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New light-triggered strategy can provide accurate control over aptamer-based therapeutics

While aptamers—single-stranded nucleic acids—offer promise as drug-delivery tools for cancer treatment, it has proven difficult to get them to tumor cells at therapeutic levels.

4 Dec 2014

New chemical compound shows promise in restoring function lost to spinal cord injury

Case Western Reserve scientists have developed a new chemical compound that shows extraordinary promise in restoring function lost to spinal cord injury. The compound, which the researchers dubbed intracellular sigma peptide (ISP), allowed paralyzed muscles to activate in more than 80 percent of the animals tested.

4 Dec 2014

UAB research suggests potential therapeutic target for patients with frontotemporal dementia

Drugs that boost the function of a specific type of neurotransmitter receptor may provide benefit to patients with the second most common type of dementia, according to research by scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham published today in the Journal of Neuroscience.

4 Dec 2014

Researchers identify biochemical mechanism that could lead to 'chemo brain'

UNC School of Medicine researchers have found for the first time a biochemical mechanism that could be a cause of "chemo brain" - the neurological side effects such as memory loss, confusion, difficulty thinking, and trouble concentrating that many cancer patients experience while on chemotherapy to treat tumors in other parts of the body.

4 Dec 2014

Scientists uncover potential ammunition in fight against malaria

Scientists have released details of a raft of new chemicals with potent anti-malarial properties which could open the way to new drugs to fight the disease.

4 Dec 2014

Scientists review HBV-associated tumor microenvironment in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the few cancers in which a continued increase in incidence has been observed over recent years. Globally, there are approximately 750,000 new cases of liver cancer reported each year. Importantly, population-based studies show that HCC ranks as the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.

4 Dec 2014

New research sheds light on complexities of child sleep

New research from the University of Adelaide has helped to shed light on the complexities of child sleep, and could lead to improved diagnosis of children with sleep-related breathing problems.

4 Dec 2014

UC Berkeley scientists reveal how humans have excelled at 'relational reasoning'

When it comes to getting out of a tricky situation, we humans have an evolutionary edge over other primates. Take, as a dramatic example, the Apollo 13 voyage in which engineers, against all odds, improvised a chemical filter on a lunar module to prevent carbon dioxide buildup from killing the crew.

4 Dec 2014

Study reports effective treatment approach to inhibit herpes virus infection

A multi-institutional study reports an effective treatment approach to inhibit and keep latent viruses like herpes simplex from reactivating and causing disease. The work, whose lead author is the late James Hill, PhD, LSU Health New Orleans Professor and Director of Pharmacology and Infectious Disease at the LSU Eye Center, is published in the December 3, 2014, issue of Science Translational Medicine.

4 Dec 2014

Researchers publish first comprehensive characterization of genetic diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Researchers from the African Genome Variation Project have published the first attempt to comprehensively characterise genetic diversity across Sub-Saharan Africa. The study of the world's most genetically diverse region will provide an invaluable resource for medical researchers and provides insights into population movements over thousands of years of African history.

4 Dec 2014

Researchers receive grant to examine role of proteins in dementia diseases

Researchers from Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry have received funding from Alzheimer's charity BRACE for a pilot study to investigate the role of proteins in the development of dementia diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

4 Dec 2014

Protein that regulates the body's sleep cycle may offer cancer protection

People who work around the clock could actually be setting themselves back, according to Virginia Tech biologists.

4 Dec 2014

Resveratrol in red wine may prevent cancer

Alcohol use is a major risk factor for head and neck cancer. But an article published in the November issue of the journal Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology shows that the chemical resveratrol found in grape skins and in red wine may prevent cancer as well.

4 Dec 2014