PARP inhibitors show promise in preventing toxic accumulations of brain disease proteins in Penn research study UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE PHILADELPHIA – A class of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors could be useful for treating and preventing brain disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, and some forms of...
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Genes drive aging, making normal processes damaging
Ageing in worms mainly results from the direct action of genes and not from random wear and tear or loss of function, and the same is likely to be true in humans, according to research by UCL, Lancaster University and Queen Mary University of London scientists. IMAGE: THE DETERIORATIVE PART OF AGEING, CALLED ‘SENESCENCE’, IS THE...
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Single transplantation of therapeutic macrophages improves rare lung disease in mice
Hereditary pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (herPAP) is a rare disease characterized by the slow build-up of lipo-protein material in the lungs due to the failure of highly specialized cells called macrophages, which usually eat away this material from the pulmonary air-space. On August 9 in the journal Stem Cell Reports, researchers in Germany demonstrate that a single...
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Scientists find that common dietary elements cure lethal infections, eliminating the need for antibiotics
Antibiotic use is driving an epidemic of antibiotic resistance, as more susceptible bacteria are killed but more resilient strains live on and multiply with abandon. But if antibiotics aren’t the end-all solution for infectious disease, what is? Salk scientists find that common dietary elements cure lethal infections, eliminating the need for antibiotics. From left: (front)...
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First FDA-approved study of focused ultrasound to open blood-brain barrier
In the first such clinical trial in the United States, physician-scientists with the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) are investigating the use of MRI-guided focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier. The trial will be conducted with patients undergoing brain cancer surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). The blood-brain barrier is a...
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Possible treatment for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease discovered
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is the most common hereditary neuropathy and affects more than 2 million people worldwide. Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine and the University Medical Center of Göttingen now hope to use lecithin, a harmless dietary supplement, to treat the incurable illness. Compared to healthy rats (left), rats with the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (central)...
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Nerve cells use brain waves to judge importance
The precise interaction of brain waves and nerve cells may be decisive for the amazing ability of our brain to separate important from unimportant information, even when we are flooded with stimuli. Researchers at the University of Tübingen and the Technical University of Munich have been able to show through experiments on Rhesus monkeys that...
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Wristband Performs Blood Cell Counts to Monitor Health Anywhere
The popularity of smart watches, activity trackers, and other wearable devices is in large part due to the hope that such tools can help monitor health. While new products keep coming out, progress on embedding sensors that can monitor things other than one’s heart rate and activity level has stalled. Now researches at Rutgers University...
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Keto diet: Scientists find link to diabetes risk
By finding a link to a condition that raises the risk of type 2 diabetes, new research questions the health benefits of ketogenic diets. Is there a link between diabetes and the keto diet? Ketogenic diets are low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets that have been shown to reduce weight. They change metabolism so that energy comes from...
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MSU scientists unraveled the influence of aging on kidneys regeneration ability
LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY Autophagy is a process of destruction and processing of damaged cell components by the cells themselves. It is used by a cell to clean itself of excessive organelles and sometimes for self-execution. This adaptive mechanism supports a healthy phenotype on the cellular level. Autophagy is activated in certain cases of acute...