News • Mutation Study
Influential gene neighbourhood
Genes do not exist in isolation. So far, little has been known about how the position of a gene on a chromosome affects its evolution.
Article • Infection control
Zika-vaccine receives boost
A promising Zika vaccine is on its way. Themis Bioscience GmbH (Vienna, Austria), a company specialised in vaccine development, has announced that the firm will receive One milion pounds sterling in funding by the innovation agency of the United Kingdom, Innovate UK, for the further development of this prophylactic vaccine and the conducting of a Phase 1 clinical trial.
News • Blood test alternative
Oral "Hep E" test could simplify detection tremendously
A saliva test developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health nearly matches the performance of a blood test widely used to assess recent or past hepatitis E virus infections, a new study reports. The findings could offer an easier, less expensive alternative to gathering data for studying and eventually treating the disease, which infects an estimated 20 million…
News • Exposure study
Got eye freckles? The sun might be to blame
In a study well-timed for summer, vision scientists have found that eye freckles, dark spots on the colored part of the eye (iris), are more frequently found in people with higher lifetime exposure to sunlight. While not malignant, eye freckles could indicate the presence or risk of sunlight-triggered eye diseases like cataract or macular degeneration.
News • Pregnancy loss
Single cell RNA-sequencing to offer miscarriage hope
A new technique – single cell RNA-sequencing – may offer answers and hope to the 200,000 mothers and partners affected by pregnancy loss in the UK every year.
News • Molecular mechanisms
The key to growing new arteries
Arteriogenesis is a critical event – not only during development but also in adult life. Many Cardiovascular life-threatening events could be overcome by inducing the formation of new arteries. A team of scientists led by Ralf Adams from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine has developed a genetic approach in mice to uncover molecular mechanisms of arterial growth.
News • Viral reproduction
A perfect shelter: How ebola lives on in the eyes of survivors
Researchers have found a clue to how the ebola virus may remain in the eyes of patients suffering from uveitis – one of the more serious and common complications of the disease.
News • 'Mito-riboscins'
Scientists stumble across new method of making antibiotics
Cancer researchers in the UK may have stumbled across a solution to reverse antibiotic drug resistance and stop infections like MRSA. Experts warn we are decades behind in the race against superbugs having already exploited naturally occurring antibiotics, with the creation of new ones requiring time, money and ingenuity. But a team of scientists at the University of Salford say they may have…
News • Ocular microbiome
Bugs in your eyes? More helpful than you think
Resident microbes living on the eye are essential for immune responses that protect the eye from infection, new research shows. The study demonstrates the existence of a resident ocular microbiome that trains the developing immune system to fend off pathogens. The research was conducted at the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health. "This is the first…
News • Mice study
Eating tomatoes might diminish skin cancer risk
Daily tomato consumption appeared to cut the development of skin cancer tumors by half in a mouse study at The Ohio State University. The new study focused on how nutritional interventions can alter the risk for skin cancers.
News • New biological approach
Old antibiotic could become valuable depression treatment
An antibiotic used mostly to treat acne has been found to improve the quality of life for people with major depression, in a clinical trial from Deakin University.
Surgery for early prostate cancer often harmful
A major 20-year study provides further evidence that prostate cancer surgery offers negligible benefits to many men with early-stage disease. In such men, who account for most cases of newly diagnosed prostate cancer, surgery did not prolong life and often caused serious complications such as infection, urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
News • Antioxidant study
How strawberries may prevent Alzheimer's
A natural compound in strawberries could help treat age-related mental decline and conditions like Alzheimer’s, a new study found.
News • Biomarker validation
Plodding toward a pancreatic cancer screening test
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly types of malignancies, with a 5-year survival rate after late diagnosis of only about 5%. The majority of patients—about 80%—receive their diagnosis too late for surgery. The disease spreads quickly and resists chemotherapy. In short, there is an urgent need for diagnostic tools to identify this cancer in its earliest stages.
News • Behavioral study
New understanding for autism through eye tracking
New research has uncovered compelling evidence that genetics plays a major role in how children look at the world and whether they have a preference for gazing at people’s eyes and faces or at objects. The discovery by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta adds new detail to understanding the causes of autism…
News • Clinical trials
How treating dogs might help human cancer patients
The UC Davis Comparative Oncology Program joins oncologists at both the vet school and cancer center to test novel treatments on companion dogs with spontaneous tumors that could be effective in human patients with cancer. Human clinical trials could be started this year.
News • Schizophrenia
When the internal clock is out of order
Persons suffering from schizophrenia have a different perception of time than healthy individuals, a new study finds. There is far more variation in the way that a time interval is perceived by people with schizophrenic disorders than by those who do not have the condition. Patients with schizophrenia are also less precise when it comes to judging the temporal order of events.
News • Preventing errors
Writing prescriptions by hand might be a really bad idea, study says
In a small study of opioid prescriptions filled at a Johns Hopkins Medicine outpatient pharmacy, researchers found that handwritten orders for the drugs contribute heavily to a trio of prescribing and processing errors in contrast to those created electronically.
News • Emotional disorders
The key to depression may lie in our genes
Researchers have taken an in-depth look at the function of a gene that may be linked to the development of major depression. Their findings show that its activity levels might determine our susceptibility to stress and negative stimuli.
News • Transplantation
Discarded kindeys could save thousands of lives
The results of a new study suggest that high discard rates among donated kidneys could be avoided in the future. Researchers say that even kidneys with poor biopsy results may be more efficient in prolonging patients' lifespans than other treatments.
Drug for Parkinson's not likely to cause melanoma
People with the movement disorder Parkinson’s disease have a much higher risk of the skin cancer melanoma, and vice versa, a Mayo Clinic study finds. Yet the results of the study argue against the Parkinson's drug levodopa as the cause.
News • Skin repair
Badly sunburned? Vitamin D can help
High doses of vitamin D taken one hour after sunburn significantly reduce skin redness, swelling, and inflammation, according to double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.
News • Motivation study
Our minds are surprisingly susceptible to meaningless numbers
Keeping score is a common method of motivation. But new research shows that even if the score itself has no inherent meaning, it can serve as an effective motivator, as long as the score is accelerating.
News • Influenza labelling
New method helps fighting future pandemics
By developing a new technique for labeling the gene segments of influenza viruses, researchers now know more about how influenza viruses enter the cell and establish cell co-infections - a major contributing factor to potential pandemic development.
News • Antibiotic resistance
The weapon of choice against superbugs might be made of copper
Hospital-acquired infections are both a cause of and contribute to resistance, but a new technology can help.
