General

High levels of glucose in the blood ‘reprogrammes’ stem cells, leading to a lasting increase in the risk of developing dangerous atherosclerosis, according to research funded by the British Heart Foundation published in Circulation. University of Oxford researchers found that high blood glucose, a hallmark of diabetes, alters stem cells […]

Adenovirus vaccine vectors, such as the ChAdOx1 nCov-19 construct which has risen to prominence as a major vaccine for COVID-19, may generate robust long-term immune system responses, according to scientists from the Universities of Oxford and the Cantonal Hospital St.Gallen, Switzerland. Writing in the journal Nature Immunology, they detail an investigation into one […]

Largest review of all large-scale studies to date finds red and processed meat increase the risk of heart disease. Globally coronary heart diseases (caused by narrowed arteries that supply the heart with blood) claim nearly nine million lives each year1, the largest of any disease, and present a huge burden […]

The genetic changes that underlie an especially lethal type of prostate cancer have been revealed in a new study by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. Learning more about what causes this type of cancer, called neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), could lead to new approaches for treating it. Most early stage […]

The specialized endothelial cells that line the blood vessels in the lung may hold the key to treating the common and often-fatal lung disease emphysema, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. In the study, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the researchers showed […]

Researchers at Michigan Medicine have discovered yet another functional autoantibody in COVID-19 patients that contributes to the disease’s development and the “firestorm” of blood clots and inflammation it induces. A growing body of studies suggests COVID-19 emulates many aspects of systemic autoimmune disorders, including the release of a flurry of […]

Children and young people whose mothers had a BMI greater than 30 during early pregnancy are at an increased risk of fatty liver disease. This is shown in a register-based study from Karolinska Institutet and Harvard University published in the journal Journal of Hepatology. As obesity rates increase also in […]

A Tufts scientist is testing senolytics to counter senescent cells that promote afflictions like arthritis and Parkinson's disease. It’s not the fountain of youth, but a fast-emerging class of drugs could bring us closer to achieving the age-old quest for longer life, better health, and greater vitality. The drugs, called […]

Diagnostic nanoparticles could be used to monitor tumor recurrence after treatment or to perform routine cancer screenings. Most of the tests that doctors use to diagnose cancer — such as mammography, colonoscopy, and CT scans — are based on imaging. More recently, researchers have also developed molecular diagnostics that can […]

In the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, deprived areas suffered more excess deaths than affluent areas, with a disproportionate impact on their younger age groups according to the early draft of a new study. In addition to the deaths from COVID-19, longstanding socioeconomic and geographical health inequalities for a […]

Bacteria’s role in gut health has received a lot of attention in recent years. But new research led by scientists at the University of Utah Health shows that fungi—another microorganism that lives within us—may be equally important in health and disease. Fungi thrive in the healthy gut, but they can also […]

University of Utah Health scientists have received a five-year, $7.5-million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to test whether a web-based intervention that resembles a video game can alleviate depression in older adults in the comfort and safety of their own homes. The University of Connecticut will also participate […]

More doesn’t necessarily mean better — including in cancer treatment. University of Wisconsin–Madison and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists report today in the journal Science Translational Medicine that combining targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy with immunotherapy significantly boosts eradication of metastatic cancer in mice, even when the radiation is given […]

Today's open access commentary is a good companion piece to a recent paper covering the use of mesenchymal stem cell therapies to suppress age-related chronic inflammation. These first generation stem cell therapies have proven to be unreliable when it comes to the original goal of regeneration of organ function, but […]

More doesn’t necessarily mean better — including in cancer treatment. University of Wisconsin–Madison and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists report today in the journal Science Translational Medicine that combining targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy with immunotherapy significantly boosts eradication of metastatic cancer in mice, even when the radiation is given […]

Proteostasis describes the steady state of a cell, maintaining an appropriate balance of various forms of protein machinery in order to enable continued normal function. With advancing age, proteostasis becomes disrupted in numerous complicated ways. This is a downstream outcome of underlying molecular damage, the reactions to that damage, and […]

A groundbreaking new treatment that uses 3D printed implants and that could bring relief to tens of thousands of knee osteoarthritis sufferers has received approval to be trialled in UK patients, following a virtual “in-silico” trial that demonstrated its safety. The personalised early knee osteoarthritis treatment, developed by engineers at […]

When she isn’t pursuing her favorite heart-pumping activities of running, swimming, or cycling, Sharlene M. Day, MD, a Presidential Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and director of Translational Research for the Penn Cardiovascular Institute, is focused on the heart in another way; trying to unlock and treat the mysteries of genetic […]

Although the risk of a child being admitted to hospital due to COVID-19 is small, a new UK study has found that around 1 in 20 of children hospitalised with COVID-19 develop brain or nerve complications linked to the viral infection. The research, published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health and […]

Ferroptosis is a mode of programmed cell death that manages to be both fairly well explored in the broader research community and far less visible than other programmed cell death processes. It was first named and described about a decade ago, though of course researchers have long explored aspects of […]

The study, led by the University of Bristol and published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, shows the importance of raising awareness of vaccine efficacy, especially if it compares very favourably to another well-established vaccine. The research focused on adults who were unsure about being vaccinated against COVID-19. Those who were […]

An international team led by physics researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington has published a paper in the high-impact journal Bioactive Materials that describes a breakthrough method of photodynamic therapy (PDT), an emerging cancer treatment. Nil Kanatha Pandey, a doctoral student in physics Professor Wei Chen’s lab, is the first […]

The urgency to remember a dangerous experience requires the brain to make a series of potentially dangerous moves: Neurons and other brain cells snap open their DNA in numerous locations — more than previously realized, according to a new study — to provide quick access to genetic instructions for the mechanisms […]

A University of Manchester led a team of scientists has discovered that the most common form of adult blindness is probably caused by a failure of at least one of five proteins to regulate the immune system. The breakthrough could one day herald the development of transformative treatments for developing […]

Biologists are trying to figure out what makes a cell unique in form and function. But they are not certain which components are key to making similar cells behave differently. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Associate Professor Jesse Gillis and his lab are tackling this problem with a new statistical method: they […]

When a doctor gives a patient antibiotics for a bacterial infection, they usually require them to finish the entire treatment, even when symptoms go away. This is to ensure the drugs kill off any remaining bacteria. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Visiting Scientist Raffaella Sordella investigated a similar problem that occurs in […]

Altum Sequencing, a start-up in the biotechnology sector that is part of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid’s (UC3M) Incubation and Acceleration of Companies and Industrial PhD programmes, has patented a system that allows for the early identification of tumour-specific genetic markers and the quantification of cancer cells following responses […]

Antibodies induced by currently available mRNA vaccines can still neutralize the Delta and Kappa variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but do so at a reduced potency, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Delta variant, first identified in India and previously known as B.1.617.2, is […]

You’re as old as your immune system. Investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging have built an inflammatory-ageing clock that’s more accurate than the number of candles on your birthday cake in predicting how strong your immune system is, how soon […]

Intervertebral discs provide load support and motion between vertebrae in the spine, but when they start to break down and compress due to ageing, disease or injury, a person experiences significant pain and reduced mobility. An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis found a way to […]