Related Science News

April 9, 2020

Autoimmunity may be rising in the United States

Autoimmunity, a condition in which the body’s immune system reacts with components of its own cells, appears to be increasing in the United States, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health and their collaborators. In a study published in Arthritis and Rheumatology, the researchers found that the prevalence […]
April 9, 2020

Tiny Nanoparticles Offer Large Potential for Brain Cancer Treatment

For patients with malignant brain tumors, the prognosis remains dismal. With the most aggressive treatments available, patients are usually only expected to live about 14 months after diagnosis. This is because, chemotherapy, the most common form of treatment for cancer, is uniquely challenging for brain tumor patients. The delicate organ […]
April 8, 2020

Loss of Autophagy in Hematopoietic Cells Contributes to Osteoporosis

This open access paper is an example of one of the less well known connections between processes of aging. Loss of efficiency of the cellular maintenance processes of autophagy is a characteristic of cells in old tissues. Here, researchers note that this dysfunction in the hematopoietic cells responsible for creating blood and immune […]
April 8, 2020

Engineered Stem Cells Survive Longer and Improve Outcomes in a Heart Patch

In most cell therapies, the transplanted cells do not survive for long, or in large numbers. They produce beneficial effects, such as reduced inflammation or enhanced regeneration, via signaling that changes the behavior of native cell populations. Considerable effort is going into finding ways to make cells used in therapy survive for […]
April 8, 2020

PARP Inhibitor Drugs Can be “Tuned” for Better Killing of Tumor Cells

A prospective “PARP inhibitor” drug that has struggled to show effectiveness in clinical trials against cancers can be structurally modified to greatly increase its power to kill tumor cells, researchers from Penn Medicine report in Science. The team also showed that PARP inhibitor compounds can be “tuned” in the opposite […]
April 8, 2020

Genes sow seeds of neuropsychiatric diseases even before birth

From early prenatal development through childhood, the prefrontal cortex of the human brain undergoes an avalanche of developmental activity. In some cases, it also contains seeds of neuropsychiatric illnesses and conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, according to a new genetic analysis led by researchers at Yale University […]
April 8, 2020

Celiac disease linked to increased mortality

People with celiac disease have increased risk of dying prematurely, despite increased awareness of the disease in recent years and better access to gluten-free food. This is according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Columbia University in the U.S. published in the prestigious journal JAMA. Celiac […]
April 7, 2020

Physical force alone spurs gene expression, study reveals

Cells will ramp up gene expression in response to physical forces alone, a new study finds. Gene activation, the first step of protein production, starts less than one millisecond after a cell is stretched – hundreds of times faster than chemical signals can travel, the researchers report. The scientists tested […]
April 7, 2020

Probiotics could help people with autoimmune diseases

Millions of people around the world are suffering from autoimmune diseases. It is conditions when immune system mistakenly attacks body’s healthy cells. Think Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. Now scientists from Victoria University in Australia found that  a common probiotic could help people with autoimmune diseases by reducing […]
April 7, 2020

Human skin suppresses inflammation after exposure to ultraviolet radiation

A study led by an NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre scientist has identified, for the first time, how the human skin suppresses inflammation after exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Dr. Nathan Hawkshaw is the lead author of a research paper published in Clinical & Translational Immunology, open access, peer-reviewed journal. […]
April 7, 2020

Alzheimer’s trial screening data links high amyloid levels with early stage disease

The first published data from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) study supports the hypothesis that higher levels of the amyloid protein in the brain represent an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Results of an analysis of participant screening data for the study, published in JAMA Neurology, also […]
April 7, 2020

Protein implicated in dry eye and PTSD visualized at atomic level

Researchers have captured an atomic-level high-definition image of a protein and the small molecule that binds to it. Both have been implicated in conditions including dry eye and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Full understanding of their structures will hopefully lead to the development of an effective drug to regulate the […]
April 7, 2020

Blue Light? Orange Light? Tuning up sleep with tunable lighting

Lighting color and intensity affects sleep at nursing home. The science of lighting is about more than brightness, efficiency, and cost. Just ask anyone with seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, how gray skies and short days can affect their mood. It turns out that light—the right kind of light, at […]
April 7, 2020

