Many athletes and gym-goers are turning to a popular but potentially dangerous new pill to help them build muscle and gain strength: a steroid alternative known as SARMs. The pills are widely marketed online as “legal steroids” that provide the muscle-building benefits of anabolic steroids without the troubling side effects. And while the products are...
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Promising cancer drug aces human clinical trials
A new cancer drug known as BLU-667 has moved through phase I human trials, and the results are promising. Taken orally, the drug targets what are known as RET-driven cancers, including types of thyroid and lung cancers, which are normally hard to treat. A new cancer drug, known as BLU-667, has shown promise in human...
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Enigmatic gene critical for a healthy brain
A cross section of the mouse olfactory bulb. Green is electroporated neuroblasts born in the sub ventricular zone that migrated into the olfactory bulb. Blue is a DAPI nuclear counterstain. Credit: Francis Szele New research has shown how an unusual gene is needed for brain development in young mice. Since the human genome was first sequenced in...
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How the brain’s ‘immune memory’ may lead to Alzheimer’s
A new study shows that microglia, which are the immune cells of the central nervous system, can “remember” inflammation. This “memory” influences how the cells react to new stimuli and deal with a toxic plaque in the brain, a marker of Alzheimer’s disease. The brain’s immune cells remember previous inflammation. Microglia, sometimes referred to as...
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Application of stem cells in tissue engineering for defense medicine
Abstract The dynamic nature of modern warfare, including threats and injuries faced by soldiers, necessitates the development of countermeasures that address a wide variety of injuries. Tissue engineering has emerged as a field with the potential to provide contemporary solutions. In this review, discussions focus on the applications of stem cells in tissue engineering to...
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Beyond PD-L1: Taking away TIM3 and Tregs stops cancer regrowth after immunotherapy
Radiation treatment can boost the effectiveness of anti-cancer immunotherapy. Still, some patients fail to respond to this combination, and while the combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy is very good at creating remission, it’s not very good at sustaining it. Now a University of Colorado Cancer Center study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research...
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Epstein-Barr virus protein can ‘switch on’ risk genes for autoimmune diseases
EBV may trigger some cases of lupus, say, NIH-supported researchers Infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the cause of infectious mononucleosis, has been associated with subsequent development of systemic lupus erythematosus and other chronic autoimmune illnesses, but the mechanisms behind this association have been unclear. Now, a novel computational method shows that a viral protein found...
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Scientists discover hidden structure of enigmatic ‘backwards’ neural connections
For decades the neuroscience community has been baffled by the existence of dense connections in the brain that seem to be going “backward”. These connections, which span extensively across distant areas of the neocortex – the part of the brain responsible for higher cognitive functions – are clearly conveying important information. But until now, the...
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Hope for new treatment of severe epilepsy
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden believe they have found a method that in the future could help people suffering from epilepsy so severe that all current treatment is ineffective. “In mice studies, we succeeded in reducing seizure activity by intervening in an area of the brain that is not the focus of the epileptic...
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Reversing brain injury in newborns and adults
Discovery of the new molecule could lead to more effective treatments for MS, dementia, cerebral palsy OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITYIMAGE: STEPHEN BACK, M.D., PH.D., CLYDE AND ELDA MUNSON PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRIC RESEARCH AND PEDIATRICS, OHSU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, OHSU DOERNBECHER CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL. Children and adults diagnosed with brain conditions such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis...