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Congenital mutations of the CDKN2A gene are the strongest known risk factors for inherited skin cancer. Individuals with melanoma who carry mutations in this gene also have poor prognosis, according to previous research. Melanoma that has metastasised has a limited response to traditional chemotherapy. In recent years, new immunological treatments […]

The Medical Research Council-funded study, led by University of Bristol researchers, aimed to understand whether a short period of sleep can help us process unconscious information and how this might affect behaviour and reaction time. The findings further reveal the benefits of a short bout of sleep on cognitive brain function and found that even during short bouts […]

Brown University researchers have uncovered new clues about the progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a surprisingly common disease that causes the death of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles such as those involved in walking, talking, chewing or breathing. A team led by Anne Hart, a professor of neuroscience […]

Inspiration can be a hard thing to find. The history of science is filled with elusive “eureka moments” taking place under unlikely circumstances—Archimedes’ jump in a bath to intuit displacement, Issac Newton’s observation of a falling apple to grasp gravity, and Nikola Tesla’s inspiration for the electric induction motor, which […]

A large, multiethnic study of healthy individuals found that high blood levels of an inflammatory marker are linked with long-term decline of kidney function. The results may shed light on biological mechanisms that spur chronic kidney disease. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Research was […]

Her father’s cancer diagnosis threw Kimberly Moss into a world of unknowns and anxiety. Moss, an assistant professor of art and visual culture and coordinator of the biological and premedical illustration program at Iowa State University, has an extensive background as a medical illustrator. But she wasn’t prepared for the complexity of esophageal cancer, […]

USC scientists have created the most detailed atlas yet of the hippocampus, the brain’s memory bank. Using fluorescent tracers and 3D animation, the scientists show structures, nerve connections and functions in vivid detail. The study appeared in the journal Nature Neuroscience. “Like a new atlas, we’ve constructed the most detailed diagram of […]

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have found a critical component for growing self-healing muscle tissues from adult muscle—the immune system. The discovery in mice is expected to play an important role in studying degenerative muscle diseases and enhancing the survival of engineered tissue grafts in future cell therapy applications. The […]

Early diagnosis of cancer greatly improves the odds of successful treatment. Yet many people, especially in developing countries, lack access to facilities to detect the disease. To address this issue, a University at Buffalo-led research team is creating a new cancer-spotting tool that health care providers could eventually use in […]

New research from the Abramson Cancer Center identified a rare cause for relapse in leukemia: a single leukemic cell engineered for CAR T therapy and infused back into the patient. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, showed that the CAR lentivirus that usually enters a T cell to teach it to hunt cancer […]

Researchers from The University of Western Australia, King Edward Memorial Hospital and Curtin University are investigating whether an old drug could be used to help very sick premature babies. In a study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology the researchers examine the use of a drug called pentoxifylline in pre-term […]

Surviving cancer is a huge achievement and a relief. It opens up a future of possibilities, it changes your perspective to life and can be motivating. However, many people find themselves disoriented and confused after undergoing a successful cancer treatment. In fact, scientists from the University of New South Wales […]

One of the worst things that can happen to a cell is to end up with the wrong number of chromosomes. This can happen if something goes wrong during cell division, and it can lead to infertility, miscarriages, birth defects, or cancer. An estimated 30 percent of miscarriages are due […]

Analysis of the world’s largest set of genome data from pregnant women, totaling 141,431 expectant mothers from across China, has uncovered unsuspected associations between genes and birth outcomes, including the birth of twins and a woman’s age at first pregnancy. The analysis also allowed researchers to reconstruct the recent movement […]

What a difference a year of high school can make — for long-term health. In 1972, England, Scotland and Wales raised the mandatory school attendance age from 15 to 16. Through a large-scale genetic study, USC Dornsife researchers have found that decades later, the change had a health benefit for […]

A team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has developed an artificial mouse embryo-like structure capable of forming the three major axes of the body. The technique, reported today in the journal Nature, could reduce the use of mammalian embryos in research. The definitive architecture of the mammalian body is […]

Aortic dissection occurs when weakened layers of the aorta — the body’s main artery — pull apart or tear, trapping blood between layers. This further weakens the aorta and may cause it to rupture. “An acute aortic dissection is a very lethal condition,” says Bo Yang, M.D., a cardiac surgeon at the University […]

Only a fraction of people in their 50s and early 60s have had their DNA tested —either for medical reasons, to learn their ancestry or out of curiosity — but far more have an interest in pursuing such tests. One in 10 older adults have taken genetic tests offered directly to consumers, and […]

Robin Kingsbury spends the bulk of her time helping others. So when a swollen lymph node in her right groin began hurting in January 2017, it was hard to slow down and take notice. With a blended family of five kids plus elderly in-laws to take care of, the busy […]

It has long been known that there are many physical and mental health benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and babies. But can these benefits be due to genetic changes induced by breastfeeding? New research suggests that connection. The research, published in the edition of Pediatrics, was led by Barry M. Lester, Ph.D, […]

A team of Canadian scientists, including researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) has discovered the first French-Canadian founder mutation gene linked to synucleinopathies, a group of neurodegenerative diseases that includes Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy-Bodies (DLB) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). The mutation, known as […]

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. That is how that old saying goes, but some people substitute apple with a pill of aspirin. This quite strange yet very common behaviour was encouraged by doctors and older people alike. It is believed that taking a low daily dose of […]

Researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center tested a new immunotherapy approach utilizing a therapeutic vaccine in two groups of patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCCa), and found 86 percent showed elevated T cell activity. It is the first study to show that the vaccine can help immune cells infiltrate tumors. HNSCCa […]

Delivery of corticosteroids directly into the eye is more effective than injections adjacent to the eye, according to results from a comparative clinical trial of macular edema in patients with noninfectious uveitis. The study was funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The […]

Sometimes our cells employ meticulous and elegant solutions to fix things that break. Other times, they slap on some duct tape and keep going. The human body can apply these quick-and-dirty methods to even its most critical components, such as when both strands of a DNA helix suddenly snap. Such […]

Some babies act like they are in a rush. They come to this world too quickly and have to deal with some health problems because of it. Scientists know this issue, which is why they are looking for ways to aid the brain development of pre-term babies. However, nature already […]

Pretty much everyone knows that drinking has severe negative health effects – that is not a surprise to anyone. However, some people are still abusing alcohol, while completely ignoring all the warning signs. A new study from the University of Adelaide found that middle-age drinkers who only consume a moderate […]

Mysteries remain in your mitochondria, but researchers led by Rice University bioscientist Natasha Kirienko plan to bring them to light. Kirienko is the first Rice faculty member to win a new class of grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health, called an R35. The five-year grant […]

Inflammation is one strategy your body uses to fight infection, but if it gets out of control it can kill instead of heal. In the journal Immunity, UConn Health immunologist Vijay Rathinam and colleagues show how the body damps down inflammation, making clever double use of a protein previously thought to be responsible […]

Through clever partner selection, animals can increase the future success of their offspring. With some species, this process continues even after the sex act. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön have discovered that among sticklebacks, the egg cells of the fish are involved in the […]