General

One of the key mechanisms that cancer cells use to avoid being detected by the patient’s immune system is to build a micro-environment that inhibits immune system activity. Specifically, the cancer cells stimulate specific immune cells to directly stop their attack on the cancer cells. Thus, in a very large […]

Using a device that could be built with a dollar’s worth of open-source parts and a 3D-printed case, researchers want to help the hundreds of millions of older people worldwide who can’t afford existing hearing aids to address their age-related hearing loss. The ultra-low-cost, proof-of-concept device known as LoCHAid is […]

Parkinson's disease is a disease where motor function is impaired due to the degeneration of nerve cells. At Tokyo Tech, researchers in materials science, ultra-sensitivity sensing, measurement, diagnosis, and rehabilitation are collaborating to develop ways of detecting Parkinson's disease and support rehabilitation. Two innovations showing particular promise are a measurement […]

Researchers around the world have been puzzled by the different symptoms and varied disease pathways of Parkinson’s patients. A major study from Aarhus University has now identified that there are actually two types of the disease. Although the name may suggest otherwise, Parkinson's disease is not one but two diseases, […]

As Americans begin pulling up their sleeves for an annual flu vaccine, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have provided new insights into an alternative vaccine approach that provides broader protection against seasonal influenza. In a study published in Cell Reports Medicine, scientists describe a T-cell-based vaccine strategy that is effective […]

Salk researchers develop transplantable human cells that make insulin, controlling blood sugar without immunosuppressants in mouse models Salk Institute scientists have made a major advance in the pursuit of a safe and effective treatment for type 1 diabetes, an illness that impacts an estimated 1.6 million Americans with a cost […]

Scientists from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo Medical University, and Saitama Medical University have published findings that offer insights into how the drug pomalidomide benefits some patients with a cancer called multiple myeloma. Clinicians use pomalidomide to treat cases of multiple myeloma resistant to the more established drug lenalidomide, […]

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Nature Communications the discovery that in the developing fly brain, neurons stemming from the same parent cell experience repulsion. This lineage-dependent repulsion is regulated by a protein known as Dscam1. The brain’s structure has columnar features, which are hypothesized to arise from nerve cells […]

Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, have discovered a new way to manufacture human red blood cells (RBCs) that cuts the culture time by half compared to existing methods and uses novel sorting and purification methods that are faster, more precise, and less costly. […]

Doctors like to remind patients not to monkey around with their health, suggesting that a good diet and regular exercise improve longevity. A new study on health in chimpanzees, which are the closest species to humans genetically, showed the benefits in what they eat and how they can travel and […]

Understanding of fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD), a rare blood vessel disease, is making the jump from the laboratory to the clinic with new findings of a genetic variant. Researchers found the mutation in a gene that is associated with classical Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome as well, in multifocal FMD. That means it could […]

Adding an immunotherapy agent to a three-drug chemotherapy regimen can improve the likelihood that early-stage triple-negative breast cancer will recede to undetectable levels, data from a clinical trial led by Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center suggests. The results of the trial, dubbed the IMpassion031 study, will be presented at the […]

Hard skulls help protect our brains from physical injuries. In addition to a tough outer shell, brains have internal defences, including a powerful shield called the blood-brain barrier that defends brain cells from substances in the bloodstream that are toxic and dangerous to nerve cells. If the blood-brain barrier is […]

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most common inherited heart disease, marked by an abnormally thickened heart muscle that can obstruct blood flow and lead to sudden death in young adults. A dizzying array of over 1,400 genetic mutations can lead to the disease, puzzling doctors on how to treat so many […]

Macrophages of the innate immune system, cells derived from monocytes, are involved in many processes in tissue beyond merely hunting down invading pathogens. They are also important to the processes of tissue maintenance regeneration following injury. Like all aspects of the immune system, macrophage behavior becomes dysregulated with age, a […]

Myotonic dystrophy type I is the most common type of adult-onset muscular dystrophy. People with the condition inherit repeated DNA segments that lead to the toxic buildup of repetitive RNA, the messenger that carries a gene’s recipe to the cell’s protein-making machinery. As a result, people born with myotonic dystrophy […]

No matter how much we try and fight it, aging is a part of life. High cholesterol, diabetes, and fatty liver, the collection of conditions referred to as lifestyle diseases, all become more commonplace as we get older. Interestingly, however, many of these age-related conditions are caused by changes inside […]

The study describes an innovative approach for identifying and evaluating candidate molecules that can image and track the progression of a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases. For any of the 200,000 patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the United States every year, the diagnosis often occurs only after the appearance of […]

Calorie restriction lowers body temperature in mammals, but most research on how reduced calorie intake produces benefits to long-term health and longevity has focused on nutrient sensing as the primary trigger for the upregulation of stress responses and other helpful changes to cellular metabolism. Here, researchers demonstrate that reduced body […]

Osteoporosis is the name given to the characteristic age-related loss of bone mass and strength. The extracellular matrix of bone tissue is constantly remodeled, created by osteoblasts and broken down by osteoclasts. The proximate cause of osteoporosis is a tilt in the balance of these processes, favoring osteoclast activity and […]

Most people use cannabis for recreation. They don’t really care about the positive health effects that cannabis might have. However, cannabis is being researched for its positive characteristic against many chronic health conditions. Now scientists in Australia found that cancer patients could benefit from medical cannabis. Scientists from the University […]

Researchers at Osaka University have identified a fault in the RNA quality control system of cells that leads to the haywire production of toxic proteins in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTLD/ALS). Their new study, published in The EMBO Journal, shows that an abnormality of the C9orf72 gene […]

The first UK study to estimate the proportion of womb cancers caused by an inherited cancer predisposition called Lynch syndrome has been carried out by The University of Manchester. Almost 3% of womb cancers are linked to a hereditary condition named Lynch syndrome, according to new clinical research findings published […]

A three-year grant from the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s initiative will support the most in-depth look at the cellular mechanisms that lead to Parkinson’s disease to date. Leading researchers from the USA and Garvan will use cutting-edge technology to reveal the complex interplay of genes, molecules, cells and age-related factors […]

The stem cells tasked with creating and maintaining biological tissues have a difficult job. They have to precisely divide to form new specialized cells, which are destined to different fates even though they contain identical DNA. An obvious question then is: How do the cells divide in all the right […]

A deadly combination of two mosquito-borne viruses may be a trigger for stroke, new research published in The Lancet Neurology has found. University of Liverpool researchers and Brazilian collaborators have been investigating the link between neurological disease and infection with the viruses Zika and chikungunya. These viruses, which mostly circulate in […]

SLC25A51 gene encodes a protein that transports NAD+, a critical coenzyme in cellular metabolism, to mitochondria. Penn Medicine researchers have solved a decades-old mystery around a key molecule fueling the power plant of cells that could be exploited to find new ways to treat diseases, from neurodegenerative disorders to cancer. […]

Researchers have gained a better understanding of the complexity of the environment in which T cells thrive and, by extension, the tolerance mechanisms of these cells which are an obstacle to cellular immunity. Published in Nature Communications, the new study was directed by Dr. Marie-Ève Lebel, a post-doctoral intern at the […]

“Do not erase.” “Recycle me.” “Free to a good home.” Humans post these signs to indicate whether something has value or not, whether it should be disposed of or not. Inside our cells, a sophisticated recycling system uses its own enzymatic signs to flag certain cells for destruction — and […]

Your spine deteriorates naturally over time, even if you tread lightly and are mindful of good posture. Radiologists are keenly aware of this truth due to an endless queue of patients with low back pain whose imaging scans reveal no acute injury but, instead, show typical signs of activity, gravity, […]