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Bacteria may be involved in the development of Type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in Nature Metabolism by researchers from McMaster University, Université Laval and the Québec Heart and Lung Institute. The authors found that the blood, liver, and certain abdominal fat deposits in diabetics have a different […]

Stanford researchers have developed a technique that reprograms cells to use synthetic materials, provided by the scientists, to build artificial structures able to carry out functions inside the body. “We turned cells into chemical engineers of a sort, that use materials we provide to construct functional polymers that change their […]

A study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, offers new insight into genetic alterations associated with osteosarcoma, the most common cancerous bone tumor of children and adolescents. The researchers found that more people with osteosarcoma carry harmful, or likely harmful, variants […]

A simple urine test can diagnose and predict acute rejection in kidney transplants, leading to an opportunity for earlier detection and treatment, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco. A test of 601 urine samples showed greater than 95 percent accuracy in determining the risk of […]

Working memory, the ability to hold a thought in mind even through distraction, is the foundation of abstract reasoning and a defining characteristic of the human brain. It is also impaired in disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. Now Yale researchers have found a key molecule that helps neurons […]

Being diagnosed with cancer, one of the world’s most enduring and undiscriminating killers, is distressing enough. But making it a doubly cruel blow is the fact that undergoing one of its most effective treatments, chemotherapy, can itself be utterly debilitating, and even life-threatening. Worldwide, anywhere from 60-80% of patients treated, […]

Researchers here make the point that calorie restriction studies in animals are also introducing a strong component of time restricted feeding, as animals tend to be fed once a day. Studies of intermittent fasting without calorie reduction have shown that this can produce a similar set of metabolic responses to a reduced calorie intake. […]

A new approach reveals how different tissues contribute to inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis. MIT biological engineers have created a multi-tissue model that lets them study the relationships between different organs and the immune system, on a specialized microfluidic platform seeded with human cells. Using this type of model, […]

In the first study of its kind, the University of Miami researchers have found a strong behavioral signal to indicate which infants who have an older sibling with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will themselves be diagnosed with ASD as they grow older. The researchers found that such high-risk infants […]

Findings from a phase 2 clinical trial show that the drug selumetinib improves outcomes for children with the genetic disorder neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). In the trial, selumetinib shrank the inoperable tumors that develop with NF1 called plexiform neurofibromas, and children experienced reduced pain, improved function, and better overall quality […]

Researchers working towards understanding the brain in high-definition, single-cell level of detail have designed a new computer program to identify each nerve cell in fluorescent microscope images of living worms. Previous attempts to automate the identification of individual nerve cells have been thwarted by the fact that the same cell […]

Like humans, cells are easily influenced by peer pressure. Take a neural stem cell in the brain: Whether this cell remains a stem cell or differentiates into a fully formed brain cell is ultimately determined by a complex set of molecular messages the cell receives from countless neighbors. Understanding these […]