherapy regimens, including an anthracycline and a taxane, from the China National Medical […]

Resistance training two to three times a week can reduce hot flushes and night sweats in post-menopausal women, according to a Linköping University study. This is the first study ever to investigate the relationship between resistance training and menopause discomfort. Some previous research has shown certain relationships between general exercise […]

A common drug used to alleviate side effects of cancer treatment may also make the treatment more successful if given beforehand, report a consortium of research institutions including the University of Connecticut. Dexamethasone, a steroid often given to decrease swelling and nausea, and relieve side effects of chemotherapy treatments for […]

An Oregon State University scientist has received a $2.3 million, five-year grant to build on his promising research into a debilitating muscle-wasting syndrome that kills as many as 30% of the cancer patients it afflicts. Oleh Taratula of the OSU College of Pharmacy will use the award from the National […]

It seems like everything is going wireless these days. That now includes efforts to reprogram the human genome. A new University at Buffalo-led study describes how researchers wirelessly controlled FGFR1 — a gene that plays a key role in how humans grow from embryos to adults — in lab-grown brain […]

Rutgers researchers have created a device that can determine whether targeted chemotherapy drugs are working on individual cancer patients. The portable device, which uses artificial intelligence and biosensors, is up to 95.9 percent accurate in counting live cancer cells when they pass through electrodes, according to a study in the journal Microsystems […]

Even after nearly a decade of strict HIV treatment, cells sheltering the virus could be found in the cerebrospinal fluid of half of participants in a national clinical trial of people living with HIV. Moreover, those participants had a higher likelihood of cognitive deficits than their peers without cells harboring […]

Human brain is the most mysterious machine in nature. We hardly know anything about it. Scientists from UCL and University of Oxford have just found that when we’re resting our brains spontaneously replay our experiences. This may be the basis of our powerful reasoning abilities. That is why having experience […]

Everything in nature is interrelated. Evolution gave us incredible capabilities and pretty good bodies, but some features that we enjoy were actually evolved by other organisms. For example, according to a new UCL and Yale University study, platelet cells, which prevent mammals from bleeding non-stop came from an egg-laying animal […]

Dementia is a daunting condition, which is in the cards for many. It is caused by a variety of factors and can be attributed to several different diseases. With our population ageing rapidly, more and more people will be suffering from dementia in the near future. But what can we […]