Scientists at the University of Kentucky have assembled the entire genome of the Mexican Axolotl, the key to unlocking the secrets of regeneration with potential for life-changing clinical applications down the road.
Researchers have found that, during acute kidney injury in a mouse model, the kidney-resident macrophages are reprogrammed to a developmental state, resembling these same cells when they are found in newborn mice. This reprogramming may be important to promote healing and tissue regeneration.
La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) has been awarded a $22 million contract renewal over seven years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to host and expand the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB). The database is the world’s most comprehensive collection of scientific data on how the immune system responds to a wide range of infectious agents, allergy-causing substances, and other stimuli that activate the immune system.
Here's a science enigma: Try to explain where the neat, even DNA/RNA helix came from. Ha! Easy one! It probably spun around itself long before first life evolved like it did in this lab. In fact, the twist could have helped select the components of RNA, not the other way around.
An international research team has shown that when galaxies assemble extremely rapidly -- and sometimes violently -- that can lead to the formation of very massive black holes. In these rare galaxies, normal star formation is disrupted and black hole formation takes over.
As coral species die off, they may be leaving a death spiral in their wake: Their absence could be sapping life from the corals that survive. In a new study, when isolated from other species, corals got weak, died off or grew in fragile structures. The study shows it is possible to quantify positive effects of coral biodiversity and negative effects of its absence.
Scientists predict that certain regions of the United States will experience higher levels of pollutants that cause smog, acid rain and respiratory problems due changes in forest soils from climate change.
Prions can infect both humans and animals, causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, mad cow disease in cattle, and chronic wasting disease in elk and deer. The infectious, misfolded protein particles often go undetected as they destroy brain tissue, causing memory loss, mobility issues, and ultimately death. Preclinical detection of prions has proven difficult, but new research suggests skin samples hold early signs of prion disease that precede neurologic symptoms.
Good health literacy is associated with better adherence to blood pressure medications among Hispanic individuals with high blood pressure, finds a study by NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and Columbia University School of Nursing. However, the majority of this population lacks health literary and has poor adherence to their medications.
Cancer of the esophagus claims more than 400,000 lives around the world each year. With no efficient, reliable method of screening for the disease, by the time symptoms become apparent, it's often too late to save the patient.
Researchers identified the brain circuits that form memories associating environmental cues with cocaine use and used optogenetics to specifically target those memories and reduce relapse-like behavior.
Regular use of aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may help some patients with head and neck cancer survive the disease, according to a study led by Professor Jennifer Grandis at the University of California, San Francisco. The study, which will be published January 25 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, indicates that NSAIDs are effective in patients with mutations in a gene called PIK3CA, likely by lowering the levels of an inflammatory molecule called prostaglandin E2.
Researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania say they’ve identified how to fuel macrophages with the energy needed to attack and eat cancer cells.
A simple blood test reliably detects signs of brain damage in people on the path to developing Alzheimer’s disease – even before they show signs of confusion and memory loss, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Researchers at the University of Utah Health conducted the first population-based study of suicidality in individuals with ASD in the United States. The 20-year retrospective study found that for individuals with autism, particularly females, the risk of suicide has increased through time compared to their non-autistic peers.
Engineers have created a bacteria-filtering membrane using graphene oxide and bacterial nanocellulose. It's highly efficient, long-lasting and environmentally friendly — and could provide clean water for those in need.
To address the unique challenges that emergency evacuation scenarios present, Alan Wagner, assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Penn State, and a team of researchers propose to use a coordinated collection of mobile robots as authority figures to direct evacuees for rapid, orderly and safe evacuations, thanks to a $1.5M National Science Foundation grant.
Bioengineers have developed implantable and wearable nanogenerators that create electrical pulses when compressed by body motions. The pulses controlled weight gain and enhanced healing of skin wounds in rat models.
In a study published online today in the journal Science, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, part of Montefiore, prove for the first time that the brain’s cerebellum—long thought to be mainly involved in coordinating movement—helps control the brain’s reward circuitry. The surprising finding indicates that the cerebellum plays a major role in reward processing and social behaviors and could potentially lead to new strategies for treating addiction.
Boston, MA -- Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and African Americans are disproportionately affected. Prior studies have investigated how limited access to material resources due to financial hardship may influence health, but the association between that stress caused by financial hardship and coronary heart disease in African Americans has not previously been examined.
A team of researchers have discovered the interaction between an Ebola virus protein and a protein in human cells that may be an important key to unlocking the pathway of replication of the killer disease in human hosts. Scientists at Texas Biomedical Research Institute were part of a nationwide collaborative with scientists at Gladstone Institutes, UC San Francisco and Georgia State University for a study recently published in the journal Cell.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have added to evidence that rapid resistance gene sequencing technology can accurately speed the identification of specific antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains that sicken and kill some patients. A report on a proof of concept study, published in the January 2019 issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, suggests the technology has the potential to hasten the “personalized” choice of antibiotics critically ill patients need.
Most oncologists say they don’t know enough about how to treat patients with differences in sexual orientation or identity, but most are also interested in learning more, a new study finds.
University of Colorado Cancer Center study shows that doctors may be underestimating the risk of and thus under-treating stage I and II breast cancers diagnosed within 10 years of childbirth.
A new study finds acupressure could be a low-cost, at-home solution to a suite of persistent side effects that linger after breast cancer treatment ends.
It's no surprise to scientists that variety is the very essence of biology, not just the seasoning, but most previous studies of key brain cells have found little variability in a common cell process that involves how genetic information is read and acted on.
