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Like a string of pearls, the spine is made of a series of similar vertebrae. A so-called segmentation clock creates this repetitive arrangement in developing embryos: Each time the clock ticks, a vertebra starts to form. In a paper published Sept. 21 in Cell, Harvard Medical School genetics professor Olivier Pourquié—whose lab […]

Cancers driven by mutations in the KRAS gene are among the most deadly. For decades, researchers have tried unsuccessfully to directly target mutant KRAS proteins as a means to treat tumors. Instead of targeting mutant KRAS itself, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine are now looking […]

In 2014, new combination therapies to treat patients with metastatic melanoma hit the market, helping extend the lives of those with this aggressive disease. Yet unfortunately, after several months of treatment, almost all patients on the regimen eventually relapsed. A study out this week in Nature, led by scientists from the University […]

Tufts University researchers had recently discovered the brain to take an active part in bodily development well before movement or other independent behaviours occur. “Our research shows that the brain is engaged before that [autonomous activity], before it’s even fully built,” said corresponding author on the paper Michael Levin, PhD. […]

Adding or removing water from a stem cell can change the destiny of the cell, researchers have discovered in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The research found that altering the volume of a cell changed […]

In contrast to previous assumptions, the hippocampus, a brain structure that is central to learning and memory, does not complete its maturation until adolescence. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, and the University of Stirling were […]

The first symptom of Parkinson's disease is often an impaired sense of smell. This neurodegenerative disease primarily causes irreparable damage to nerve cells in a brain area involved in movement control. How it affects the olfactory system has been unclear. Researchers at the Max Planck Research Unit for Neurogenetics in […]

Freshwater planarians, found around the world and commonly known as “flatworms,” are famous for their regenerative prowess. Through a process called “fission,” planarians can reproduce asexually by simply tearing themselves into two pieces— a head and a tail—which then go on to form two new worms within about a week. […]

Inspired by the Labyrinth of Greek mythology, a new chip etched with fluid channels sends blood samples through a hydrodynamic maze to separate out rare circulating cancer cells into a relatively clean stream for analysis. It is already in use in a breast cancer clinical trial. Tumor cells isolated from […]

Ketogenic diets – extreme low-carbohydrate, high-fat regimens that have long been known to benefit epilepsy and other neurological illnesses – may work by lowering inflammation in the brain, according to new research by UC San Francisco scientists. The UCSF team has discovered a molecular key to the diet’s apparent effects, […]

Whether it’s running, walking, cycling, swimming or rowing, it’s been well-known since ancient times that doing some form of aerobic exercise is essential to good health and well-being. You can lose weight, sleep better, fight stress and high blood pressure, improve your mood, plus strengthen bones and muscles. “Whether muscle […]

Patients with any stage of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) carry signs of the disease in their blood that may be found through special laboratory tests, according to a new study led by HMS researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. The study, published online in Ophthalmology, describes a new technique known as “metabolomics,” […]

Early-stage UAlberta research suggests that taking a cholesterol-lowering statin regularly may help boost the body’s ability to fight off chronic conditions like HIV and cancer. “We concluded that atorvastatin (marketed under Lipitor, among other brands) may be beneficial to patients with HIV and cancer by preventing their T-cells—a type of white […]

People who handle paper receipts regularly may be at increased risk for exposure to a chemical linked to breast and prostate cancers, according to new UAlberta research. “We found that people who handled receipts printed on thermal paper containing the chemical had it lingering in their body for a week […]

Intricate human physiological features such as the immune system require exquisite formation and timing to develop properly. Genetic elements must be activated at just the right moment, across vast distances of genomic space. “Promoter” areas, locations where genes begin to be expressed, must be paired precisely with “enhancer” clusters, where […]

Checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapy has been shown to be very effective in recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancer but only in a minority of patients. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers may have found a way to double down on immunotherapy’s effectiveness. In a paper published in […]

When breast cancer metastasizes, or spreads, one of its most likely destinations is bone. In fact, four in five metastatic breast cancer patients will develop bone lesions, according to research published by the National Institutes of Health. Most research studies have focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in […]

For years, scientists and physicians have been debating whether personality and behavior changes might appear prior to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Now, the findings of a new and comprehensive study from FSU College of Medicine Associate Professor Antonio Terracciano and colleagues, published today in the journal JAMA […]

Ask someone who gardens what they love most about it, and, research has shown, the answer is almost always the same. “No matter where you go in the world, no matter what language they speak, people say there’s just something about it that makes them feel better,” says Jill Litt, […]

Early-stage UAlberta research suggests that taking a cholesterol-lowering statin regularly may help boost the body’s ability to fight off chronic conditions like HIV and cancer. “We concluded that Atorvastatin (marketed under Lipitor, among other names) may be of benefit to patients with HIV and cancer by preventing their T-cells—a type […]

It is estimated that up to 75 percent of breast cancer survivors experience problems with cognitive difficulties following treatments, perhaps lasting years. Currently, few science-based options are available to help. In the journal Cancer, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report in a pilot study of 87 female […]

Scientists have just discovered how the engine that powers cancer-killing cells functions. Crucially, their research also highlights how that engine is fuelled and that cholesterol-like molecules, called oxysterols, act as a “cut-off” switch making it hard for our ‘Natural Killer’ cells to win the war against cancer. The scientists, led […]

Errors in the regulation of gene expression may contribute to the development of a common form of blood cancer and point to potential treatment strategies, according to a study by scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a difficult-to-treat cancer of […]

Since the 1970s, general mortality rates in developed countries have declined. On average, lifespans have lengthened by almost a decade. One demographic group that has not reflected this trend: persons with schizophrenia, whose life expectancy is 15 to 20 years shorter than the general population. The average life expectancy in […]

A University of Tokyo research team revealed for the first time that colorectal cancer cells activate the intracellular signaling of a protein called BMP-4 that enables the cells to evade apoptosis, or programmed cell death. The team further found that inhibition of BMP signaling prevented the formation of colorectal tumors, […]

Before symptoms become pronounced, there is no reliable way to identify who is on track to develop Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating movement disorder characterized by tremors, slowness of movement, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. But researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have analyzed Medicare […]

The breast milk of mothers with premature babies has different amounts of microRNA than that of mothers with babies born at term, which may help premature babies catch up in growth and development, according to researchers. In a study, researchers compared the breast milk of mothers with babies born prematurely […]

There is an increased risk of thyroid cancer associated with lower-than-normal thyroid hormone levels, a finding that could have a major impact on patients fighting the disease. The Yale-led study, published in American Association for Cancer Research journal examined the effect of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) on the development of human papillary […]

Although KRAS is one of the major oncogenes associated with aggressive cancers, drugs designed to block KRAS function have not been able to halt cancer progression in a clinical setting.  Until now, KRAS has remained infamously “undruggable.” In a new study, published in Cancer Discovery, University of California San Diego School […]