Researchers have developed a new way to identify and sort stem cells that may one day allow clinicians to restore vision to people with damaged corneas using the patient’s own eye tissue.
As we head into allergy season, you may feel less likely to grab a hanky and sneeze. UF/IFAS research shows a probiotic combination might help reduce hay fever symptoms.
A preliminary study suggests that a new, wireless patch that you wear on your arm may help reduce migraine pain as well as drugs. The study is published in the March 1, 2017, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use emergency department services four times as often as their peers without autism, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.
As mindfulness practices rise in popularity and evidence of their worth continues to accumulate, those who work with aging populations are looking to use the techniques to boost cognitive, emotional and physiological health.
But studies so far have shown mixed results in the elderly.
Keeping blood sugar levels within a safe range is key to managing both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In a new finding that could lead to fewer complications for diabetes patients, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that changes in the size of mitochondria in a small subset of brain cells play a crucial role in safely maintaining blood sugar levels.
Striking electron microscope pictures from inside the brains of mice suggest what happens in our own brain every day: Our synapses – the junctions between nerve cells - grow strong and large during the stimulation of daytime, then shrink by nearly 20 percent while we sleep, creating room for more growth and learning the next day.
Results of a multicenter study of 129 women with advanced breast cancer show that a blood test that spots cancer-linked DNA correctly predicted that most of those patients with higher levels of the tumor markers died significantly earlier than those with lower levels.
Using immature stem cells to create a miniature model of the gut in the laboratory, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Pittsburgh have determined how infection-causing enteroviruses enter the intestine.
In a second human case, a Yale-led research team has found that a melanoma cell and a white blood cell can fuse to form a hybrid with the ability to metastasize. The finding provides further insight into how melanoma and other cancers spread from solid tumors with implications for future treatment.
UNC School of Medicine researchers crystalized the structure of LSD attached to a human serotonin receptor of a brain cell, and they may have discovered why an “acid trip” lasts so long.
Body shaming is a pervasive form of prejudice, found in cyber bullying, critiques of celebrities’ appearances, at work and school, and in public places for everyday Americans. People who are battling obesity face being stereotyped as lazy, incompetent, unattractive, lacking willpower, and to blame for their excess weight. The pain of these messages may take a toll on health and increase risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have linked excess tau protein in the brain to the spatial disorientation that leads to wandering in many Alzheimer's disease patients. The findings, in mice, could lead to early diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's and point to treatments for this common and troubling symptom.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that elderly women who sit for more than 10 hours a day with low physical activity have cells that are biologically older by eight years compared to women who are less sedentary.
A new Université de Montréal study in the British Medical Journal reveals that antidepressants prescribed to pregnant women could increase the chance of having a baby with birth defects.
Settling a persistent scientific controversy, a long-awaited report shows that restricting calories does indeed help rhesus monkeys live longer, healthier lives.
A synthesized steroid mirroring one naturally made by the dogfish shark prevents the buildup of a lethal protein implicated in some neurodegenerative diseases, reports an international research team studying an animal model of Parkinson’s disease. The clustering of this protein, alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein), is the hallmark of Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy bodies, suggesting a new potential compound for therapeutic research.
Michigan’s Medicaid expansion has boosted the state’s economy and budget, and will continue to do so for at least the next five years, a new study finds.
– UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have uncovered the chemical process behind anti-cancer properties of a spicy Indian pepper plant called the long pepper, whose suspected medicinal properties date back thousands of years.
A life-threatening infection in an infant with leukemia led to a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital discovery of how prolonged infection sets the stage for bacterial persistence despite antibiotic susceptibility.
A clump of just a few thousand brain cells, no bigger than a mustard seed, controls the daily ebb and flow of most bodily processes in mammals -- sleep/wake cycles, most notably. Now, Johns Hopkins scientists report direct evidence in mice for how those cell clusters control sleep and relay light cues about night and day throughout the body.
Researchers have found that sunlight, through a mechanism separate than vitamin D production, energizes T cells that play a central role in human immunity. The findings suggest how the skin, the body’s largest organ, stays alert to the many microbes that can nest there.
People who have protein in their urine, which is a sign of kidney problems, may also be more likely to later develop problems with thinking and memory skills or even dementia, according to a meta-analysis published in the December 14, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Celebrity chefs are cooking up poor food safety habits, according to a Kansas State University study. Kansas State University food safety experts Edgar Chambers IV and Curtis Maughan, along with Tennessee State University's Sandria Godwin, recently published "Food safety behaviors observed in celebrity chefs across a variety of programs" in the Journal of Public Health.
UCLA researchers show the potential of their digital health platform to help treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia by being able to personalize drug dosages and combinations
A major challenge in truly targeted cancer therapy is cancer’s suppression of the immune system. Northwestern University synthetic biologists now have developed a general method for “rewiring” immune cells to flip this action around. When cancer is present, molecules secreted at tumor sites render many immune cells inactive. The Northwestern researchers genetically engineered human immune cells to sense the tumor-derived molecules in the immediate environment and to respond by becoming more active, not less.
