Related Science News

Armed with $1.2 million in funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are searching to understand the cause of a rare airway disease in hopes of developing better treatments. Idiopathic subglottic stenosis (iSGS) is an unexplained narrowing of the windpipe just […]

White coat hypertension, a condition in which a patient’s blood pressure readings are higher when taken at the doctor’s office compared to other settings, was originally attributed to the anxiety patients might experience during medical appointments. However, over the years, research has suggested the elevated readings might be a sign […]

An elderly woman balances on one leg while watching a television display. What do you think she’s doing? She’s actually in the midst of using virtual reality (VR) technology for slow training. While Japan is leading the world in terms of a superaging society, the problem is the big gap […]

Teenage girls with severe antisocial behaviour display reduced brain activity and weaker connectivity between the brain regions implicated in emotion regulation, according to a new study involving researchers from the University's Department of Psychology. The findings, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, offer a neurobiological explanation for the difficulties some girls […]

A new multi-institution study spearheaded by researchers at Florida State University and the University of California, Los Angeles suggests a tiny protein could play a major role in combating heart failure related to Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the most common lethal genetic disorder among children. In collaboration with scientists from […]

Using a method called Mendelian randomisation, researchers at Karolinska Institutet show that there is a causal association between high BMI and several heart and blood vessel diseases, especially if the fat mass is high. The greatest risk increase was observed for a condition known as aortic valve stenosis. The study […]

Antibodies that exist in the joints before the onset of rheumatoid arthritis can cause pain even in the absence of arthritis, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report. The researchers believe that the finding, which is published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, can represent a general mechanism in autoimmunity […]

Vaccinating babies against a virus that causes childhood “stomach flu” greatly reduces their chance of getting so sick that they need hospital care, a new study shows. But the University of Michigan study also reveals a surprise: Being fully vaccinated against rotavirus in the first months of life is associated […]

An international study led by scientists in Oakland, Calif., and Munich, Germany, may offer hope to children and adults with a rare and debilitating genetic disorder, Pantothenate Kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN), as well as a potentially new approach to treat other neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. […]

New research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has revealed how fruit fly larvae with a seemingly fatal flaw can survive and advance to adulthood. As in all multicellular organisms, both the nuclei and mitochondria of fruit fly cells contain distinct DNA. Those two genomes include complementary instruction manuals for collectively […]

Physical activity in early childhood may have an impact on cardiovascular health later in life, according to new research from McMaster, where scientists followed the activity levels of hundreds of preschoolers over a period of years. They found that physical activity in children as young as three years old benefits […]

With the publication of a new study in the leading scientific journal Nature, a group of researchers from the University of Queensland may have overturned the way scientists think of the evolution of animals on Earth. Thanks to advanced technology, the group was able to make an intuitive, yet unexpected […]

Killing tumor cells while sparing their normal counterparts is a central challenge of cancer chemotherapy. If scientists could put a “homing beacon” in tumors, they could attract these medicines and reduce side effects caused by the drugs acting on healthy cells. Now, researchers have made a hydrogel that, when injected […]

A novel technique has proven successful in preventing coronary artery obstruction during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a rare but often fatal complication. Called Bioprosthetic Aortic Scallop Intentional Laceration to prevent Iatrogenic Coronary Artery obstruction (BASILICA), the technique will increase treatment options for high-risk patients who need heart valve procedures. […]

A decade of research leads MU scientists to a better understanding of how materials move out of cells. The flow of traffic through our nation’s highways and byways is meticulously mapped and studied, but less is known about how materials in cells travel. Now, a team of researchers at the University […]

In a new study including Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital researchers, the cancer immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda), increased survival for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a disease once considered an aggressive, and uniformly fatal cancer. The findings were presented at the American Society of Clinical […]

An unhealthy, inflamed gut causes breast cancer to become much more invasive and spread more quickly to other parts of the body, new research from the University of Virginia Cancer Center suggests. Melanie Rutkowski, a research faculty member in UVA’s Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology, found that disrupting the […]

Researchers identify and develop new CRISPR-associated transposase system for targeted integration of DNA, adding key capabilities to gene-editing technology. A team led by researchers from Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, has characterized and engineered a new gene-editing system that can precisely and […]

A team of UK scientists have identified the mechanism behind hardening of the arteries, and shown in animal studies that a generic medication normally used to treat acne could be an effective treatment for the condition. The team, led by the University of Cambridge and King’s College London, found that […]

Multiple sclerosis is a disease, which is characterized by the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. There is no cure and existing treatments can have tremendous side effects. Eventually MS leads to disability. Now an international team of scientists led by the University of British […]

Findings from a sweeping global study conducted by SFU Health Sciences professor Scott Lear, among others, reveal a direct correlation between socioeconomic status and one’s susceptibility to heart attacks and strokes. Lear, who holds the Pfizer/Heart & Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul’s Hospital, is the […]

Cancer occurs due to incorrect mutations of the cells. These mutations that could kickstart development of cancer happen all the time, but body’s immune system is usually able to remove cancer cells early. But how does the body know when the cell is about to become cancerous? Scientists from the […]

Smoking is the overriding cause of heart attacks for people between the ages of 30 and 50, and register-based studies from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital can now contribute with figures and ratios: Three out of four younger patients with a major heart attack are smokers – and for […]

No more trial and error: If things go as Professor Søren Dinesen Østergaard and his new Postdoc Fredrik Hieronymus hope, patients with schizophrenia will be treated using personalised medicine in the not so distant future. The research project is supported by the Lundbeck Foundation to the tune of DKK 1.6 […]

Researchers from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) have developed a two-step combination therapy to destroy cancer cells. In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, they show the superior therapeutic effectiveness of the “one-two punch” on cells of ovarian cancer patients, based on manipulation of the state of cellular […]

As advances in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) extend patients’ lives, more of these patients are facing a different threat: adverse cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and heart failure. A new retrospective study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute examined […]

Large randomized clinical trials can uncover biomarkers that indicate which cancer treatments are likely to work best for individual patients. But it’s been challenging to find these biomarkers in rarer cancers where such robust data aren’t available. Using a new approach that combines data from human tumors grown in mice […]

Mastering a new skill — whether a sport, an instrument or a craft — takes time and training. While it is understood that a healthy brain is capable of learning these new skills, how the brain changes in order to develop new behaviors is a relative mystery. More precise knowledge […]

Oestrogen receptive positive breast cancer can be treated by drugs, such as fulvestrant, that interfere with the action of oestrogen. Although these drugs are often effective for a while, the cancer can frequently become resistant and the drugs stop working. In the trial, researchers investigated whether they could reverse or […]

Sleeping with a television or light on in the room may be a risk factor for gaining weight or developing obesity, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health. The research, which was published online in JAMA Internal Medicine, is the first to find an association between any exposure […]