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Brown fat in humans: more than previously thought

Brown fat is a tissue well studied in small mammals, where it acts as a heat-producing organ to stay warm in a cold environment. Its unequivocal identification in adult, healthy humans about a decade ago is of major importance due to its immense capacity to convert chemical energy into heat

20 Apr 2017

Rat study reveals new clues to devastating neurological disease

After a 29-year quest, Ian Duncan, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has finally pinpointed the cause of a serious neurologic disease in a colony of rats.

20 Apr 2017

Fungi have immense potential for production of pharmaceutical compounds

Fungi are a potential goldmine for the production of pharmaceuticals. This is shown by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, who have developed a method for finding new antibiotics from nature's own resources.

20 Apr 2017

Drug created from malaria protein offers hope for bladder cancer patients

A drug created from a malaria protein stopped tumor growth of chemotherapy-resistant bladder cancer, offering hope for cancer patients not responding to standard treatments.

20 Apr 2017

Researcher aims to eliminate chemotherapy-resistant ovarian tumors using virus treatment

In some cases, the Lassa virus starts with a fever and general weakness, moving toward headache, muscle pain, possible facial swelling, deafness, and worse. About 15 percent of patients hospitalized with severe cases die.

20 Apr 2017

Scientists find new way to measure tau protein levels in the blood

Damaging tangles of the protein tau dot the brains of people with Alzheimer's and many other neurodegenerative diseases, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which plagues professional boxers and football players.

20 Apr 2017

Penn researchers pinpoint underlying cause of Best disease

Named for Friedrich Best, who characterized the disease in 1905, Best disease, also known as vitelliform macular dystrophy, affects children and young adults and can cause severe declines in central vision as patients age.

19 Apr 2017

TSRI scientists reveal important role of genetics in brain circuits

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla have revealed new clues to the wiring of the brain. A team led by Associate Professor Anton Maximov found that neurons in brain regions that store memory can form networks in the absence of synaptic activity.

19 Apr 2017

SLU researchers make advances in understanding plaque-causing protein in neurological disorders

In a recent paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry Yuna Ayala, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Saint Louis University, and her research team made advances in understanding how a protein causes damaging plaques to build up in neurodegenerative illnesses like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and a form of dementia called frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

19 Apr 2017

Study paves way to develop noninvasive diagnostic test for colorectal cancer

The type of bacteria in your gut may help diagnose colorectal cancer. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and other institutions have identified specific types of bacteria that seem to be abundant in individuals with colorectal cancer.

19 Apr 2017

Brain cancer patient treated with malaria drug shows dramatic improvement

After her brain cancer became resistant to chemotherapy and then to targeted treatments, 26-year-old Lisa Rosendahl's doctors gave her only a few months to live.

19 Apr 2017

Researchers report new evidence that defective HIV proviruses distract immune system

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and George Washington universities report new evidence that proteins created by defective forms of HIV long previously believed to be harmless actually interact with our immune systems and are actively monitored by a specific type of immune cell, called cytotoxic T cells.

19 Apr 2017

Researchers develop promising blood substitute for transfusions

Blood transfusions can save the lives of patients who have suffered major blood loss, but hospitals don't always have enough or the right type on hand. In search of a solution, researchers have developed a promising substitute using blood's oxygen-carrying component, hemoglobin.

19 Apr 2017

Study explains how pathogenic bacterium persists in different environments

Researchers at the University of Maryland have identified how the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses tension-activated membrane channels to stop itself from swelling up and bursting when it is suddenly exposed to water.

19 Apr 2017

Salty food doesn’t make you thirsty; it makes you hungry, say experts

A new study has shown that eating salty food does not make you thirsty, but rather, it diminishes thirst. What eating salty food does do is increase the need for energy and therefore food.

19 Apr 2017

Strawberry extract can inhibit spread of breast cancer cells, mice study shows

A study by European and Latin American researchers has shown that strawberry extract can inhibit the spread of laboratory-grown breast cancer cells, even when they are inoculated in female mice to induce tumours.

19 Apr 2017

WHO marching toward extraordinary progress against neglected tropical diseases, report reveals

Since 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been reporting outstanding success in dealing with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) with 1 billion people estimated to have received treatments in 2015.

19 Apr 2017

Johns Hopkins study shows that healthy adult gut loses and regenerates nerve cells

Johns Hopkins researchers today published new evidence refuting the long-held scientific belief that the gut nerve cells we're born with are the same ones we die with.

19 Apr 2017

Closed-loop brainwave technology reduces post-traumatic stress symptoms

A closed-loop acoustic stimulation brainwave technology significantly reduced symptoms in people suffering from post-traumatic stress in a small pilot study conducted at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The study is published in the April 19 online edition of the journal BMC Psychiatry.

19 Apr 2017

‘Geneva signature’ evaluates safety and immunogenicity of promising anti-Ebola virus vaccine

An international team based at Geneva University Hospitals and at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, has succeeded in defining a "signature" composed of a small number of inflammatory markers that can be monitored in order to understand how a promising anti-Ebola virus vaccine stimulates the immune system.

19 Apr 2017