General

A special focus on rogue proteins may hold future promise in stopping the progression of nerve cell destruction in people who have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or frontotemporal dementia. ALS, a rare but devastating disorder that’s also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, attacks the body’s nerve cells, resulting in progressive […]

Research has shown that people who are born blind or become blind early in life often have a more nuanced sense of hearing, especially when it comes to musical abilities and tracking moving objects in space (imagine crossing a busy road using sound alone).  For decades scientists have wondered what […]

In a recent study in mice, researchers found a way to deliver specific drugs to parts of the body that are exceptionally difficult to access. Their Y-shaped block catiomer (YBC) binds with certain therapeutic materials forming a package 18 nanometers wide. The package is less than one-fifth the size of […]

A trial for an innovative and ‘game-changing’ treatment for osteoarthritis taking place at the University of Liverpool has begun its second stage, bringing it one-step closer to completion. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis in the UK, affecting more than eight million people, and is the leading […]

The U.S. Patent Office today issued a fourth patent for the revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to the University of California, expanding the university’s patent portfolio to cover a broad variety of uses in all types of cells as well as cell-free environments. The patent office has told UC that it […]

Close to 20% of elderly adults who have suffered a heart attack will be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days. Performance on a simple mobility test is the best predictor of whether an elderly heart attack patient will be readmitted, a Yale-led study reports. Appearing in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality […]

Most Americans continue to sit for prolonged periods despite public health messages that such inactivity increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, according to a major new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The research team analyzed surveys of […]

Slice it into a hundred pieces if you want, and the millimeters-long flatworm called a planarian won’t particularly care. Each piece can grow back into a new worm. But how they do that, and what scientists could learn about how to regenerate our own bodies, has remained mysterious because one of the […]

An international study led from Karolinska Institutet provides new insights into the regulatory T cells’ role in protecting against autoimmune disease. By mapping the targets of the immune system in patients with the rare disease IPEX, they were able to show that regulatory T cells control immunotolerance in the gut. […]

Pregnant women with type 1 diabetes are at increased risk of delivering their baby prematurely. The risk increases as blood sugar levels rise, however women who maintain the recommended levels also risk giving birth prematurely. These are the findings from researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden, […]

Scientists at the University of Bristol have invented a new technology that could lead to the development of a new generation of smart surgical glues and dressings for chronic wounds. The new method, pioneered by Dr Adam Perriman and colleagues, involves re-engineering the membranes of stem cells to effectively “weld” […]

Despite evolution driving a wide variety of differences, many plants function the same way. Now a new study has revealed the different genetic strategies various flowering plant species use to achieve the same status quo. In flowering plants, stem cells are critical for survival. Influenced by environmental factors, stem cells […]

Researchers have discovered a key clue into the development of the pancreas and brain by studying rare patients born without a pancreas. Published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, the study revealed that all three patients without a pancreas and with abnormal brain development had an identical change in the CNOT1 gene. […]

An advance in the groundbreaking cancer treatment known as CAR T-cell therapy appears to eliminate its severe side effects, making the treatment safer and potentially available in outpatient settings, a new USC study shows. “This is a major improvement,” said Si-Yi Chen of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, professor in […]

What if doctors had a remote control that they could use to steer a patient’s own cells to a wound to speed up the healing process? Although such a device is still far from reality, researchers reporting in the ACS journal Nano Letters have taken an important first step: They used near-infrared […]

Around four million people in the UK carry genetic variants that protect them from obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, suggests new research from the University of Cambridge. The team say the discovery could lead to the development of new drugs that help people lose weight. Scientists have known […]

Treating breast tumors with two cancer drugs simultaneously may prevent endocrine resistance by attacking the disease along two separate gene pathways, scientists at the University of Illinois found in a new study. The two drugs used in the study, selinexor and 4-OHT, caused the cancer cells to die and tumors […]

Administering ibuprofen immediately after birth may reduce brain damage in tiny growth-restricted babies, University of Queensland researchers have found. The UQ Centre for Clinical Research’s Dr Julie Wixey said the drug could help reduce the incidence of serious long-term neurological problems in these babies. “It’s often difficult to diagnose babies at risk of being […]

Muscle damage is a common side effect of radiation therapy for cancer treatment, and is made worse because the very stem cells responsible for repairing injured muscles typically bear the brunt of radiation damage. Now UC San Francisco researchers have discovered a new type of stem cell in mouse muscles […]

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. and a growing problem around the world, but not because it’s a particularly difficult cancer to detect and halt. The problem, doctors and researchers believe, is that not enough people are being screened for early signs of […]

Explorers have dreamt for centuries of a Fountain of Youth, with healing waters that rejuvenate the old and extend life indefinitely. Researchers at the University of Rochester, however, have uncovered more evidence that the key to longevity resides instead in a gene. In a new paper published in the journal Cell, the […]

Radioactive antibodies that target cancer cells are used for medical diagnostics with PET imaging or for targeted radioimmunotherapy. Researchers from the University of Zurich have created a new method for radiolabelling antibodies using UV light. In less than 15 minutes, the proteins are ready-to-use for cancer imaging or therapy. Radioactive […]

A scheme that helped parents plan well-balanced family dinners for three months kept their children healthier for years after, a study has found. Low-income families who were given simple recipe kits to cook five healthy meals a week decreased their children’s body mass index (BMI) compared with peers who continued […]

Nearly 20 percent of children and adolescents and 14 percent of toddlers in the United States are obese. One contributing factor, among many possibilities, may be what a baby eats during their critical first six months of life and how it affects their continued growth. Ideally, breast milk is their […]

Treating the overproduction of one hormone may be a way to help a subset of the millions of Americans who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, according to a new study. People with obstructive sleep apnea stop breathing for short periods while they are sleeping, which leads to a poor night’s […]

SC researchers and collaborators report a breakthrough to prevent damage to the jaw, a side effect suffered by some people undergoing treatment for cancer or osteoporosis. The newly published research is an important step toward a cure for osteonecrosis of the jaw, a rare side effect caused by drugs commonly used to […]

A small clinical trial has shown that gene therapy can safely correct the immune systems of infants newly diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening inherited disorder in which infection-fighting immune cells do not develop or function normally. Eight infants with the disorder, called X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID), received an experimental […]

About one in eight women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. The vast majority of these cancers rely on the hormone estrogen to grow. Estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer tumors are frequently treated with the drug tamoxifen, which blocks the hormone’s effect on the tumor. However, […]

A breast cancer cell is like a house with three locks on the front door. Keys, or receptors, allow drugs to unlock the door and kill the cell. However, in triple-negative breast cancer, these keys are absent, thereby resulting in few options for drug therapy, until now. A protein called […]

MU scientists advance a way to track changes in a person’s cardiovascular system Every heart beat sends blood flowing throughout the human body. While an electrocardiogram uses a contact approach to measure the electrical activity of the heart, a ballistocardiogram is a non-contact way of measuring the mechanical effect of […]