Related Science News

January 29, 2020

AI-analyzed blood test can predict the progression of neurodegenerative disease

Evaluating the effectiveness of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases is often difficult because each patient’s progression is different. A new study shows artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of blood samples can predict and explain disease progression, which could one day help doctors choose more appropriate and effective treatments for patients. Scientists at […]
January 29, 2020

Penn Nanoparticles are Less Toxic to T Cells Engineered for Cancer Immunotherapy

New cancer immunotherapies involve extracting a patient’s T cells and genetically engineering them so they will recognize and attack tumors. This technique is a true medical breakthrough, with an increasing number of leukemia and lymphoma patients experiencing complete remissions since CAR T therapy was FDA approved in 2017. This type […]
January 29, 2020

Scientists short-circuit maturity in insects, opening new paths to disease prevention

New research from UC Riverside shows scientists may soon be able to prevent disease-spreading mosquitoes from maturing. Using the same gene-altering techniques, they may also be able help boost reproduction in beneficial bumblebees. The research shows that, contrary to previous scientific belief, a hormone required for sexual maturity in insects […]
January 29, 2020

AI and 3D Bioprinting Successes for Mesothelioma Patients

Healthcare has had major upgrades since implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to facilitate the responsibilities of doctors, technicians, nurses, and other medical employees. This technology is constantly being advanced to reach ultimate standards in efforts to aid and improve medicine as we know it. Within the past year, the completion and […]
January 28, 2020

Shortness of breath and cough increase as first symptom of lung cancer

GPs are being urged to consider shortness of breath and cough as potential predictors of lung cancer, after a study found they were becoming more common as the first symptom in diagnosis. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the UK and has a poor five year […]
January 28, 2020

Missing Protein in Brain Causes Behaviors Mirroring Autism

Scientists at Rutgers University-Newark have discovered that when a key protein needed to generate new brain cells during prenatal and early childhood development is missing, part of the brain goes haywire – causing an imbalance in its circuitry that can lead to long-term cognitive and movement behaviors characteristic of autism […]
January 28, 2020

Calorie Restriction and Calorie Restriction Mimetics Dampen Inflammation

Chronic inflammation is an important aspect of aging, a process that stems from low-level biochemical damage and cellular dysfunction, and that then contributes to the progression of age-related disease and tissue dysfunction. Chronic inflammation sustained over years accelerates all of the common fatal age-related conditions: it disrupts tissue maintenance, and […]
January 27, 2020

Give & take: Cancer chromosomes give the game away

As tumours develop, cancer cells gain and lose so-called “chromosome arms”, changing their response to drugs, a finding which may offer better personalised treatments for 17 types of cancer. Dr Pascal Duijf from QUT’s School of Biomedical Sciences and IHBI (Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation) said the study, published […]
January 27, 2020

Liver Fibrosis ‘Off Switch’ Discovered in Mice

Chronic alcohol abuse and hepatitis can injure the liver, often leading to a buildup of collagen and scar tissue. Understanding this process, known as liver fibrosis, could help researchers develop new ways to prevent or treat conditions such as alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and nonalcoholic flatty liver disease […]
January 27, 2020

Opioid Dependence Found to Permanently Change Brains of Rats

Approximately one-quarter of patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them, with five to 10 percent developing an opioid use disorder or addiction. In a new study, published 2020 in PNAS, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that opioid dependence produced permanent changes […]
January 27, 2020

Researchers uncover the genomics of health

Most diseases have a genetic component. To better understand disease, researchers led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research are analysing genetic information to determine what keeps us healthy. In a world first, the team has compiled a genome reference database of thousands of healthy older Australians, which has the […]
January 27, 2020

Can lithium halt progression of Alzheimer’s disease?

There remains a controversy in scientific circles today regarding the value of lithium therapy in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Much of this stems from the fact that because the information gathered to date has been obtained using a multitude of differential approaches, conditions, formulations, timing and dosages of treatment, results are […]
January 27, 2020

A single number helps Stanford data scientists find most dangerous cancer cells

Biomedical data scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that the number of genes a cell uses to make RNA is a reliable indicator of how developed the cell is, a finding that could make it easier to target cancer-causing genes. Cells that initiate cancer are thought to be […]
January 27, 2020

High-protein diets boost artery-clogging plaque, mouse study shows

High-protein diets may help people lose weight and build muscle, but a new study in mice suggests they have a downside: They lead to more plaque in the arteries. Further, the new research shows that high-protein diets spur unstable plaque — the kind most prone to rupturing and causing blocked […]
January 27, 2020

Benefits of fetal surgery to repair spina bifida persist through school age

Children as young as 6 years old who underwent fetal surgery to repair a common birth defect of the spine are more likely to walk independently and have fewer follow-up surgeries, compared to those who had traditional corrective surgery after birth, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of […]
January 27, 2020

