Even before the pandemic and the presidential election, Americans reported some of the highest perceived levels of stress in the world, according to the American Psychological Association.
Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have decoded brain maps of human color perception. The findings, published today in Current Biology, open a window into how color processing is organized in the brain, and how the brain recognizes and groups colors in the environment. The study may have implications for the development of machine-brain interfaces for visual prosthetics. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have decoded brain maps of human color perception. The findings, published today in Current Biology, open a window into how color processing is organized in the brain, and how the brain recognizes and groups colors in the environment. The study may have implications for the development of machine-brain interfaces for visual prosthetics. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.
The bodies of people with uncontrolled diabetes appear to be the perfect environment for a common type of superbug to thrive unchecked and do its worst damage, according to new research by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists.
A team of scientists from Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a five-year, $4.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a research center to investigate HIV- and human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers in Africa.
A new saliva-based test developed by a team at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been found to accurately detect the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The findings, published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, support efforts to block the enzyme to potentially treat or prevent COVID-19 in older people.
DALLAS – Nov. 12, 2020 – UT Southwestern researchers have discovered a mechanism that cells use to degrade microRNAs (miRNAs), genetic molecules that regulate the amounts of proteins in cells.
“There’s no place like home,” has its roots deep in the brain. Using fiber photometry, scientists are the first to show that home evokes a surge of dopamine in mice that mimics the response to a dose of cocaine. The study demonstrates how dopamine rises rapidly in mice moved from a simple recording chamber to their home cage, but less so when they return to a cage not quite like the one they knew.
Researchers have discovered a previously undescribed set of neurons called saccade-vergence burst neurons that help control our eyes as they view in three-dimensional space. Models had predicted the existence of such neurons, which are in the mid-brain’s central mesencephalic reticular formation.
Seeking to develop effective interventions, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine examined the psychological and environmental factors that lead to patterns of loneliness in different age groups.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), in 2017 approximately 13% of adolescents in the United States, or 3.2 million children aged 12 to 17, had at least one major episode of depression. While many recover from such an episode, a significant portion will develop severe depression or a chronic mood disorder. There is an urgent need to identify adolescents who are at higher risk for serious problems and may benefit from aggressive treatment.
Newborns and young infants are particularly susceptible to the flu and are six times more likely to die from the infection than older children. Currently there is no flu vaccine available for babies less than 6 months old.
Findings from a national study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) “do not support” the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
Today in Science, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine describe a new method to extract tiny but extremely powerful SARS-CoV-2 antibody fragments from llamas, which could be fashioned into inhalable therapeutics with the potential to prevent and treat COVID-19.
The Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC) at Texas Biomedical Research Institute and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio received a $1.3 million collaborative grant to continue the San Antonio Marmoset Aging Program (SA MAP) and further define the hallmarks of aging in a nonhuman primate (monkey) model. Developing the marmoset model will allow for eventual testing of interventions in additional model systems that could slow or change age-related decline in humans.
A team including researchers from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering and NYU Langone Health demonstrated an in vitro organotypic “leukemia-on-a-chip” model to emulate in vivo leukemia bone marrow pathology and study chemiresistance.
The NIH is establishing a national service center at the SLAC and Stanford where biomedical researchers can learn how to prepare extremely thin specimens that are frozen into a glassy state for cryogenic electron tomography (cryo-ET), a powerful tool for directly visualizing cellular components in 3D.
Jefferson researchers develop an approach to specifically impede the autoimmune response that drives the disease, while leaving the rest of the immune system fully functioning.
One of the pressing questions about COVID-19 remains: How long does immunity last? One key indicator of immunity is the presence of virus-specific antibodies.
A website used by more than 20,000 scientists to analyze their genomic data is getting an upgrade, thanks to a four-year, nearly $870,000 National Institutes of Health grant.
DALLAS – Nov. 4, 2020 – A mutation in the gene that causes cystic fibrosis may accelerate heart function decline in those with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a new study by UT Southwestern researchers suggests. The findings, published online recently in the Journal of the American Heart Association, could help doctors develop new strategies to preserve heart function in this population, potentially extending patients’ lives.
Irvine, Calif., Nov. 3, 2020 — Employing a strategy known as “population modification,” which involves using a CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system to introduce genes preventing parasite transmission into mosquito chromosomes, University of California researchers have made a major advance in the use of genetic technologies to control the transmission of malaria parasites.
Inspired by a parasitic worm that digs its sharp teeth into its host’s intestines, Johns Hopkins researchers have designed tiny, star-shaped microdevices that can latch onto intestinal mucosa and release drugs into the body.
Researchers with UC San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center say active surveillance is safe for African American men with low-risk prostate cancer.
