News • Research
Gene discovery unlocks mysteries of our immunity
Australia's national science agency CSIRO has identified a new gene that plays a critical role in regulating the body's immune response to infection and disease.
News • Neurology
Next-gen EEG could help bring back lost brain function
SLAC and Stanford researchers are developing a device that combines electrical brain stimulation with EEG recording, opening potential new paths for treating neurological disorders. It could help bring back lost brain function by measuring how the brain responds to therapies that stimulate it with electric current.
News • Neuroscience
"Happiness hormone" controls fear memories
A team of neurobiologists has identified a novel neuronal circuit in the midbrain that gates fear learning. They think that associative learning of fear is mediated by a novel dopamine circui.
News • Promising research
Could senescence be the key to stopping cancer?
Canadian researchers have found a promising way to stop tumour cells from multiplying. In disrupting the composition of ribosomes, the team from Université de Montréal (UdeM) discovered a direct molecular mechanism to stop cancer cells from proliferating, which is called senescence. Their results have been published in Nature Cell Biology. “Ribosomes are complex machines composed of both…
News • Live long and prosper
Key molecule of aging discovered
Every cell and every organism ages sooner or later. But why is this so? Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg have now discovered for the first time a protein that represents a central switching point in the aging process. It controls the life span of an individual - from the fly to the human being. This opens up new possibilities for developing therapies against…
News • Behaviour prediction
The psychology of taking risks
An anxious person will avoid risks whenever possible. This in itself is not exactly a surprise. However, researchers have found a way to visualize this process in the brain - with interesting implications for behaviour prediction. A team of psychologists from the German Friedrich Schiller University Jena, together with partners from Würzburg, Germany and Victoria, Canada they conducted an…
News • Hand in hand
Why being left-handed matters for mental health treatment
Being left-handed apparently means a lot more than gripping things differently than most, researchers find. This sheds a new light on mental health treatment, because current therapies for the most common mental health problems could be ineffective or even detrimental to about 50 percent of the population. For more than 40 years, hundreds of studies suggest that each hemisphere of the brain is…
News • Faster diagnosis, reduced cost
The impact of whole genome sequencing on newborn babys in ICU
Early whole genome sequencing might bring hope for children who are born severely ill or who develop serious illness in the first few weeks of their life. Because these children are often difficult to diagnose, detection of diseases has considerable implications for their short and longer-term care. At the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) in Milan, Italy, the…
News • Research
Unique patient offers insights into the brain's quest to see
When light streams through her window in just the right way, Milena Canning will sometimes stoop to pick up a shiny coin she has noticed on the wooden floor of her Glasgow-area home. But her hand comes up empty – the 'coin' is just a dancing sunbeam, a quirk of perception in Canning's extraordinary world.
News • Neurology
Waves move across the human brain to support memory
Biomedical engineers at Columbia Engineering have discovered a new fundamental feature of brain oscillations: they actually move rhythmically across the brain, reflecting patterns of neuronal activity that propagate across the cortex. The coordination of neural activity across widespread brain networks is essential for human cognition. Researchers have long assumed that oscillations in the brain,…
News • Research
Maps made of nerve cells
Dr. Thomas Hainmüller and Prof. Dr. Marlene Bartos of the Institute of Physiology of the University of Freiburg have established a new model to explain how the brain stores memories of tangible events. The model is based on an experiment that involved mice seeking a place where they received rewards in a virtual environment.
News • Gas embolotherapy
Blowing bubbles for cancer treatment
Recently, scientists have explored another version of embolization, called gas embolotherapy. During this process, the blood supply is cut off using acoustic droplet vaporization (ADV), which uses microscopic gas bubbles induced by exposure to ultrasonic waves. A team of researchers from China and France has discovered that these bubbles could also be used as potential drug delivery systems.
