Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified four types of neurons in the peripheral auditory system, three of which are new to science. The analysis of these cells can lead to new therapies for various kinds of hearing disorders, such as tinnitus and age-related hearing loss. The study is published in Nature Communications. When sound reaches...
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Cocaine addiction traced to increase in number of orexin neurons
A study in Biological Psychiatry identifies a critical role of the orexin system in the expression of an addicted state in rats A study in cocaine-addicted rats reports long-lasting increases in the number of neurons that produce orexin–a chemical messenger important for sleep and appetite–that may be at the root of the addiction. The study, performed by researchers at...
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Researchers uncover previously unstudied cancer enzyme
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES Researchers do not know how all the proteins and enzymes in the human body function, far from it. Now researchers at the University of Copenhagen have come a bit closer to understanding how an enzyme that appears to be important to cancer development behaves inside the cells. The...
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Mitochondria come together to kill cancer cells
Uncovered details of a molecular pathway in cancer cells could lead to improved treatment. Targeting a pathway that controls the movement of mitochondria, the powerhouses of all cells, could reduce cancer invasiveness and resistance to radiotherapy. IMAGE: DISPERSED MITOCHONDRIA (GREEN, LEFT) AGGREGATED WHEN ARF6 WAS DISRUPTED (RIGHT) IN A CANCER CELL, LEADING TO EXCESSIVE PRODUCTION OF...
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Caffeine consumption may extend life expectancy for people with kidney disease
A new study in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation indicates that consuming more caffeine may help reduce the risk of death for people with chronic kidney disease. An inverse relationship between coffee consumption and mortality has been reported in the general population. However, the association between caffeine consumption and mortality for people with chronic kidney disease remains...
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Could a placebo pill help ease your back pain?
(HealthDay)—With millions of pain-plagued Americans looking for an alternative to opioids, the solution for some might be no medicine at all. New research suggests that a good many back pain patients might find relief in a “dummy” sugar pill, eliminating their need for strong medication. About half the chronic back pain patients in a new...
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Anti-ageing drugs are coming – an expert explains
There will be almost 10 billion people living on Earth by 2050 and 2 billion of them will be over the age of 60. Growing old is the primary risk factor for multiple chronic and life-threatening conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease. This burdensome morbidity is the most distressing aspect of old age – compromising...
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Researchers find answers as to why some people are at risk of gout
University of Otago researchers has helped characterize a genetic variant that enables new understanding of why some people are at risk of gout, a painful and debilitating arthritic disease. Image: Gout in X-ray of left foot. Credit: Hellerhoff/Wikipedia. Gout is caused by persistently elevated levels of urate in the blood, which causes severe joint pain and swelling,...
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A better map of targets
LA JOLLA, Calif.—Even before the struggle of developing molecules that are safe and effective against therapeutic targets, drug developers face the issue of identifying those targets in the first place. There are about 25,000 proteins in the human body, but broad methods for determining which proteins are “druggable” are few. Researchers at The Scripps Research...
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New NCATS-Supported Test Could Provide Faster Diagnosis of Deadly Disease
Every year, diarrheal disease kills more than 1 million people, mostly children in the developing world. To treat the illness effectively, health care providers need to know its cause. Currently, a diagnosis requires sending a stool sample to a lab for expensive tests, then waiting to find out if the patient has a bacterial or...