General

Harvard Medical School investigators based at Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have developed a machine learning-based sleep test that shows potential as a biomarker associated with unhealthy brain ageing, including processes leading to dementia. The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, may help clinicians identify patients who have […]

In a world-first, a young man suffering from severe aplastic anaemia who could not be helped by standard treatments has been given a life-saving blood transplant with the made-in-Canada UM171 molecule. The procedure was done by a medical team at the Institute of Hemato-oncology and Cellular Therapy (iHOTC) of Maisonneuve-Rosemont […]

A team of researchers in the United States and Japan reports that spinal cord stimulation (SCS) measurably decreased pain and reduced motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, both as a singular therapy and as a “salvage therapy” after deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapies were ineffective. Writing in the journal Bioelectronic Medicine, […]

A type of anti-bacterial T cells, so-called MAIT cells, are strongly activated in people with moderate to severe COVID-19 disease, according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden that is published in the journal Science Immunology. The findings contribute to an increased understanding of how our immune […]

The University at Buffalo has received a four-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a new, portable breast-imaging system that has the potential to better identify breast cancer. Called a dual scan mammoscope (DSM), the device combines light and ultrasound technology to better screen […]

New findings suggest that late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease is driven by epigenetic changes—how and when certain genes are turned on and off—in the brain. Results were published in Nature Genetics. Research led by Raffaella Nativio, a former research associate of epigenetics, Shelley Berger, a professor of genetics, biology and cell and developmental diology and director […]

Women receiving fertility-sparing surgery for treatment of borderline ovarian tumours were able to have children, a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in Fertility & Sterility shows. Natural fertility was preserved in most of them and only a small proportion required assisted reproductive treatment such as in vitro fertilization. […]

One of the biggest challenges to the development of medical treatments for cancer is the fact that there is no single kind of cancer. Cancers derive from many kinds of cells and tissues, and each has their own characteristics, behaviours, and susceptibilities to anti-cancer drugs. A treatment that works on […]

Middle-aged adults who report symptoms of insomnia and are sleeping less than six hours a night may be at increased risk of cognitive impairment, according to a study by Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The results may help health care professionals understand which patients who report insomnia are at […]

High-grade serious ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) is the fifth-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women in the United States, yet little is known about the origins of this disease. Now, scientists at the College of Veterinary Medicine have collaborated on a study that pinpoints which specific genes drive – or delay […]

A new study in mice helps explain why gut microbiomes of breastfed infants can differ greatly from those of formula-fed infants. The study, “Dietary Sphinganine Is Selectively Assimilated by Members of the Mammalian Gut Microbiome,” was published in the Journal of Lipid Research. The paper describes an innovative technique developed […]

A study of almost 400,000 British participants has identified a new link between raised levels of the growth factor IGF-1 and increased thyroid cancer risk and has confirmed associations with breast, prostate and colorectal cancer. This could lead to new preventative strategies, including diet and lifestyle interventions. IGF-1 (insulin-like growth […]

Differences in the shape and texture of men and women's hearts could potentially explain why their risk of heart disease differs, according to research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London, […]

A team of scientists, led by King’s College London, have discovered an unexpected tissue reparative role for a rare immune cell type in the gut that could tip toward fibrosis or cancer if abnormal or impaired. The breakthrough, revealed in a paper published in Nature Materials, will have important implications for […]

About 1 in 5 new breast cancers are caught at their earliest stages, before they’ve spread from milk ducts into the surrounding breast tissue. But what doctors can’t currently predict with high confidence is which of these cancers — known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or stage 0 breast cancer — […]

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, occurs when the contraction of the heart muscle is able to pump blood normally and subsequently has a preserved ejection fraction, but the heart chambers are too stiff to relax and fill properly. In the United States, HFpEF numbers are on the […]

As a high school student, junior Darcey Hookway spent time volunteering on a dementia ward at a local hospital. “The social aspect of their condition really struck me,” says Hookway, who is from London. “They struggled immensely with social isolation. And now with COVID exacerbating that more than ever, I […]

More than 10 per cent of people who develop severe COVID-19 have misguided antibodies that attack not the virus, but the immune system itself, new research shows. Another 3.5 per cent, at least, carry a specific kind of genetic mutation. In both groups, the upshot is basically the same: The […]

The National Institute on Aging, or NIA, has awarded psychologists Chandra A. Reynolds of the University of California, Riverside, and Sally J. Wadsworth of the University of Colorado-Boulder a grant of more than $11 million to continue studying lifespan behavioural development and cognitive aging as individuals transition to mid-adulthood. In 2015, the researchers […]

The University of New Hampshire will receive $1.8 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that will further molecular research to better understand drug interactions at the cellular level and help lead to the development of new targeted drugs to treat wide-spread metabolic, growth, neurological and visual disorders including […]

Scientists around David Ng, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, are approaching cancer therapy from an entirely new angle – targeted and localized disruption of the cancer cells' structure in order to activate their self-destruction mechanism. In laboratory experiments, the researchers have already demonstrated initial successes. […]

The first stages of placental development take place days before the embryo starts to form in human pregnancies. This new finding highlights the importance of healthy placental development in pregnancy, and could lead to future improvements in fertility treatments such as IVF, and a better understanding of placental-related diseases in pregnancy. In […]

A team of scientists, led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, report that a class of drugs used for a broad array of conditions, from allergies and colds to hypertension and urinary incontinence, may be associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline, particularly in […]

Bioengineers at UC San Diego have shown that human-genome produced RNA is present on the surface of human cells, suggesting a more expanded role for RNA in cell-to-cell and cell-to-environment interactions than previously thought. This new type of membrane-associated extracellular RNA (maxRNA) is found in human cells that are not […]

Just a single exercise workout has positive effects on learning and memory in young adults, according to a recent review of published studies. The review, which is published in Translational Sports Medicine, included 13 relevant studies. The types of exercise that were studied involved walking, running, and bicycling in individuals […]

Emerging evidence suggests that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may negatively affect bone health. Results from a new study published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research now indicate that women with history of OSA may face a higher risk of spine, or vertebral, fractures. Using information from the Nurses’ […]

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, […]