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First-ever vaccine to combat Leishmaniasis under development

As scientists scramble to get a Zika virus vaccine into human trials by the end of the summer, a team of researchers is working on the first-ever vaccine to prevent another insect-borne disease - Leishmaniasis - from gaining a similar foothold in the Americas.

27 Apr 2016

Series of routine tests may not be beneficial to patients with age-related disorder

A series of tests physicians routinely order to help diagnose and follow their patients with an elevated antibody level that is a marker for cancer risk, often do not benefit the patient but do increase health care costs, pathologists report.

27 Apr 2016

Endocrine Society urges physicians to increase screening for primary aldosteronism

The Endocrine Society today issued a Clinical Practice Guideline calling on physicians to ramp up screening for primary aldosteronism, a common cause of high blood pressure.

27 Apr 2016

Researchers discover gene that plays vital role in inherited eye disorder

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have identified a specific gene that plays a key role in an inherited eye disorder.

26 Apr 2016

Newly published manuscripts enhance understanding of the immune system

MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, today announced that it has achieved a significant scientific milestone by publishing three manuscripts in Nature Immunology that advance the understanding of the immune system and highlight underlying mechanisms in two little-understood disease areas -- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

26 Apr 2016

Zinc sparks help doctors choose best eggs to transfer during IVF

A stunning explosion of zinc fireworks occurs when a human egg is activated by a sperm enzyme, and the size of these "sparks" is a direct measure of the quality of the egg and its ability to develop into an embryo, according to new research from Northwestern Medicine.

26 Apr 2016

Soy peptides, isoflavones can be more effective antimicrobial agent

Soy isoflavones and peptides may inhibit the growth of microbial pathogens that cause food-borne illnesses, according to a new study from University of Guelph researchers.

26 Apr 2016

Low levels of vitamin D, methylation in black teens may increase cancer risk

Low levels of vitamin D in black teens correlates with low activity of a major mechanism for controlling gene expression that may increase their risk of cancer and other disease, researchers report.

26 Apr 2016

Researchers gain new insights into female pelvis development

Women have wider hips than men because their pelves must allow for the birth of large-brained babies. Nevertheless, many female pelves are still not wide enough, which can result in difficult births. Traditionally, the human pelvis has been considered an evolutionary compromise between birthing and walking upright; a wider pelvis would compromise efficient bipedal locomotion. But this hypothesis has now been called into question: According to new studies, wide hips do not reduce locomotor efficiency.

26 Apr 2016

Comprehensive review on sexual orientation

Over the last 50 years, political rights for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals have significantly broadened in some countries, while they have narrowed in others. In many parts of the world, political and popular support for LGB rights hinges on questions about the prevalence, causes, and consequences of non-heterosexual orientations.

26 Apr 2016

Study reveals how visceral fat contributes to insulin resistance, inflammation

Researchers have long-known that visceral fat - the kind that wraps around the internal organs - is more dangerous than subcutaneous fat that lies just under the skin around the belly, thighs and rear. But how visceral fat contributes to insulin resistance and inflammation has remained unknown.

26 Apr 2016

Salk scientists reveal how cellular fuel gauge plays unexpected role in development

Salk scientists have revealed how a cellular "fuel gauge" responsible for monitoring and managing cells' energy processes also has an unexpected role in development. This critical link could help researchers better understand cancer and diabetes pathways.

26 Apr 2016

Innovative strategy can reverse symptoms in neurodegenerative diseases

Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease are the two most common neurodegenerative disorders worldwide and cause untold suffering to millions of patients and their families. Treatments for these diseases are limited, and no cures exist. Now, a new study describes an innovative strategy that reverses symptoms in these neurodegenerative diseases - at least in fruit flies which had been genetically altered to model the diseases.

26 Apr 2016

Post-mortem toxicology screening has many phases

Prince's autopsy was conducted by A. Quinn Strobl, MD, FCAP, a member of the College of American Pathologists. The results are expected to take at least two weeks, perhaps as many as six full weeks. This tragedy has people asking again "Why do toxicology results take so long?"

26 Apr 2016

$Study finds TBS as independent contributor to fracture risk assessment$

Study finds TBS as independent contributor to fracture risk assessment

One of the most recent and extensively studied determinants of fracture risk is trabecular bone score (TBS). TBS, which is assessed by lumbar spine dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) imaging, provides information about the micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue. Previous studies have shown that TBS predicts fracture in postmenopausal women and older men. TBS is currently used in conjunction with BMD values to enhance the predictive ability of the widely used Fracture Risk Assessment tool (FRAX), a calculator used to assess an individual's 10-year risk of major osteoporotic fracture.

26 Apr 2016

Light-sensitive serotonin receptors may help study causes of anxiety, depression

Anxiety and depression are two of the most frequently occurring mental disorders worldwide. Light-activated nerve cells may indicate how they are formed.

26 Apr 2016

Study highlights potential emergence of new swine flu strains

The wide diversity of flu in pigs across multiple continents, mostly introduced from humans, highlights the significant potential of new swine flu strains emerging, according to a study to be published in eLife.

26 Apr 2016

Hearing socially meaningful sounds can modify ear’s ability to pick up those signals

Hearing socially meaningful sounds can change the ear and enable it to better detect those sounds, according to researchers at Georgia State University who studied the phenomenon in green treefrogs.

26 Apr 2016

Study identifies risk factors for asparaginase-induced pancreatitis in ALL patients

Researchers have identified a rare genetic variation associated with a dramatically increased risk of severe acute pancreatitis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients treated with the chemotherapy agent asparaginase. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital led the study, which appears today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

26 Apr 2016

Early maternal support boosts robust brain growth in kids

Children whose mothers were nurturing during the preschool years, as opposed to later in childhood, have more robust growth in brain structures associated with learning, memory and stress response than children with less supportive moms, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

26 Apr 2016