Medical Science News

RSS

HSCI researchers find surprising similarities between SMA and ALS

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers studying spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) have found what they term "surprising similarities" between this childhood disorder that attacks motor neurons and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

25 Sep 2015

Sticky, protein-rich gel improves cardiac function after simulated heart attacks

A sticky, protein-rich gel created by Johns Hopkins researchers appears to help stem cells stay on or in rat hearts and restore their metabolism after transplantation, improving cardiac function after simulated heart attacks, according to results of a new study.

25 Sep 2015

Brain & Behavior Research Foundation announces recipients of NARSAD Young Investigator Grants

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation today announced the award of its NARSAD Young Investigator Grants valued at more than $13 million to 191 of the world's most promising young scientists.

24 Sep 2015

Protein-coding gene identified as tumor suppressor for acute myeloid leukemia

A protein-coding gene called hnRNP K has been identified as a tumor suppressor for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a finding that could be important for investigating how best to target treatment of a blood cancer striking mostly older individuals.

24 Sep 2015

Study compares general and domain-specific measures of self-control to predict consumer behavior

You can resist buying a candy bar while you're waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store--but you'll buy any pair of shoes that are on sale. Your best friend, in contrast, wouldn't dream of buying a pair of shoes he thinks he doesn't need, no matter how low the price--but he can't resist buying that same candy bar you so easily ignore.

24 Sep 2015

Researchers reveal potential new treatment methods for fatal brain disease

Researchers from the University of Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich reveal possible new treatment methods for a rare, usually fatal brain disease. Thanks to their discovery that specific antibodies play a key role in combating the viral infection, a vaccine against the disease "progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy" could now be developed.

24 Sep 2015

New technique allows scientists to see blood-forming stem cells present in the bone marrow

A team of scientists at the Children's Research Institute at UT Southwestern has become the first to use a tissue-clearing technique to localize a rare stem cell population, in the process cracking open a black box containing detailed information about where blood-forming stem cells are located and how they are maintained.

24 Sep 2015

Discovery opens door to more targeted, effective treatments for cancer

In a discovery that could lead to more targeted and effective treatments for certain lung and prostate cancers, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have identified two new cancer-causing gene mutations - mutations that may be particularly susceptible to cancer-fighting drugs already approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. One of the gene mutations also may play a key role in early menopause.

24 Sep 2015

Neuroscientists reveal the brain malady responsible for tinnitus, chronic pain

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center and Germany's Technische Universität München say they've uncovered the brain malady responsible for tinnitus and for chronic pain — the uncomfortable, sometimes agonizing sensations that persist long after an initial injury.

24 Sep 2015

Research suggests potential drug targets to stop cancer spread

It only takes seconds: one cancerous cell breaks off from a tumor, slips into the bloodstream and quickly lodges elsewhere in the body. These colonizers may bloom into deadly metastatic cancer right away or lie dormant for years, only to trigger a recurrence decades after the primary tumor is removed.

24 Sep 2015

Stanford researchers successfully defeat C. difficile bacteria

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists successfully defeated a dangerous intestinal pathogen, Clostridium difficile, with a drug targeting its toxins rather than its life.

24 Sep 2015

Novel approach promises easier way to detect protein fibers implicated in neuro-degenerative diseases

Liquid crystals are familiar to most of us as the somewhat humdrum stuff used to make computer displays and TVs. Even for scientists, it has not been easy to find other ways of using them.

24 Sep 2015

TUM, Stanford University scientists create new cancer therapy concept

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer and one of the most difficult to treat. Its high resistance to treatment is a major problem, particularly in the advanced stages.

24 Sep 2015

Scientists trace out intricate molecular pathway that may explain tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer patients

For reasons unknown, many patients with breast cancer treated with the estrogen receptor-blocking drug tamoxifen eventually become resistant to the treatment despite the fact that their cancer cells still have the estrogen receptor proteins that the drug normally targets.

24 Sep 2015

Study uses genome- and epigenome-editing tools to determine disease-causing variants

A paper receiving advance online release in Nature Medicine describes a strategy for meeting one of today's most significant challenges in genomic medicine - determining whether a specific DNA variant in the non-protein-coding genome is the actual disease-causing variant of an associated disease risk.

24 Sep 2015

Researchers develop promising metal-based compound to fight kidney cancer

Researchers developed a promising metal-based compound that destroys kidney cancer cells, while leaving normal cells unharmed. The findings may provide a new way of treating kidney cancer, opening the potential for more potent and less toxic therapies that would give cancer patients a better quality of life.

24 Sep 2015

Soft palate plays key role in viruses' ability to spread

Flu viruses come in many strains, and some are better equipped than others to spread from person to person. Scientists have now discovered that the soft palate -- the soft tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth -- plays a key role in viruses' ability to travel through the air from one person to another.

24 Sep 2015