General

As animals explore their environment, they learn to master it. By discovering what sounds tend to precede predatorial attack, for example, or what smells predict dinner, they develop a kind of biological clairvoyance—a way to anticipate what’s coming next, based on what has already transpired. Now, Rockefeller scientists have found […]

Autoimmunity, in which a person’s own immune system attacks healthy cells, affects millions of people in the U.S. and around the world. Lupus, celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis and many other diseases all fall under this category. From its offices and labs in Buffalo, Aesku.NY, a life sciences startup, is developing […]

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells. It is a very complicated type of cancer, which initially doesn’t exhibit any symptom, making diagnosis a lot harder. After some time myeloma announces about itself with bone pain, bleeding, frequent infections, and anemia. The 5-year survival rate is just around 35% […]

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed an improved technique for using magnetic nanoclusters to kill hard-to-reach tumors. Magnetic nanoparticles – tiny pieces of matter as small as one-billionth of a meter – have shown anti-cancer promise for tumors easily accessible by syringe, allowing the particles to be injected directly […]

Yale researchers have discovered how metastasis, the spread of cancer cells throughout the body, is triggered on the molecular level, and have developed a tool with the potential to detect those triggers in patients with certain cancers. The discovery could lead to new ways for treating cancer. The study was […]

Researchers from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital have succeeded in using mice with a transplanted human immune system to study functions in the immune system which are otherwise particularly difficult to study. The method could turn out to be important in further research into e.g. cancer, HIV and autoimmune […]

It’s a you-are-what-you-eat story starring breast cancer cells. Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and U-M College of Engineering have found that breast cancer cells that swallow up nearby stem cells take on some of their properties, enhancing their ability to invade other tissues throughout the body and seed secondary tumors, […]

Patients with biliary tract cancer have altered genetic architecture in some immune system receptor systems. This has been shown by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden in a new study published in the journal Gastroenterology. It is hoped that the discovery will lead to new effective immunotherapy for these difficult […]

A study of thousands of patients’ health records found that those who were prescribed cholesterol-lowering statins had at least double the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The detailed analysis of health records and other data from patients in a private insurance plan in the Midwest provides a real-world picture […]

When medical devices are implanted in the body, the immune system often attacks them, producing scar tissue around the device. This buildup of tissue, known as fibrosis, can interfere with the device’s function. MIT researchers have now come up with a novel way to prevent fibrosis from occurring, by incorporating […]

Study finds altered gut microbiota in infants with food allergy; oral therapy to replenish bacteria prevented food allergy and suppressed established disease in mice. Every three minutes, a food-related allergic reaction sends someone to the emergency room in the U.S. Currently, the only way to prevent a reaction is for […]

A growing body of evidence suggests that traditional cancer treatments can paradoxically promote new tumor growth. Now, a team of Harvard Medical School scientists led by Dipak Panigrahy and Allison Gartung of the Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has demonstrated that administration of anti-inflammatory treatments and proresolution […]

Years before symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease appear, two kinds of damaging proteins silently collect in the brain: amyloid beta and tau. Clumps of amyloid accumulate first, but tau is particularly noxious. Wherever tangles of the tau protein appear, brain tissue dies, triggering the confusion and memory loss that are hallmarks […]

Cancer isn’t as common for horses as it is for humans and dogs and cats. And because equine cancer symptoms—weight loss, nausea, lethargy, loss of appetite, lameness, skin and coat conditions, among others—often don’t start appearing until the cancer has advanced, it can be hard to reverse its progression. For […]

More than three decades ago, scientists discovered that a chemical found in a synthetic opioid, MPTP, induced the onset of a form of Parkinson’s disease. In a new study led by scientists from the School of Veterinary Medicine, researchers found that an enzyme in the body can metabolize compounds formed […]

Researchers have discovered that a mysterious group of neurons in the amygdala – a key center for emotional processing in the brain – remain in an immature, prenatal developmental state throughout childhood. Most of these cells mature rapidly during adolescence, suggesting a key role in the brain’s emotional development, but some stay […]

A new study has found that variability in night-to-night sleep time and reduced sleep quality adversely affect the ability of older adults to recall information about past events. The study also found unexpected racial differences in the type of sleep patterns tied to lower memory performance across both younger and […]

Surgery prompted by automobile accidents, combat wounds, cancer treatment and other conditions can lead to bone infections that are difficult to treat and can delay healing until they are resolved. Now, researchers have a developed a double-duty hydrogel that both attacks the bacteria and encourages bone regrowth with a single […]

Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that accounts for 275,000 hospitalizations in the United States annually. Patients who suffer from hereditary pancreatitis have a 40 to 50 percent lifetime risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Dannielle Engle, a former Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cancer Center postdoctoral fellow who was recently appointed Assistant Professor […]

A low-carb diet may have benefits for people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes even if they don’t lose any weight, a new study suggests. Researchers at The Ohio State University wanted to know what happens to obese people with metabolic syndrome, a precursor to diabetes, when they eat […]

Some people are night owls. They stay up very late and then fail to wake up early. In fact, they don’t even wake up at the time that we consider to be morning. Being a night owl is associated with depression, worse health and even an early death, but there […]

Make a choice today – become healthier. Move more, eat better, drink plenty of water and lose weight. There is a number of reasons why you should do that, including health risks associated with being overweight. Scientists from UCL found that people who are obese from childhood through to middle […]

The quality of your life depends on many factors, including your upbringing. Your parents do their best to teach you well, but some choices they make themselves are not the best. Also, some genes you get from them also push you to a wrong direction. Scientists from the University of […]

A team of researchers from McMaster University has mapped at atomic resolution a toxic protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, allowing them to better understand what is happening deep within the brain during the earliest stages of the disease.     The findings, published on the front cover of the current […]

The way energy is distributed throughout the body is by blood. It provides oxygen and nutrients to different parts of the body, including brain. Previous studies have shown that  the first change in Alzheimer’s disease is a decrease in cerebral blood flow. Now scientists from UCL confirmed that reduced blood […]

Geeta Mehta studies cancer not simply as masses of cells but as structured organs with multiple cell types that communicate with each other and interact with the body—much like your lungs or liver. “Tumors are not merely cancerous cells that undergo mindless proliferation. Rather, they are highly organized and interconnected organ […]

After decades of attempts by the scientific community, researchers at Harvard Medical School and Peking University have provided the first clear look at a protein implicated in a vast array of inflammatory conditions. The finding, published in Nature, lifts a blindfold that has hampered scientists' ability to intervene when the […]

Whether we like it or not, digital devices are everywhere. Some of us can barely put them down, even when we’re with cherished family and friends. While these devices can enhance learning and build community, they can also interfere with everything from sleep to creativity. Pediatrician Michael Rich, wants to […]

For patients with Parkinson’s disease, early signs of a certain part of the brain being broken down has been shown to have a negative impact on the course of the disease. The results of a study which researchers from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital are behind can potentially alter […]

Our immune system is programmed to destroy cancer cells. Sometimes it has trouble slowing disease progression because it doesn’t act quickly or strongly enough. In a study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) revealed the genetic signature of this […]