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Homeostasis may have allowed first living cells to maintain internal environment

A Massachusetts General Hospital research team investigating how the earliest stages of life might have developed has discovered a way the first living cells could have met a key challenge -- maintaining a constant internal environment, a process called homeostasis, even when external conditions change.

17 Mar 2016

Scientists discover variation in organ growth when body size changes

Scientists at the University of Sussex have discovered how parts of organs grow differently when body size changes.

17 Mar 2016

Research shows probiotic B. longum KACC 91563 has ability to reduce effects of food allergies

Lactobacillus might sound familiar when the topic of probiotics comes up, but they are only one of many types of bacteria that have proven health benefits.

16 Mar 2016

Mexican doctor develops prosthesis that provides sensations like natural hand

Thanks to the electrodes system a stable signal is obtained, which allows precise control like handling an egg without breaking. It also provides sensations as if it were a real hand.

16 Mar 2016

Anti-anxiety drug reduces autistic features in Jacobsen syndrome mice

About half of children born with Jacobsen syndrome, a rare inherited disease, experience social and behavioral issues consistent with autism spectrum disorders. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and collaborators developed a mouse model of the disease that also exhibits autism-like social behaviors and used it to unravel the molecular mechanism that connects the genetic defects inherited in Jacobsen syndrome to effects on brain function.

16 Mar 2016

Kanazawa University researchers identify molecular mechanism that links liver disease and obesity

Kanazawa University researchers find similarities in the impeded signalling between central insulin activity and glucose production in the liver for both obese mice and mice that have had the vagus nerve removed.

16 Mar 2016

Scientists find evidence that amyloid fibrils adopt several distinct architectures in human, animal tissues

Formation of amyloid fibrils is a characteristic feature of neurogenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. As published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, German and American scientists have found evidence that these fibrils adopt several distinct three-dimensional architectures in real patient and animal tissues.

16 Mar 2016

Neural stem cells from T cell-derived iPSCs provide neurological disease model

Researchers in Japan report that neural stem cells derived from readily available T cell-derived iPSCs provide a neurological disease model when cultured in a novel protocol developed by them. The findings are important for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and are published in Stem Cell Reports, March 2016.

16 Mar 2016

Fujitsu Laboratories develops new technology that accelerates database analyses of genomic information

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. announced the development of a technology that accelerates database analyses of the correlations between genomic variations and environmental information, such as disease and lifestyle habits. This technology speeds up the process by a factor of roughly 400 compared to existing methods.

16 Mar 2016

Caloric restriction leads to fatale weakening of the immune system

It's already well known that a diet may have a life-extending effect. Researchers from Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute in Jena, Germany, now showed that besides improving the functionality of stem cells in mice, a caloric restriction also leads to a fatale weakening of their immune system - counteracting the life-lengthening effect of a diet.

16 Mar 2016

Distinct brain networks support retrieval of old and recent memories

When we remember events which occurred recently, the hippocampus is activated. This area in the temporal lobe of the brain is a hub for learning and memory. But what happens, if we try to remember things that took place years or decades ago? Neuroscientists at the Ruhr-University Bochum and the Osaka University have been able to give some answers to this question.

16 Mar 2016

New method to harvest stem cells reduces side effects for donors

Australian scientists have developed a new method for harvesting stem cells, which is less invasive and reduces side effects for donors.

16 Mar 2016

Researchers explore problem of obesity from the inside out

In the last 40 years, obesity has more than doubled around the world. In the United States, the average American is more than 24 pounds heavier today than in 1960. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the University of Washington are studying the problem of obesity from the inside out.

16 Mar 2016

Cell-based tests reveal no activity in cells exposed to vapour from Vype ePen

A series of cell-based tests developed to compare the biological impact of cigarette smoke with e-cigarette vapour revealed no activity in cells exposed to vapour from Vype ePen, a commercially available e-cigarette.

16 Mar 2016

Theoretical modelling helps to understand interior structures of cubosomes

Under certain conditions appropriately selected particles can form closed surfaces in liquids with surprisingly complex shapes, cutting through space by a regular network of channels. So far, we have looked at cubosomes - for this is what these spectacular three-dimensional nanostructures are called - only from the outside.

16 Mar 2016

Genetic study in Sub-Saharan Africa hopes to provide new information about etiology of prostate cancer

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers are leading a multicenter genetic study of prostate cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa to try to find new information about the genetic etiology of prostate cancer

16 Mar 2016

MicroRNA can help combat obesity and diabetes

Obesity, which is associated with low-grade inflammation, is an important contributor in the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. While the role of several organs including adipose tissue have been implicated in this process, the cell types and factors driving this process have not been clear.

16 Mar 2016

Global research links genes to five common, hard-to-treat inflammatory diseases

A global study involving 50 different research centres has found hundreds of genes which cause five common, hard-to-treat and debilitating inflammatory diseases, paving the way to new treatments for these conditions

16 Mar 2016

Omega-3 fatty acids improve cognitive function in older adults

Changes in cognitive function and memory decline form a normal part of aging. However, in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment (the pre-dementia phase of Alzheimer's disease), these changes occur more quickly. There are currently no effective treatments for these diseases.

16 Mar 2016

Scientists explore new strategies to prevent onset of type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes affects 30,000 individuals throughout Germany and is the most common metabolic disease in children and adolescents. To halt the ever-increasing incidence, the young investigator group "Immunological Tolerance in Type 1 Diabetes" at the Institute of Diabetes Research directed by Prof. Dr. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler is exploring new strategies to prevent the onset of the disease.

16 Mar 2016