Chemical Messenger News and Research

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Researchers find way to enhance effects of immunotherapy in glioblastoma

When cancer strikes, it may be possible for patients to fight back with their own defenses, using a strategy known as immunotherapy. According to a new study published in Nature, researchers have found a way to enhance the effects of this therapeutic approach in glioblastoma, a deadly type of brain cancer, and possibly improve patient outcomes.

20 Mar 2015

Nicotine metabolite supports learning, memory by amplifying action of primary chemical messenger

Nicotine's primary metabolite supports learning and memory by amplifying the action of a primary chemical messenger involved in both, researchers report.

19 Feb 2015

Scientists identify potential target to combat leishmaniasis

Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has identified a potential target in the quest to develop a more effective treatment for leishmaniasis, a parasitic tropical disease that kills thousands and sickens more than 1 million people worldwide each year.

19 Feb 2015

Two genetic mutations can interact to reduce risk for heart attack

Researchers have determined that two mutations on a single gene can interact in a way that lowers the carrier's risk for a heart attack.

4 Feb 2015

Researchers identify novel life-preserving circuit responsible for recognizing threats

Our existence depends on a bit of evolutionary genius aptly nicknamed "fight or flight." But where in our brain does the alarm first go off, and what other parts of the brain are mobilized to express fear and remember to avoid danger in the future?

20 Jan 2015

CSHL researchers describe new pathway that controls fear memories in the mouse brain

Some people have no fear, like that 17-year-old kid who drives like a maniac. But for the nearly 40 million adults who suffer from anxiety disorders, an overabundance of fear rules their lives. Debilitating anxiety prevents them from participating in life's most mundane moments, from driving a car to riding in an elevator.

20 Jan 2015

PTEN protein helps prevent autoimmune diseases

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have discovered that a protein widely known for suppressing tumor formation also helps prevent autoimmune diseases and other problems by putting the brakes on the immune response.

15 Jan 2015

New study reveals how COX-2 inhibitors can increase risk of heart attack in arthritis patients

A class of drug for treating arthritis - all but shelved over fears about side effects - may be given a new lease of life, following the discovery of a possible way to identify which patients should avoid using it.

11 Dec 2014

Discovery opens up new routes to strengthen anti-smoking efforts to control TB

TB is an infectious disease that kills 1.5 million people each year, and smoking is the biggest driver of the global TB epidemic. Medical scientists at Trinity College Dublin and St James's Hospital in Ireland have unlocked the mechanism underlying the connection between smoking and Tuberculosis (TB).

17 Nov 2014

Scratching itchy skin causes the brain to release serotonin, intensifies itchy feeling

Turns out your mom was right: Scratching an itch only makes it worse. New research from scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that scratching causes the brain to release serotonin, which intensifies the itch sensation.

31 Oct 2014

Research findings could help find ways to enhance overall learning, memory

The more curious we are about a topic, the easier it is to learn information about that topic. New research publishing online October 2 in the Cell Press journal Neuron provides insights into what happens in our brains when curiosity is piqued.

3 Oct 2014

Researchers identify control mechanism for mood disorders

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a control mechanism for an area of the brain that processes sensory and emotive information that humans experience as "disappointment."

19 Sep 2014

New study sheds light on relationship between schizophrenia and smoking stems

Schizophrenia is associated with increased rates and intensity of tobacco smoking. A growing body of research suggests that the relationship between schizophrenia and smoking stems, in part, from an effort by patients to use nicotine to self-medicate symptoms and cognitive impairment associated with the disease.

17 Sep 2014

Study ties eating in response to food cues to habit-forming region in obese adults

People who are obese may be more susceptible to environmental food cues than their lean counterparts due to differences in brain chemistry that make eating more habitual and less rewarding, according to a National Institutes of Health study published in Molecular Psychiatry.

9 Sep 2014

New evidence puts into doubt the long-held depression belief

New evidence puts into doubt the long-standing belief that a deficiency in serotonin - a chemical messenger in the brain - plays a central role in depression. In the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, scientists report that mice lacking the ability to make serotonin in their brains (and thus should have been "depressed" by conventional wisdom) did not show depression-like symptoms.

28 Aug 2014

Study explores how changes in dopamine transporter function linked to brain disorders

Recent published research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation demonstrates how changes in dopamine signaling and dopamine transporter function are linked to neurological and psychiatric diseases, including early-onset Parkinsonism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

23 Jul 2014

Researchers uncover several gene networks with potentially important roles in autism

A large new analysis of DNA from thousands of patients has uncovered several underlying gene networks with potentially important roles in autism.

9 Jun 2014

Gene networks may offer attractive targets for developing new autism drugs

A large new analysis of DNA from thousands of patients has uncovered several underlying gene networks with potentially important roles in autism.

6 Jun 2014

Brain circuit problem may contribute to auditory hallucinations of schizophrenia

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified problems in a connection between brain structures that may predispose individuals to hearing the "voices" that are a common symptom of schizophrenia. The work appears in the June 6 issue of the journal Science.