Targeting the protein Eyes Absent 3 (EYA3) may help prevent vascular remodeling in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to new study from Cincinnati Children's.
Tuberculosis and HIV – two of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases – are far worse when they occur together. Now, Texas Biomedical Research Institute researchers have pinpointed an important mechanism at work in this troubling health problem. And, their discovery could lead to a new mode of treatment for people at risk.
In a study published in the journal Cancer Immunology Research, University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers reported on the discovery of a method for predicting whether abnormal proteins produced by cancer cells could trigger an immune response.
Sixteen years ago, a research group at Mayo Medical School published results showing that a protein called TRAIL can kill cells that cause liver fibrosis but no one seemed to follow up on these findings. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have improved on this protein and shown that it selectively kills cells that cause the hardening of skin associated with scleroderma, effectively reversing the condition in mice genetically engineered to mimic the disease. A report on these results was published earlier this year in Nature Communications.
A new synthetic material that creates a linked sensory network similar to a biological nervous system could enable soft robots to sense how they interact with their environment and adjust their actions accordingly.
Using computational tools to investigate gene transcription networks in large collections of brain tissues, a scientific team has identified a gene that acts as a master regulator of schizophrenia during early human brain development.
Using computational tools to investigate gene transcription networks in large collections of brain tissues, a scientific team has identified a gene that acts as a master regulator of schizophrenia during early human brain development.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified a molecule that plays a pivotal role in determining the fate of cells under stress, much like a Roman emperor deciding the fate of gladiators in the coliseum.
Mutated KRAS genes are commonly found in several cancers and not all KRAS mutations in the same organ tissue cause the same disease severity, according to three new studies from researchers at the Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
A new study published today in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research shows how bones in mammals are negatively impacted by calorie restriction, and particularly by the combination of exercise and calorie restriction.
Each year more than 260,000 older Americans are hospitalized for hip fractures, a debilitating injury that can severely and permanently impact mobility. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) studied two types of home-based interventions and discovered that these treatments are effective in helping individuals regain their ability to walk, but not enough to do every day functions like crossing the street.
Each year more than 260,000 older Americans are hospitalized for hip fractures, a debilitating injury that can severely and permanently impact mobility. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) studied two types of home-based interventions and discovered that these treatments are effective in helping individuals regain their ability to walk, but not enough to do every day functions like crossing the street.
Methotrexate and the more expensive mycophenolate mofetil performed similarly in a head-to-head clinical trial that compared the two drugs for treating noninfectious uveitis
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center discovered that a cell adhesion protein, E-cadherin, allows breast cancer cells to survive as they travel through the body and form new tumors, a process termed metastasis.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center discovered that a cell adhesion protein, E-cadherin, allows breast cancer cells to survive as they travel through the body and form new tumors, a process termed metastasis.
On Aug. 15, the NIH awarded Cornell $17.4 million for MacCHESS (Macromolecular X-ray science at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source), a subfacility of CHESS that attracts hundreds of biomedical researchers each year.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) a $10 million, five-year grant to expand the School’s epigenetics research program. This NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE) grant, which will be delivered to UND in $2 million increments, builds on a similar grant the School received in 2013 that was directed toward scholars exploring the epigenetics and epigenomics of disease. Researchers studying epigenetics explore the mechanisms that regulate gene expression and the activation and deactivation of specific genes. Understanding better how the human body can turn genes on and off during growth and aging and in response to its environment has important implications for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, and diabetes.
Anyone who has ever sensed that a person is sick simply by looking at their face has experienced the wealth of information conveyed by face color. A new study by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, provides evidence that the human brain’s visual system is especially sensitive to the color of faces compared to the colors of other objects or things. Study results were published today in Nature Communications.
Children can keep full visual perception – the ability to process and understand visual information – after brain surgery for severe epilepsy, according to a study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health. A new report by Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, researchers from a study of children who had undergone epilepsy surgery suggests that the lasting effects on visual perception can be minimal, even among children who lost tissue in the brain’s visual centers.
The study will allow researchers to learn what causes the high burden of heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Survivors of TBI often experience chronic psychiatric symptoms such as increased risky decision-making and impulsivity, yet there are not treatments available. Researchers at West Virginia University are working to find solutions to help these patients improve their everyday quality of life.
A new grant will allow Michigan Medicine researchers to explore personalized approaches to treating autoimmune diseases such as scleroderma, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and others.
UD biologist Salil Lachke has a growing portfolio of research focused on eye development and the genetic disorders that obstruct healthy eye development. Now the National Institutes of Health has announced $1.7 million in support for his work to understand the developmental disorders that cause anophthalmia (no eye) and microphthalmia (small eye) at birth. The new grant provides five years of support.
This week, the first of two reports establishing a research roadmap outlining priorities in foundational and translational research in artificial intelligence for medical imaging was published in the journal Radiology. It will be closely followed by a second report on translational research in AI to be published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR) in early summer focusing on real-world AI problems.
Two proteins that bind to stress hormones work together to maintain a healthy heart in mice, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health and their collaborators. These proteins, stress hormone receptors known as the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), act in concert to help support heart health.
Northern Arizona University professor Ishan Bhatt leads a team that is looking at possible causes of tinnitus and possibly open the door to more specific treatments.