NIBIB-funded researchers have developed a 3D-printed scaffold coated in aggrecan, a native cartilage component, to improve the regeneration of cartilage tissue in joints. The scaffold was combined with a common microfracture procedure and tested in rabbits. The University of Maryland researchers found the combination of the implant and microfracture procedure to be ten times more effective than microfracture alone.
The use of antibiotics to treat inflammatory skin conditions like acne and rosacea is decreasing over time, but there has been an increase in prescriptions associated with dermatologic surgical procedures.
A research team led by Carol Miller, professor of Civil and Environmental engineering at Wayne State, recently received an $80,000 grant from the National Science Foundation focused on "fatbergs." The team will utilize real-time video, pressure data and advanced chemical analysis to advance the understanding of the physical and chemical structure of massive buildups of fats, oils and greases (FOGs, also referred to as "fatbergs") that cause blockages in sewer systems. Results will be used to identify potential risks associated with blockages and inform future targeted prevention and mitigation efforts.
Scientists from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have demonstrated that muscle stem cells may give rise to rhabdomyosarcoma that occurs during DMD—and identified two genes linked to the tumor’s growth. The research, performed using a mouse model of severe DMD, helps scientists better understand how rhabdomyosarcoma develops in DMD—and indicates that ongoing efforts to develop treatments that stimulate muscle stem cells should consider potential cancer risk. The study was published today in Cell Reports.
A new wave of semiconductors that can be painted on is on the horizon. It bears the promise of revolutionizing lighting all over again and of transforming solar energy. Ornate quantum particle action, revealed here, that drives the new material's properties defies the workings of established semiconductors.
Two grants totaling nearly $3.7 million will support the efforts of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) to combat obesity and help Texas children achieve healthy lifestyles through the mission of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living.
A recently published study by an international team of researchers has shed new light on how and why a particular type of sea fog forms, using detailed supercomputer simulations to provide more accurate predictions of its occurrence and patterns to help reduce the number of maritime mishaps.
A new long-acting contraceptive designed to be self-administered by women may provide a new family planning option, particularly in developing nations where access to healthcare can be limited, a recent study suggests. The contraceptive would be delivered using microneedle skin patch technology originally developed for the painless administration of vaccines.
New findings from an international research team led by psychiatrists at NYU School of Medicine show that a newly-developed analytic model can predict soon after a shocking or scary event – and with significant accuracy -- the likelihood of someone developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Using one of the most powerful microscopes in the world, scientists from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) have identified a dense, dynamic and disorganized actin filament nanoscaffold—resembling a haystack—that is induced in response to a molecular signal. This is the first time researchers have directly visualized, at the molecular level, a structure that is triggered in response to a cellular signal—a key finding that expands our understanding of how cells move. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
Researchers have found a novel, pathogenic entity that is a fundamental link between chronic inflammation and tissue destruction in lungs of patients with COPD. These exosomes from activated neutrophils caused COPD damage when they were instilled into the lungs of healthy mice.
Findings from a novel online questionnaire of people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) suggest the majority of these patients do not receive proper care, say researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center in the first known investigation of the presentation of CFS in the emergency department.
In a paper published today in Nature Communications, Vardeny, along with Jingying Wang, Dali Sun (now at North Carolina State University) and colleagues present two devices built using perovskite to demonstrate the material’s potential in spintronic systems. Its properties, Vardeny says, bring the dream of a spintronic transistor one step closer to reality.
Researchers have demonstrated—using fat cells derived from human stem cells—that individual genetic variation can be used to predict whether the TZD rosiglitazone will produce the unwanted side effect of increasing cholesterol levels in certain individuals.
In studying a bacterium that causes disease in hospitalized people, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have figured out a key step in the transmission of antibiotic resistance from one bacterium to another. Their insight suggests a new strategy for stopping the spread of antibiotic resistance.
More than half of people who take medical cannabis for chronic pain say they’ve driven under the influence of cannabis within two hours of using it, at least once in the last six months, according to a new survey. One in five of them said they’d driven while ‘very high’ in the past six months.
Poor sleep is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, and now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis think they know why. They found that older people who have less slow-wave sleep – the deep sleep you need to consolidate memories and wake up feeling refreshed – have higher levels of the brain protein tau. Elevated tau is a sign of Alzheimer’s disease and has been linked to brain damage and cognitive decline.
New research from Johns Hopkins Medicine and Sheppard Pratt Health System shows that people in the study with schizophrenia also have higher levels of antibodies against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a herpes virus that causes infectious mononucleosis, so-called mono.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis – working with mice with sleep problems similar to those experienced by people with the genetic disease neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) – believe the animals will help shed light on insomnia linked to NF1 or other factors.
Research published in Immunity describes a mechanism in a mouse model of asthma that supports the hygiene hypothesis — researchers found that infant mice need a higher exposure to a bacterial endotoxin, compared to adult mice, to avoid developing asthma-like reactions to house dust mites.
Research in mice finds a new molecular mechanism that is essential for maturation of brain function and may be used to restore plasticity in aged brains. This work targets for the first time a specific molecule acting on a single type of neuronal connection to modulate brain function. Findings may advance treatment of human diseases such as autism.
Researchers from the University of Southern California have discovered that a drug currently being developed to treat stroke patients could also prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The study, which will be published January 15 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that the genetically engineered protein 3K3A-APC protects the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, reducing the buildup of toxic peptides and preventing memory loss.
Researchers at the George Washington University gained important insights into how the human brain processes information and allocates attention. Their study, “Attention Scales According to Inferred Real-World Object Size,” shows people pay attention to objects based on their real-world size, rather than how they are perceived by the eye.