News • Analyzing free-floating DNA
Blood test shows potential for early detection of lung cancer
A test that analyzes free-floating DNA in the blood may be able to detect early-stage lung cancer, a preliminary report from the ongoing Circulating Cell-Free Genome Atlas (CCGA) study suggests. Lead study author Geoffrey R. Oxnard, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: “There is an unmet need globally for early-detection tests for lung cancer that can be easily implemented by health-care…
News • New function assessment
Measuring immune cell response within minutes
T cells fight pathogens and tumors: Researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Lübeck present a simple and fast method to rapidly assess their function. Due to its simplicity, reliability and versatility, it could be broadly implemented for basic research and in the clinical setting. Methods so far to test T-cell response were technically cumbersome and time-consuming and therefore only…
News • New research
Circulating tumor cells to help stage metastatic breast cancer
Menarini Silicon Biosystems announced that a new study has found that using circulating tumor cells (CTCs), a form of liquid biopsy, holds promise as a key tool for developing a staging system that can have a significant impact in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC). In this study, the largest CTCs pooled analysis study to date, researchers determined that the CTC count could be used…
News • Talent, magic, or a bit of both?
The science behind Michael Jackson’s dance moves
When was the last time you watched a Michael Jackson music video? If your answer is “never” or “not for quite a while,” you are really missing a treat. According to Rolling Stone, “No single artist … shaped, innovated or defined the medium of ‘music video’ more than Michael Jackson.” Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, MTV had only one format—music videos—and that genre…
News • Study results
Triggers of acute heart failure vary globally
Triggers of acute heart failure vary globally, according to late breaking results from the REPORT-HF registry presented at Heart Failure 2018 and the World Congress on Acute Heart Failure, a European Society of Cardiology congress. REPORT-HF is a global, prospective registry comparing regional differences in causes of acute heart failure, therapies, time to treatment, and outcomes. Professor Sean…
News • Hematopoietic Stem Cells
What keeps our blood in balance
Blood is the juice of life, as while circulating through the body it delivers vital substances such as oxygen and nutrients to cells and tissues. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and blood loss in general impoverish the system. A special kind of cells in the bone marrow, called hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is able to replenish the impoverished system by giving rise not only to red blood cells, but…
News • Old as mice
When less is more: Gene switch for healthy aging found
Aging is a major risk factor for physical frailty and the development of age-related diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Numerous studies have already shown that a calorie-restricted diet can significantly delay age-related conditions in several organisms like flies, worms, fish and mice, and that it even improves fitness at old age. But who…
News • Infections
Tuberculosis: new substance to counteract antimicrobial resistance
Antimicrobial resistance is on the rise worldwide. This is becoming a problem for infectious diseases like tuberculosis as there are only a few active substances available to combat such diseases. Pharmacists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have now found a way to increase the efficacy of a common tuberculosis agent while, at the same time, reducing resistance to it. The…
News • High-proof posting
Social media usage linked to underage drinking
Social media often features celebrities drinking cocktails, boozy how-to posts, and party pictures. This is the environment American teens are immersed in every day, with 71 percent of teens using more than one social media site, spending an average of nine hours a day using media. Despite the popularity of social media and alcohol-filled posts, little is known about the influence social media…
News • Not such a bad egg after all
Daily egg consumption may reduce cardiovascular disease
People who consume an egg a day could significantly reduce their risk of cardiovascular diseases compared with eating no eggs, suggests a study carried out in China, published in the journal Heart. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, including China, mostly due to ischaemic heart disease and stroke (including both haemorrhagic and ischaemic…
Video • Mystic reptile
This green-blooded lizard could help fight malaria
Green blood is one of the most unusual characteristics in the animal kingdom, but it's the hallmark of a group of lizards in New Guinea. Prasinohaema are green-blooded skinks, or a type of lizard. The muscles, bones and tongues of these lizards appear bright, lime-green due to high levels of biliverdin, or a green bile pigment, which is toxic and causes jaundice. Surprisingly, these lizards…
News • Up in smoke
Cannabis: It matters how young you start
What a difference a year or two can make: If you started smoking marijuana at the start of your teens, your risk of having a drug abuse problem by age 28 is 68 per cent, but if you started smoking between 15 and 17 your risk drops to 44 per cent, according to a new study by Université de Montréal researchers. All the more reason, they say, to educate kids early, in primary school, about the…
News • Gait analysis
What your walk says about your health
The way you walk can reveal current and future health problems. New research from Halmstad University suggests the use of wearable sensors for analysing your movement. This can potentially result in early detection of for example Parkinson’s disease, dementia, multiple sclerosis and other neuro-physiological disorders. Many of our body systems, such as the cardio-vascular system and the…
