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Clinical depression during early childhood can change the brain's anatomy

The brains of children who suffer clinical depression as preschoolers develop abnormally, compared with the brains of preschoolers unaffected by the disorder, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

17 Dec 2015

Humans get better sleep in less time than our closest animal relatives

Insomniacs take heart: Humans get by on significantly less sleep than our closest animal relatives. The secret, according to a new study, is that our sleep is more efficient.

17 Dec 2015

Converting white fat cells into beige fat cells could help fight obesity

The body's ability to harness heat production by converting white fat cells, which store calories, into beige fat cells, which burn energy, could help fight obesity, according to researchers at Georgia State University.

17 Dec 2015

Researcher presents quantitative model of electrical cascades activated in the brain during perceptual tasks

The word 'avalanche' is generally associated with violent and unexpected events -- such as rockslides, or the sudden collapse of unstable drifts of snow. But in brain research, avalanches -- intermittent cascades of electrical activity -- are everyday occurrences that are not only peaceful, but actually reflect stability.

17 Dec 2015

Researchers identify how immune cells triggered by recurrent Strep A infections affect the brain

Researchers have discovered how immune cells triggered by recurrent Strep A infections enter the brain, causing inflammation that may lead to autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders in children.

16 Dec 2015

Mitochondrial variation and viable pregnancy: an interview with Dr Elpida Fragouli

Embryos require adequate amounts of energy so that they can successfully progress through each of their cell divisions.

16 Dec 2015

Researchers find new way to prevent or reduce pathologies caused by malformed proteins

Improperly formed proteins can cause a host of serious illnesses, from muscular dystrophy to cystic fibrosis. A question of enormous import in research, beyond the challenge of determining how malformed proteins contribute to specific disease processes, is figuring out ways to prevent or reduce the pathologies they cause.

16 Dec 2015

Study offers new view of how cancer cells transform normal cells through 'metastatic hijacking'

Metastasis - or the spread of cancer from one part of the body to other parts - accounts for more than 90 percent of cancer-related deaths. Although the cells that seed metastasis and the sites that they tend to travel to have been increasingly studied over the years, little has been known about how cancer migrates from a primary site, such as breast tissue, to a secondary site, such as the brain or bone marrow.

16 Dec 2015

Many gene variants affect person's response to medication

In recent decades much hope was based on the development of personalised drug treatments, in which genetic tests determine the choice and optimal dose of medication for each individual patient. However, the real breakthrough is still to be seen, and now researchers at Karolinska Institutet show in two separate scientific papers that many more gene variants affect how a person responds to medication than previously thought - and thus that today's analytical tools are too coarse.

16 Dec 2015

New study finds a reason for ethnic disparity in CF diagnoses

Cystic fibrosis (CF) occurs less frequently in nonwhites than in whites, and nonwhites tend to be diagnosed at a later age. This late diagnosis often comes only once they have become symptomatic, rather than through newborn screening programs or molecular diagnostic testing.

16 Dec 2015

Study paves way for development of novel cancer therapeutics

A team of scientists, comprising researchers from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, a research institute under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, and the VIB Laboratory of Molecular Cancer Biology, has revealed the mechanism by which tumor cells elevate levels of MDM4, a protein that is highly expressed in cancer cells but not in normal adult tissues.

16 Dec 2015

High testosterone levels in women may increase uterine fibroid risk

Women who have high levels of both testosterone and estrogen in midlife may face a greater risk of developing benign tumors on the uterus called uterine fibroids than women with low levels of the hormones, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

16 Dec 2015

Study points to future treatment for post-stroke damage

A study of rats released today shows that blocking a type of RNA produced by what used to be called "junk DNA" can prevent a significant portion of the neural destruction that follows a stroke. The research points toward a future treatment for post-stroke damage, which is often more extensive than the initial destruction that results when blood to the brain is temporarily shut off.

16 Dec 2015

Carbohydrates boost endurance sports performance

Carbohydrates are the body's main energy source during high-intensity, prolonged running, a new study published in Journal of Applied Physiology reports.

16 Dec 2015

Brain regions cause PTSD patients to generalize non-threatening events

Regions of the brain function differently among people with post-traumatic stress disorder, causing them to generalize non-threatening events as if they were the original trauma, according to new research from Duke Medicine and the Durham VA Medical Center.

16 Dec 2015

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation does not provide improvement for patients with Crohn disease

Among adults with difficult to treat Crohn disease not amenable to surgery, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, compared with conventional therapy, did not result in significant improvement in sustained disease remission at l year and was associated with significant toxicity, according to a study in the December 15 issue of JAMA.

16 Dec 2015

CTE can be diagnosed by neuropathological examination of brain tissue

For the first time, CTE has been confirmed as a unique disease that can be definitively diagnosed by neuropathological examination of brain tissue. A consensus panel of expert neuropathologists concluded that CTE has a pathognomonic signature in the brain, an advance that represents a milestone for CTE research and lays the foundation for future studies defining the clinical symptoms, genetic risk factors and therapeutic strategies for CTE.

16 Dec 2015

Researchers identify dazzling new method for visualizing neurons

Researchers have discovered a dazzling new method of visualizing neurons that promises to benefit neuroscientists and cell biologists alike: by using spectral confocal microscopy to image tissues impregnated with silver or gold.

16 Dec 2015

IIASA researchers provide new measures to replace old-age dependency ratio

Conventional measures of age usually define people as 'old' at one chronological age, often 65. In many countries around the world, age 65 is used as a cutoff for everything from pension age to health care systems, as the basis of a demographic measure known as the 'old-age dependency ratio,' which defines everyone over 65 as depending on the population between ages 20 and 65.

16 Dec 2015

TSRI scientists track how HIV-fighting antibodies develop over time

In a new study, a team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute tracked how a family of these HIV-fighting antibodies develops over time. The research shows how a future vaccine might trigger the immune system to produce these antibodies more effectively.

16 Dec 2015