Johns Hopkins investigators report that their analysis of a national database representing more than 1 billion emergency department visits shows that over a recent eight-year period, nothing much has changed in the rates of unsuccessful suicide attempts, or in the age, gender, seasonal timing or means used by those who tried to take their lives in the United States.
In a small double-blind study, Johns Hopkins researchers report that a substantial majority of people suffering cancer-related anxiety or depression found considerable relief for up to six months from a single large dose of psilocybin -- the active compound in hallucinogenic "magic mushrooms."
A defect in a gene that produces dopamine in the brain appears to accelerate the onset of Parkinson’s disease, according to new research from Iowa State University. The effect is particularly dramatic for young-to-middle-age adults.
Lack of paid leave and outdated maternity care are barriers to breastfeeding that disproportionately impact families of color. This is the first study to show how these disparities translate into differences in health outcomes.
A team of neuroscience and biochemistry researchers at Stony Brook University have made a novel discovery that illustrates for the first time the difference between amyloid buildup in brain blood vessels and amyloid buildup around brain neurons.
• Individuals who took proton pump inhibitors or histamine receptor-2 blockers for heartburn, acid reflux, or ulcers had elevated risks of developing kidney stones.
• In individuals without acute kidney injury, proton pump inhibitors were linked with a higher risk of developing chronic kidney disease or kidney failure compared with histamine receptor-2 blockers.
• Research that uncovered these findings will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
The average age of a woman giving birth for the first time has risen dramatically in the United States over the past 40 years, driven by factors like education or career. A new study by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that women choosing to become first-time mothers later in life may increase their chances of living into their 90s.
Atrial fibrillation patients who use the drug, warfarin, to prevent harmful blood clots from forming in their hearts to lower risk of stroke are at higher risk of developing dementia than patients who use warfarin for non-atrial fibrillation conditions, according to a new study from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute.
Sunshine matters. A lot. The idea isn’t exactly new, but according to a recent study, when it comes to your mental and emotional health, the amount of time between sunrise and sunset is the weather variable that matters most.
Emulsifiers, which are added to most processed foods to aid texture and extend shelf life, can alter intestinal bacteria in a manner that promotes intestinal inflammation and colorectal cancer, according to a new study.
B12 deficiency during pregnancy may predispose children to metabolic problems such as type-2 diabetes, according to research presented today at the Society for Endocrinology’s annual Conference in Brighton. These findings could lead to a review of current vitamin B12 requirements for pregnant women, whether through an improved diet or supplements.
For millennia, philosophers have struggled to define human consciousness. Now, a team of researchers led by neurologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has pinpointed the regions of the brain that may play a role maintaining it. Their findings, which have already garnered multiple awards from the American Academy of Neurology, were published today in that society’s journal, Neurology.
Researchers found that rodents that had been exposed to stress had a weakened alcohol-induced dopamine response and voluntarily drank more alcohol compared to controls. The blunted dopamine signaling to ethanol arose due to changes in the circuitry in the ventral tegmental area, the heart of the brain's reward system.
Researchers have developed a chemical compound that detects the Alzheimer’s protein amyloid beta better than current FDA-approved agents. The compound potentially could be used in brain scans to identify the signs of Alzheimer’s early, or to monitor response to treatment.
Men can take birth control shots to prevent pregnancy in their female partners, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive cancer known for drug resistance and relapse. In an effort to uncover new treatment strategies, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center discovered that a cell surface molecule known as CD98 promotes AML. The study also shows that inhibiting CD98 with the therapeutic antibody IGN523 blocks AML growth in patient-derived cells and mouse models.
A robotic arm and a virtual game were essential tools in a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine. The study results suggest that while training doesn't change neurological repair in chronic stroke patients, it can indeed help such patients learn new motor skills and achieve more independence in their daily lives.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found that the mouths of migraine sufferers harbor significantly more microbes with the ability to modify nitrates than people who do not get migraine headaches. The study is published October 18 by mSystems.
Engineers funded by NIBIB have developed a small device, worn on the skin, that detects alcohol levels in perspiration and sends the information to the uses smart phone in just 8 minutes. It was designed as a convenient method for individuals to monitor their alcohol intake.
Hundreds of millions of people rely on Internet or app-based symptom checkers to help make sense of symptoms or self-diagnose diseases. The first direct comparison shows human doctors outperform digital ones in diagnostic accuracy.
Will astronauts traveling to Mars remember much of it? That’s the question concerning University of California, Irvine scientists probing a phenomenon called “space brain.” UCI’s Charles Limoli and colleagues found that exposure to highly energetic charged particles – much like those found in the galactic cosmic rays that will bombard astronauts during extended spaceflights – causes significant long-term brain damage in test rodents, resulting in cognitive impairments and dementia.