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A new study using data from the Trinity Ulster Department of Agriculture (TUDA) ageing cohort study comprising over 5,000 individuals has found that a measure of belly fat (waist:hip ratio) was associated with reduced cognitive function in older Irish adults (>60 years of age). These findings have significant implications as […]

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are more likely than other women to have an autistic child, according to an analysis of NHS data carried out by a team at Cambridge University’s Autism Research Centre. The research was published in the journal Translational Psychiatry. PCOS affects about one in ten women […]

After a primary tumor is treated, cancer stem cells may still lurk in the body, ready to metastasize and cause a recurrence of the cancer in a form that’s more aggressive and resistant to treatment. University of Illinois researchers have developed a molecular probe that seeks out these elusive cells […]

Just because an animal is soft and squishy doesn’t mean it isn’t tough. Experiments at Rice University show the humble hydra is a good example. The hydra doesn’t appear to age – and apparently never dies of old age. If you cut one in two, you get hydrae. And each one can eat animals […]

The study reported mice with pancreatic cancer that were treated with a naturally occurring constituent of medicinal cannabis alongside chemotherapy, survived almost three times longer than those treated with chemotherapy alone. Each year around 9,800 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The disease is particularly aggressive and […]

Pioneering new research into the way in which cells communicate with each other could hold the key to unlocking new, improved treatment for life-threatening diseases, including cancer. Various mechanisms exist for cells to communicate with each other, and many are essential  for development. A team of international researchers looked at […]

Multiple pregnancies might make women’s cells age more quickly, a new Northwestern University study suggests. Led by Calen Ryan and Christopher Kuzawa of Northwestern and Dan Eisenberg at the University of Washington, the research could help explain why women with many children tend to show signs of accelerated aging. The findings, published in Scientific Reports, […]

Almost half of our DNA sequences are made up of jumping genes—also known as transposons. They jump around the genome in developing sperm and egg cells and are important to evolution. But their mobilization can also cause new mutations that lead to diseases, such as hemophilia and cancer. Remarkably little […]

A team of researchers, including UConn assistant professor of pharmaceutics Raman Bahal, has, for the first time, corrected a genetic mutation in a mammalian fetus using a targeted gene editing technique. The approach offers a potential new pathway for treating inherited genetic disorders during the earliest stages of development. Every year, […]

A new USC School of Pharmacy study led by University ProfessorJean Chen Shih offers new evidence that the monoamine oxidase-A enzyme (MAO-A) pathway could be an important target in treating prostate cancer. Pioneering work previously conducted by Shih revealed the role the MAO-A gene plays in depression and other mental illnesses, as […]

Biology researchers from the University of Southampton have brought us a step closer to fully understanding how we inherit our chromosomes from our parents and grandparents. In a study, published in the journal Nature Communications, Professor Keith Jones and colleagues from the School of Biological Sciences have observed, for the very first time, a power […]

Inflammation is part of the body’s natural healing process. But when it becomes chronic, inflammation can lead to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions. Inflammasomes — protein-based molecular machines — trigger inflammation in response to different signals generated by cell stress, tissue injury or infectious organisms. In a study published […]