Discovery sheds new light on how cells move

When we cut our skin, groups of cells rush en masse to the site to heal the wound. But the complicated mechanics of this collective cell movement — which are facilitated by rearrangements between each cell and its neighbors — have made it challenging for researchers to decipher what’s actually […]
January 27, 2020

Low-dose aspirin may reduce preterm birth risk among first-time mothers

Daily low-dose aspirin, from as early as the sixth week of pregnancy through the 36th week, may lower the risk for preterm birth among first-time mothers, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The clinical trial, which involved more than 11,000 women in several low- and middle-income […]
January 27, 2020

Why eating yoghurt may help lessen the risk of breast cancer

One of the causes of breast cancer may be inflammation triggered by harmful bacteria say, researchers. Scientists say their idea- as yet unproven – is supported by the available evidence, which is that bacterial-induced inflammation is linked to cancer. The paper in the journal Medical Hypotheses is by Lancaster University medical […]
January 27, 2020

Study IDs non-hormonal options for menopause symptoms

The classic symptoms of menopause – hot flashes, sleeplessness, and vaginal dryness – have typically been treated with estrogen therapy.  Studies published report that non-hormonal options are effective, too. These treatments may involve cognitive therapy to help a patient sleep, or using low doses of a class of drugs called selective serotonin […]
January 24, 2020

Preventing, healing tooth decay with a bioactive peptide

Cavities, or dental caries, are the most widespread non-communicable disease globally, according to the World Health Organization. Having a cavity drilled and filled at the dentist’s office can be painful, but untreated caries could lead to worse pain, tooth loss, infection, and even illness or death. Now, researchers in ACS Applied […]
January 24, 2020

With a protein ‘delivery,’ parasite can suppress its host’s immune response

Toxoplasma gondii is best known as the parasite that may lurk in a cat’s litter box. Nearly a third of the world’s population is believed to live with a chronic Toxoplasma infection. It’s of greatest concern, however, to people with suppressed immune systems and to pregnant women, who can pass the infection to […]
January 23, 2020

BHF announces shortlist for £30m research prize at start of defining decade for CVD

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) today announced its shortlist of four research projects competing for a single £30 million award. The charity says it is one of many radical new approaches needed to address a frightening mismatch in research funding compared with the burden of heart and circulatory diseases. With […]
January 23, 2020

Discovery IDS Potential Way to Halt Blinding Macular Degeneration

Researchers have successfully treated age-related macular degeneration in mice after finding an unexpected link between the two main forms of the blinding eye disease, the leading cause of vision loss in people 60 and older. Researcher Brad Gelfand of the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the UVA School of Engineering, cautions […]
January 23, 2020

Our biological clock plays crucial role in healing from surgery

If you have just had knee, shoulder or hip surgery, you may want to take anti-inflammatories in the morning or at noon, but not at night. A McGill-led study shows, for the first time, that circadian clock genes are involved in healing from surgery. Indeed, the researchers demonstrated that anti-inflammatory medications […]
January 23, 2020

Pregnancy, breastfeeding may lower risk of early menopause

Women who breastfed their infants exclusively for seven to 12 months may have a significantly lower risk of early menopause than their peers who breastfed their infants for less than a month, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study also suggests that pregnancy can […]
January 22, 2020

New opportunity for cancer drug development

After years of research on cell surface receptors called Frizzleds, researchers at Karolinska Institutet provide the proof-of-principle that these receptors are druggable by small molecules. The results, which are published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, open for new strategies to treat different types of cancer. For more than 20 […]
January 22, 2020

While Promoting Diseases Like Cancer, These Enzymes Also Cannibalize Each Other

Like motley bandits, certain enzymes implicated in cancer and other diseases also annihilate each other. A new study reveals details of their mutual foils in the hopes that these behaviors can be leveraged to fight the enzymes’ disease potential. The bandits are cathepsins, enzymes that normally dispose of unneeded protein […]
January 21, 2020

In Mice, Alcohol Dependence Results in Brain-Wide Remodeling of Functional Architecture

Employing advanced technologies that allow whole brain imaging at single-cell resolution, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that in an alcohol-dependent mouse model, the rodent brain’s functional architecture is substantially remodeled. But when deprived of alcohol, the mice displayed increased coordinated brain activity and reduced […]
January 21, 2020

Discovery of new T-cell raises prospect of ‘universal’ cancer therapy

T-cell therapies for cancer – where immune cells are removed, modified and returned to the patient’s blood to seek and destroy cancer cells – are the latest paradigm in cancer treatments. The most widely-used therapy, known as CAR-T, is personalized to each patient but targets only a few types of […]