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Anti-cancer immunotherapy could be used to fight HIV

Researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre have shown that immunotherapy treatments against cancer could reduce the amount of virus that persists in people on triple therapy.

19 Feb 2019

Unique gene therapy approach paves new way to tackle rare, inherited diseases

Nonsense mutations are single-letter errors in the genetic code that prematurely halt the production of critical proteins. These unfinished proteins are unable to function normally, and nonsense mutations cause 10-15 percent of all inherited genetic diseases, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, cystic fibrosis and polycystic kidney disease.

19 Feb 2019

Researchers create new map of the brain's own immune system

A team of researchers under the direction of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg has created an entirely new map of the brain's own immune system in humans and mice.

19 Feb 2019

Brain imaging indicates potential success of drug therapy in depressive patients

Working with international partners, a MedUni Vienna research group has shown that imaging techniques carried out prior to treatment indicate the potential success of drug therapy in depressive patients.

19 Feb 2019

Specialized lung cells appear in the developing fetus much earlier than previously thought

Specialized lung cells appear in the developing fetus much earlier than scientists previously thought. A new animal study reports how cells that become alveoli, the tiny compartments in which gas exchange occurs in the lung, begin their specialized roles very early in prenatal life.

19 Feb 2019

Research unravels neural mechanisms underlying illusions of complex-flow motion

A study of humans and monkeys published in JNeurosci has found the same subset of neurons encode actual and illusionary motion, although it takes the brain slightly longer to distinguish between the two.

From Society for Neuroscience 19 Feb 2019

Study shows how animals may remember and locate food sources

A subset of neurons in the hippocampus respond to both place and taste, according to research in male rats published in JNeurosci.

From Society for Neuroscience 19 Feb 2019

New study establishes how stress favors breast cancer growth and spread

Cancer: The word alone evokes dread, anxiety, and fear. Accordingly, many women living with the disease and undergoing treatment experience chronic stress and depression.

19 Feb 2019

Early marker of cardiac damage triggered by cancer treatment identified

Every year, 4 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed in Europe. Advances in cancer treatment sometimes come at the cost of major adverse effects, and one of the most prominent is cardiotoxicity. Myocardial toxicity affects as many as 25% of patients undergoing treatment with commonly used anticancer drugs.

19 Feb 2019

Harnessing the evolutionary games played by cancer cells to advance therapies

Despite rapid advances in targeted therapies for cancer, tumors commonly develop resistance to treatment. When resistance emerges, tumor cells continue to grow unchecked, despite all attempts to slow cancer progression.

19 Feb 2019

New map of infant brain may aid early diagnosis of autism

A new map of newborn babies' brains offers details of structure that will provide a new reference for researchers studying both typical brain development and neurological disorders.

18 Feb 2019

Fetal signaling pathways may offer future opportunities to treat lung damage

Specialized lung cells appear in the developing fetus much earlier than scientists previously thought. A new animal study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports how cells that become alveoli, the tiny compartments in which gas exchange occurs in the lung, begin their specialized roles very early in prenatal life.

18 Feb 2019

Study finds neuromelanin-sensitive MRI as potential biomarker for psychosis

Researchers have shown that a type of magnetic resonance imaging -- called neuromelanin-sensitive MRI is a potential biomarker for psychosis.

18 Feb 2019

Single CRISPR treatment can safely and stably correct genetic disease

Researchers at Duke University have shown that a single systemic treatment using CRISPR genome editing technology can safely and stably correct a genetic disease -- Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) -- for more than a year in mice, despite observed immune responses and alternative gene editing outcomes.

18 Feb 2019

Physicists identify simple mechanism used by deadly bacteria to fend off antibiotics

Physicists at McMaster University have for the first time identified a simple mechanism used by potentially deadly bacteria to fend off antibiotics, a discovery which is providing new insights into how germs adapt and behave at a level of detail never seen before.

18 Feb 2019

Combination of PARP inhibitor and immunotherapy results in tumor regression in SCLC mouse models

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that a combination of immune checkpoint blockade and targeted therapies that block normal DNA damage repair achieved significant tumor regression in mouse models of small cell lung cancer, suggesting a promising new approach for treating patients with this aggressive cancer.

18 Feb 2019

Heavy smoking could lead to vision loss, study finds

Smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day can damage your vision, a study co-authored by a Rutgers researcher finds.

18 Feb 2019

Activating gene that helps excite neurons reverses depression in male mice

Directly activating a gene important to exciting our excitatory neurons and associated with major depression may help turn around classic symptoms like social isolation and loss of interest, at least for males, scientists report.

18 Feb 2019

Smoking may blight immune response against melanoma and reduce survival

Melanoma patients with a history of smoking cigarettes are 40 per cent less likely to survive their skin cancer than people who have never smoked, according to a new report funded by Cancer Research UK.

18 Feb 2019

KU professor discusses promise of brain-computer interface to aid, restore communication

Brain-computer interfaces promise to restore communication for individuals with severe speech and physical impairments. Current brain computer interfaces share many features of high-tech, conventional augmentative and alternative communication systems, but via direct brain link.

17 Feb 2019