News • Neuroscience
An unexpected role for the brain's immune cells
Researchers have discovered that microglia cells constantly survey the brain to prevent spontaneous seizures.
News • Type and abundance
Mouth bacteria linked to lung cancer risk in non-smokers
The type and abundance of bacteria found in the mouth may be linked to lung cancer risk in non-smokers, finds the first study of its kind, published online in the journal Thorax.
News • Decreasing infection risk
Researchers develop touch-free vital signs monitor
Scientists at Heriot-Watt University have developed a technique that monitors a patient’s vital signs completely touch free. By using a continuous wave radar-based system to sense tiny chest movements, the new method can accurately measure an individual’s heart rate and respiratory rate without the need for wires, probes, wearable technology or other skin attachments. It could also identify…
News • Fractional exponents
New approach for more accurate epidemic modeling
A new class of epidemiological models based on alternative thinking about how contagions propagate, particularly in the early phases of a pandemic, provide a blueprint for more accurate epidemic modeling and improved disease spread predictions and responses, according to a study published recently in Scientific Reports by researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions.
News • Pandemic problems
Covid-19: risk increased sevenfold for healthcare workers
Healthcare workers are 7 times as likely to have severe Covid-19 infection as those with other types of ‘non-essential’ jobs, finds research focusing on the first UK-wide lockdown. And those with jobs in the social care and transport sectors are twice as likely to do so, emphasising the need to ensure that essential (key) workers are adequately protected against the infection, say the…
News • Cardiac complications
Immunotherapy drugs can lead to higher risk of heart problems
A study of over a thousand cancer patients treated with immunotherapy drugs has found these patients are at greater risk of heart problems, including death from heart attack or stroke. The patients had either lung cancer or malignant melanoma (a type of skin cancer), for which immune checkpoint inhibitors such as a programmed cell death-1 (PD1) inhibitors or cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated…
Video • Resistance pulse
New study reveals how melanoma cells survive targeted therapies
In recent years, targeted therapies have cemented their place as some of the most important tools in cancer treatment. These medicines are designed to block specific signals that tumor cells use to grow and spread, while at the same time leaving normal cells unharmed. Targeted therapies can significantly extend patients’ lives, but the benefits are often only temporary. Over time, many cancers…
News • Childhood cancer
Molecular super-enhancers determine progression of neuroblastomas
Childhood neuroblastomas display extreme differences in the way they develop: they can shrink spontaneously or spread aggressively to healthy tissue. It is molecular super-enhancers that activate the regulatory circuits that steer the tumor down one path or the other. These are the findings of research conducted by scientists from the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), the German…
News • Brain rejuvenation
Drug reverses age-related mental decline within days
Just a few doses of an experimental drug can reverse age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice, according to a new study by UC San Francisco scientists. The drug, called ISRIB, has already been shown in laboratory studies to restore memory function months after traumatic brain injury (TBI), reverse cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome, prevent noise-related hearing loss,…
News • Areas revealed
Where could the next pandemic emerge?
An international team of researchers has taken a holistic approach to reveal for the first time where wildlife-human interfaces intersect with areas of poor human health outcomes and highly globalised cities, which could give rise to the next pandemic unless preventative measures are taken.
News • Breast cancer
Cancer cells 'remove blindfold' to spread
Cancer cells spread by switching on and off abilities to sense their surroundings, move, hide and grow new tumors, a new study has found. This sensitivity to their surroundings is the key ability that makes small numbers of cancer cells better at spreading than other cells in a tumor.
News • Covid-19
SARS-CoV-2 mutations do not appear to increase transmissibility
None of the mutations currently documented in the SARS-CoV-2 virus appear to increase its transmissibility in humans, researchers conclude after the analysis of virus genomes from over 46,000 people with COVID-19 from 99 countries.
News • Delicious research
Can drinking cocoa make you smarter?
Increased consumption of flavanols – a group of molecules which occur naturally in fruit and vegetables – can increase your mental agility, according to new research. A team at the University of Birmingham has found that people given a cocoa drink containing high levels of flavanols were able to complete certain cognitive tasks more efficiently than when drinking a non-flavanol enriched-drink.
News • Austrian study
Insights into transmission of SARS-CoV-2
In the COVID-19 pandemic, 57 million people have already been infected worldwide. In the search for vaccines and therapies, a precise understanding of the virus, its mutations and transmission mechanisms is crucial.
News • White matter hyperintensities
High blood pressure puts the brain at risk
Higher than normal blood pressure is linked to more extensive brain damage in the elderly, according to a new study published in the European Heart Journal. In particular, the study found that there was a strong association between diastolic blood pressure (the blood pressure between heart beats) before the age of 50 and brain damage in later life, even if the diastolic blood pressure was within…
News • Coronavirus genome folding
Researchers prepare for “SARS-CoV-3”
For the first time, an international research alliance has observed the RNA folding structures of the SARS-CoV2 genome with which the virus controls the infection process. This could not only lay the foundation for the targeted development of novel drugs for treating Covid-19, but also for occurrences of infection with new corona viruses that may develop in the future.
News • Artificial Intelligence
New type of early warning system detects lung diseases
Chronic illnesses can have a dramatic impact on a patient's later life. An early diagnosis of such diseases opens up the possibility of taking medical action in good time.
News • Intratumoral B cells
Another side to cancer immunotherapy?
Scientists report on their detailed look at B cells' presence inside tumors. B cells represent the other major arm of the adaptive immune system, besides T cells, and could offer opportunities for new treatments against some kinds of cancers.
News • For at least six months
Prior COVID-19 infection offers protection from re-infection
A new study suggests that individuals who have previously had COVID-19 are highly unlikely to contract the illness again, for at least six months following their first infection. The study, done as part of a major collaboration between the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust, was published as a pre-print.
News • Solving a mystery
How the TB bacterium develops rapid resistance to antibiotics
For a slow-growing microbe that multiplies infrequently, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis (TB) has long puzzled researchers as to how it develops resistance to antibiotics so quickly, in a matter of weeks to months.
Article • Finding therapeutic targets
Pancreatic cancer: Seeking viable treatment strategies
Pancreatic cancer has the worst survival rate of any cancers, with immunotherapies currently offering negligible treatment benefits for patients. To help identify new therapeutic approaches, researchers from the University of Oxford have been focusing on leukocyte infiltration as a prognostic marker of the disease. Their study and findings were outlined by Dr Shivan Sivakumar during a session…
News • Study uncovers mechanisms
Predicting susceptibility to cancer-causing agents in the environment
New insights into the mechanisms behind how cancer-causing agents in the environment activate genetic recombination in DNA could help to explain some of the effects of exposure as well as predicting which individuals may be more susceptible to developing the disease, a new UK study has suggested.
News • Dementia study
Gut microbiota plays a role in the development of Alzheimer
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. Still incurable, it directly affects nearly one million people in Europe, and indirectly millions of family members as well as society as a whole. In recent years, the scientific community has suspected that the gut microbiota plays a role in the development of the disease.
News • Masks & social distancing
Do Covid countermeasures also curb other diseases? It's not quite that simple
Measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19 through non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as mask wearing and social distancing are a key tool in combatting the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. These actions also have greatly reduced incidence of many other diseases, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
News • Hormone-Upregulated lncRNA
Early detection of prostate cancer and alternative to invasive biopsies
Pioneering research conducted by University of Virginia in collaboration with Manchester UK based APIS Assay Technologies Ltd has discovered Hormone-Upregulated lncRNA within the lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase (HULLK) is detectable in non-invasive prostate cancer patient samples.