Fighting cancer with slime chemistry and BNCT – Research video

Expectations are growing for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), a new cancer treatment, with few side effects, that combines thermal neutron irradiation and drug delivery. In BNCT, drugs are used to introduce boron specifically into cancer cells. The cancer cells are then irradiated, killing them with thermal neutrons. By targeting […]
April 7, 2020

Red wine compound could help you live a longer and healthier life

Consuming excess alcohol has always been associated with poor health. However, some scientists suggest that a small glass of wine per day can actually do a lot of good for you. Why? As this new study from UCL has noted it is all due to a dietary compound resveratrol, found […]
April 7, 2020

Can lobster really teach us how to live forever?

You know lobsters from TV documentaries, school biology books and restaurant menus. You may know that they can grow up to be pretty big and that they are delicious. You might also have seen a bizarre fact about them floating on the internet – lobsters do not age and are […]
April 6, 2020

Chilling concussed cells shows promise for full recovery

In the future, treating a concussion could be as simple as cooling the brain. That’s according to research conducted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers, whose findings support the treatment approach at the cellular level. “There are currently no effective medical treatments for concussions and other types of traumatic brain […]
April 5, 2020

Eisai's Discovery Research on Multikinase Inhibitor Lenvatinib Honored with PSJ Award for Drug Research and Development '20

Eisai Co., Ltd. has announced that drug discovery research conducted on lenvatinib mesylate (brand name: LENVIMA, lenvatinib), the orally available multikinase inhibitor discovered by Eisai, has been honored with The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (PSJ) Award for Drug Research and Development '20 by the PSJ. The PSJ Award for Drug […]
April 5, 2020

Eating healthy and exercising helps people with the right genes more

Over the past several decades we managed to increase the average lifespan of people. However, now scientists are more focused on healthspan – the duration of the time in your life when you are feeling healthy. Old age is still associated with frailty and cognitive problems. However, scientists from King’s […]
April 3, 2020

Scientists found a way to adjust the circadian clock

Your energy levels fluctuate throughout the day. Sometimes you feel full of energy and ready to tackle whatever the day is going to throw at you. And then you feel tired and want to go to sleep. These fluctuations are controlled by the circadian clock. If it does not work […]
April 3, 2020

Breast density, microcalcifications, and masses may be heritable traits

An analysis of a large Swedish cohort revealed that breast density, microcalcifications, and masses are heritable features, and that breast density and microcalcifications were positively associated with a genetic predisposition to breast cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Research. “Breast features identified through mammography are important for identifying women […]
April 3, 2020

Single mutation leads to big effects in autism-related gene

A new study in Neuron offers clues to why autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is more common in boys than in girls. National Institutes of Health scientists found that a single amino acid change in the NLGN4 gene, which has been linked to autism symptoms, may drive this difference in some […]
April 3, 2020

Turning cells into computers with protein logic gates

The same basic tools that allow computers to function are now being used to control life at the molecular level. The advances have implications for future medicines and synthetic biology. Reporting in the journal Science, a team led by the University of Washington School of Medicine has created artificial proteins that function […]
April 2, 2020

Want to live a longer and healthier life? Eat less

Everyone wants to live a long a healthy life. Only in this way you get to experience more while you are alive. Age is the dominant risk factor for many diseases, including cancer, diabetes, dementia, heart disease, stroke and so on. Now scientists from the Salk Institute together with partners […]
April 2, 2020

New sensors could offer early detection of lung tumors

People who are at high risk of developing lung cancer, such as heavy smokers, are routinely screened with computed tomography (CT), which can detect tumors in the lungs. However, this test has an extremely high rate of false positives, as it also picks up benign nodules in the lungs. Researchers […]
April 2, 2020

Tracking Tau

Understanding how the protein tau moves between neurons yields insight into possible treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. In the fight against neurodegenerative diseases such as frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, the tau protein is a major culprit. Found abundantly in our brain cells, tau is normally a team player […]
April 2, 2020

Suspect cells’ ‘neighbor’ implicated in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer kills more than 50,000 people a year in the United States alone, but scientists have struggled to find the exact mechanisms that trigger the growth of tumors in the intestine. Cancer researchers have zeroed in on a tightly sequestered group of stem cells within the intestine as suspects […]