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New finding could lead to more effective treatment decisions for younger colorectal cancer patients

Younger colon cancer patients appear to have more than three times as many mutations in their tumors as older patients, which could lead to more effective treatment decisions, say researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

18 May 2017

Electrical stimulation of the brain may help preserve visual neurons from cell death after injury

Electrical stimulation of the brain by applying current to the eye may help retinal nerve cells to survive injury. While these neurons may not be restored to full function, they are prevented from dying. But to achieve survival, their interconnections, the dendritic tree, needs to disconnect rapidly for the protective action to unfold.

18 May 2017

IBS scientists uncover biological pathway that contributes to thyroid disorder

A team led by KOH Gou Young, director of the Center for Vascular Research, within the Institute for Basic Science, in collaboration with Chungnam National University, clarified the molecular mechanism to explain how the thyroid and surrounding vascular system change in the most common form of hyperthyroidism.

18 May 2017

Exercising burns fat in bone marrow to improve bone health, study shows

It's a fat-burning secret anyone interested in bone health should know. For the first time, UNC School of Medicine researchers show that exercising burns the fat found within bone marrow and offers evidence that this process improves bone quality and the amount of bone in a matter of weeks.

18 May 2017

Researchers identify antibodies that hold promise as Ebola treatments

The fight to contain the 2013-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was hampered by the lack of an effective treatment or vaccine. Researchers funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, have studied the blood of an Ebola survivor, searching for human antibodies that might effectively treat not only people infected with Ebola virus, but those infected with related viruses as well.

18 May 2017

Biochemical self-destruct trigger guards brain cells when fighting against West Nile virus

In a turnabout, a biochemical self-destruct trigger found in many other types of cells appears to guard the lives of brain cells during an infection with West Nile virus.

18 May 2017

KU Leuven researchers identify vital role of TET1 protein in earliest stages of embryonic development

In the earliest stages of embryonic development, a protein known as TET1 may be the factor that tips the balance toward health or disease.

18 May 2017

No such thing as “healthy obesity,” say experts

A new study from the University of Birmingham has presented evidence that could settle the debate over whether people can be obese and healthy at the same time.

18 May 2017

Scientists reveal new control mechanism for gene that causes Opitz syndrome

Opitz G/BBB (Opitz) syndrome is a hereditary disorder that affects people in different ways, causing malformations in medial (midline) organs and structures, intellectual disability and developmental disorders.

18 May 2017

Researchers identify mechanisms behind loss of sensory perception in Parkinson's disease

Although Parkinson's disease is often associated with motor symptoms such as stiffness, poor balance and trembling, the first symptoms are often sensory and include a reduced sense of touch and smell. In a study on mice, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now been able to identify neural circuits and mechanisms behind this loss of sensory perception.

18 May 2017

Sperm epigenetics and fertility

Epigenetics is a system of information that lies atop DNA to control which genes are accessible, active and inactive. Each cell in your body essentially has identical DNA, but they have different patterns of expression.

18 May 2017

Tumor mutation load in patient's biopsy varies by age and type of cancer

A team of investigators led by researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that the tumor mutation load, or TML, in a patient's cancer biopsy varied by age and the type of cancer, along with several other factors.

18 May 2017

Researchers identify DNA repair deficiency in many types of solid tumors

A new investigation of more than 48,000 stored tumor samples finds evidence of a key deficiency in a repair mechanism designed to keep DNA from being mutated and causing cancer.

18 May 2017

Newly identified biomarkers could help predict cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease patients

New biomarkers identified by a research team in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania could help predict which Parkinson's disease patients will suffer significant cognitive deficits within the first three years of their diagnosis.

18 May 2017

Brisbane researchers synthetically re-create Zika virus to better understand birth defects

Brisbane researchers have synthetically re-created Zika virus in the laboratory - a breakthrough which will help to understand the virus and the fetal brain defects it causes.

17 May 2017

$Innovative technique could replace bone grafts to repair severe limb fractures$

Innovative technique could replace bone grafts to repair severe limb fractures

A Cedars-Sinai-led team of investigators has successfully repaired severe limb fractures in laboratory animals with an innovative technique that cues bone to regrow its own tissue.

17 May 2017

Microbes can manipulate molecular machinery of host cells to influence health

All animals -- from sea sponges to modern-day humans -- evolved in a world already teeming with microbes. These single-celled microorganisms now cover practically every surface of our bodies and are as much a part of our biology as our own tissues and organs.

17 May 2017

Researchers identify new drug target for two common types of myeloid leukemia

University of Georgia researchers, with colleagues from the University of Tokyo, have identified a new drug target for the two most common types of myeloid leukemia, including a way to turn back the most aggressive form of the disease.

17 May 2017

Researchers identify new way to prevent pneumococci from entering the brain

An international team of researchers, led from Karolinska Institutet, has identified two receptors on the cells in the blood vessels of the brain that can be blocked and thereby prevent pneumococci from entering the brain.

17 May 2017

Researchers develop new strategy that can revolutionize HIV vaccine design

Vaccines are an essential tool for preventing and treating serious infectious diseases such as polio, chicken pox and measles. But so far it has not been possible to develop vaccines capable of contributing to the treatment and prevention of chronic infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.

17 May 2017