Although viruses such as herpes simplex can infect the eye's cornea and Zika virus has been found in corneal tissue and tears, new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests the cornea can resist infection from the novel coronavirus.
Following a brain-injuring bump or blow to the head, brain cells and blood vessels typically swell. This can lead to a potentially life-threatening increase in pressure inside the skull, and managing swelling is critical for patients with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). But researchers at University of Utah Health have discovered that swelling may also be important for protecting the brain.
Early results from a University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)-led COVID-19 antibody study show that 3.5% of Arkansans have been infected with the novel coronavirus.
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey expert investigates the role of a cellular survival mechanism known as autophagy in the formation of tumors driven by mutations in tumor suppressors known as LKB1 and oncogene KRAS.
The same biochemical triggers that spur a “fight or flight” response when we encounter threats may help tumor cells to thrive. A team of researchers from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is looking at ways to disrupt that dynamic so that cancer treatments can be more effective. Their latest work, published today in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggests that a drug widely prescribed to control blood pressure may improve patients’ response to cancer immunotherapy.
When startled, do all fish respond the same way? A few fish, like Mexican cavefish, have evolved in unique environments without any predators. To see how this lack of predation impacts escape responses that are highly stereotyped across fish species, scientists explored this tiny fish to determine if there are evolved differences in them. Findings reveal that the dramatic ecological differences between cave and river environments contribute to differences in escape behavior in blind cavefish and river-dwelling surface cavefish.
DALLAS – Oct. 29, 2020 – About half of all tumors have mutations of the gene p53, normally responsible for warding off cancer. Now, UT Southwestern scientists have discovered a new role for p53 in its fight against tumors: preventing retrotransposons, or “jumping genes,” from hopping around the human genome. In cells with missing or mutated p53, the team found, retrotransposons move and multiply more than usual. The finding could lead to new ways of detecting or treating cancers with p53 mutations.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have been jointly awarded a major grant from the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to set up a center for research on the human serological immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Notre Dame researchers showed that one type of cell important for immunity, called a myeloid cell, can suppress the immune response — which has the effect of allowing breast cancer cells to metastasize to the brain to form secondary tumor cells there.
A new study by researchers at UC Santa Cruz shows how a genetic mutation throws off the timing of the biological clock, causing a common sleep syndrome called delayed sleep phase disorder.
A new tool for analyzing tissue damage seen on MRI brain scans can detect with more than 70 percent accuracy early signs of cognitive decline, new research shows.
Research from Saint Louis University finds that high fat or “ketogenic” diets could completely prevent, or even reverse heart failure caused by a metabolic process.
Powerful APS X-rays are used to uncover the structure and behavior of proteins controlling tarantula muscles. These insights may help scientists better understand our own muscles.
The Alzheimer’s Biomarkers Consortium – Down Syndrome (ABC-DS), a multi-institution research team, co-led by members from the University of California, Irvine, has been awarded an unprecedented five-year, $109 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to expand research on the biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome.
Transplanting cadaver pancreatic islets is a promising therapy for Type 1 diabetes, but a reactivated autoimmunity means low graft viability after five years. Research now shows that a protective coating of two biopolymers can delay allograft and autoimmune-mediated rejection in mouse models of T1D.
Specific regions in cord blood DNA can help identify kids who might develop autism, a study led by UC Davis MIND Institute researchers. The findings may hold clues for early diagnosis and intervention.
New research from an immunology team at the University of Chicago may shed light on the challenges of developing a universal flu vaccine that would provide long-lasting and broad protection against influenza viruses.
The development and validation of a staging system for non-metastatic prostate cancer could help doctors and patients assess treatment options, as well as improve clinical trials.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Oct. 22, 2020) — Scientists have developed a simple, experimental blood test that distinguishes pancreatic cancers that respond to treatment from those that do not. This critical distinction could one day guide therapeutic decisions and spare patients with resistant cancers from undergoing unnecessary treatments with challenging side effects.
A newly developed light-sensing protein called the MCO1 opsin restores vision in blind mice when attached to retina bipolar cells using gene therapy. The National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, provided a Small Business Innovation Research grant to Nanoscope, LLC for development of MCO1. The company is planning a U.S. clinical trial for later this year.
A newly developed light-sensing protein called the MCO1 opsin restores vision in blind mice when attached to retina bipolar cells using gene therapy. The National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, provided a Small Business Innovation Research grant to Nanoscope, LLC for development of MCO1. The company is planning a U.S. clinical trial for later this year.
Mayo Clinic researchers, along with national and global collaborators, have developed a potential test for Machado-Joseph disease, or spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) ― a disease that has no cure. They also have clarified the role of a gene target associated with the disease.