New research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that many "redundant" enzymes are actually specialists that ensure maximal growth across different environments. Further, these enzymes were found to increase E. coli’s resistance to antibiotics at low pH conditions, such as those found in the GI tract or urinary tract — raising concerns that current antibiotic susceptibility tests are inadequate.
An old drug may have new applications and implications in the worldwide fight against tuberculosis, according to the research of two Creighton University scientists in the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded an international consortium led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine, part of Montefiore, a five-year, $22 million grant to develop antibody-based therapies against four highly lethal viruses for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.
Traditional surgery to reshape a nose or ear entails cutting, sometimes followed by long recovery times and scars. Now, researchers have developed a “molecular surgery” process using tiny needles, electric current and 3D molds to reshape living tissue with no incisions, scarring or recovery time.
Eating a calcium-rich diet or taking calcium supplements does not appear to increase the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to the findings of a study by scientists at the National Eye Institute (NEI). AMD is a leading cause of vision loss and blindness among people age 65 and older in the United States. The study findings are published in JAMA Ophthalmology.
Cells of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) form unique patterns that can be used to track changes in this important layer of tissue in the back of the eye, researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have found. Using a combination of adaptive optics imaging and a fluorescent dye, the researchers used the RPE patterns to track individual cells in healthy volunteers and people with retinal disease. The new finding could provide a way to study the progression and treatment of blinding diseases that affect the RPE.
The majority of people playing football in the U.S. aren’t NFL players or collegiate athletes —they’re youth players, less than 14 years old. But until now, there hasn’t been independent data evaluating the effectiveness of the helmets these athletes wear on the field.
With the release of youth football-helmet ratings by the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab — already renowned for their helmet ratings for varsity football and other sports — consumers can see which helmets best reduce concussion risk.
New research from scientists at the University of California San Diego and the University of Michigan has opened a new chapter in the story about what happens between two key metabolic enzymes, setting chemical biologists on their own path to a new understanding of fatty acid biosynthesis.
A team of Israeli and American researchers says the state of a person’s immune system provides the most accurate measurement of a person’s health. They have developed a way to gauge “immune age,” which could bring about new frontiers in personalized medical treatment, drug and vaccine clinical development, and more.
A small pilot clinical study at the National Eye Institute (NEI) suggests that the drug nitisinone increases melanin production in some people with oculocutaneous albinism type 1B (OCA-1B), a rare genetic disease that causes pale skin and hair and poor vision. Increased melanin could help protect people with the condition against the sun’s UV rays and promote the development of normal vision.
A wearable brain-based device called NGoggle that incorporates virtual reality could help improve glaucoma diagnosis and prevent vision loss. Duke University researchers funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) have launched a clinical study testing the device in hopes that it could decrease the burden of glaucoma, a major cause of blindness in the U.S.
A signaling pathway controlled by transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) could be involved in the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Using a novel patient-specific stem cell-based therapy, researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) prevented blindness in animal models of geographic atrophy, the advanced “dry” form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is a leading cause of vision loss among people age 65 and older. The protocols established by the animal study, published January 16 in Science Translational Medicine (STM), set the stage for a first-in-human clinical trial testing the therapy in people with geographic atrophy, for which there is currently no treatment.
Researchers at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, have created a noninvasive technology that detects when nerve cells fire based on changes in shape. The method could be used to observe nerve activity in light-accessible parts of the body, such as the eye, which would allow physicians to quantitatively monitor visual function at the cellular level.
The National Eye Institute (NEI) awarded $25,000 to a team led by Wei Liu, Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, for demonstrating progress toward the development of a living model of the human retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. The prize money was awarded for the first of two phases of the NEI 3-D Retina Organoid Challenge 2020 (3-D ROC 2020), a national initiative to generate human retina organoids from stem cells. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.
Scientists at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have found that neurons in the superior colliculus, an ancient midbrain structure found in all vertebrates, are key players in allowing us to detect visual objects and events.
By combining two imaging modalities—adaptive optics and angiography—investigators at the National Eye Institute (NEI) can see live neurons, epithelial cells, and blood vessels deep in the eye’s light-sensing retina. Resolving these tissues and cells in the outermost region of the retina in such unprecedented detail promises to transform the detection and treatment of diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among the elderly.
Shortly after birth when the world is a blur, babies may be learning to identify patterns. According to a new study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), the initial phase of blurry vision may be fundamental to the development of normal visual processing.
Dr. Okihide Hikosaka, senior investigator at the National Eye Institute (NEI) Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, is a recipient of the 2018 Gruber Prize in Neuroscience.
Delivery of corticosteroids directly into the eye is more effective than injections adjacent to the eye, according to results from a comparative clinical trial of macular edema in patients with noninfectious uveitis.
During aging, loss of vision and cognition often coincide. In a new study, researchers funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) and National Institute on Aging (NIA) have found that vision loss precedes loss of mental capacity. The findings suggest that maintaining eye health could help protect cognition in older adults.
Scientists funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) report a novel gene therapy that halts vision loss in a canine model of a blinding condition called autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP). The strategy could one day be used to slow or prevent vision loss in people with the disease.
Researchers funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) have identified 133 genetic variants that predict with 75-percent accuracy a person’s risk for developing glaucoma related to elevated pressure within the eye. Future genetic tests could identify high-risk individuals who would benefit from early interventions aimed at preventing vision loss from glaucoma, a leading cause of vision loss and blindness in the United States.