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Calcitonin, a well-known thyroid hormone that helps regulate bone mass and collagen production, is also produced by cells in the heart, researchers in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia have found. Published in Nature, their breakthrough promises to aid in developing new treatments for people with atrial fibrillation (AF), a common […]

Small shifts in ocean temperature can have significant effects on the eating habits of blackfin tuna during the larval stage of development when finding food and growing quickly are critical to long-term survival, a new study from Oregon State University researchers has found. In a year of warmer water conditions, larval […]

The standard approach of assessing long-term risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) works just as well for patients who are overweight as they do for patients at an optimal weight, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. Led by Rohan Khera, MD, MS, an assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at […]

A new study has shown pregnant women with obesity could reduce the health risks for their infants through improved diet and more physical activity. Research published in the journal PLosMed investigates the impact of high glucose in mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and changes to infants DNA. GDM is […]

A new study suggests that it is possible to design drugs that can target a type of shape-shifting protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease, which was previously thought to be undruggable. A team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, have identified a new mechanism of targeting amyloid-beta, a protein […]

Scientists have used gene therapy to regenerate damaged nerve fibres in the eye, in a discovery that could aid the development of new treatments for glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. Axons – nerve fibres – in the adult central nervous system (CNS) do not normally regenerate […]

Cornell researchers have identified three genes responsible for changing the color of common buckeye butterfly wings, depending on what time of year the egg hatches and larvae develop. If the larvae develop early in the year, when days are shorter and colder, the butterflies (Junonia coenia) reach maturity in summer with […]

A new Liverpool led study, published in Diabetologia, presents the results of the largest clinical trial for diabetic retinopathy. The study highlights a new approach that could transform diabetic eye screening around the world that also has a significant cost saving for the NHS. The number of people living with diabetes […]

It's the holy grail of synthetic biologists: creating a living cell from scratch. So far they’ve managed to make simple prototypes—essentially tiny fat balloons with a soup of genetic material inside, capable of reading genetic code, producing proteins, and transporting molecules around. Yet these artificial blobs lack an essential feature […]

Night-shift workers face an increased risk of obesity and diabetes, but the underlying reason for that has been a mystery. Now, University of Missouri School of Medicine researchers have found a potential cause for metabolic changes during night-shift work that creates confusion between cells in the body and the central clock in […]

The body's immune system defeats diseases by sensing foreign invaders, such as bacteria or viruses, then mounting a response against them. But how immune cell receptors work together to sense multiple molecules and make these decisions remained a mystery. Now, researchers at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University […]

Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center have identified a promising targeted therapy against the basal subtype of bladder cancer by screening 3-D cell cultures. MEK inhibitors showed the strongest response against the basal molecular subtype, the research group reported in Oncotarget. “It’s becoming more and more clear that […]