The combination of a common cancer drug and another cancer medication is more effective than some standalone drugs in stopping the progression of colorectal cancer. It also reduces unpleasant side effects. Dr. Richard Goldberg, director of the West Virginia University Cancer Institute in Morgantown, wanted to look for new ways to slow the progression of colorectal...
Post
Exome sequencing provides genetic diagnosis for some with CKD
Emily E. Groopman, from Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues conducted exome sequencing and diagnostic analysis for 3,315 patients with chronic kidney disease (two cohorts). A total of 3,037 patients were over age 21 years and 35.6 percent were self-identified as non-European ancestry. (HealthDay)—Genes are responsible for approximately one in 10 cases of chronic kidney...
Post
Experts treat severe, disfiguring sarcoidosis with novel therapy
An all-Yale team of researchers successfully treated a patient with disfiguring sarcoidosis, a chronic disease that can affect multiple organs, with a drug approved for rheumatoid arthritis. Successful treatment of two other patients with similarly severe disease suggests an effective treatment for an incurable, sometimes life-threatening illness is within reach, the scientists said. Credit: CC0...
Post
Study identifies genetic mutation responsible for tuberculosis vulnerability
If you live in the United States, you are unlikely to come into contact with the microbe that causes tuberculosis. Your odds of encountering the microbe are so low, in fact, that risk factors for the disease can easily go unnoticed: If you happened to carry a gene that predisposed you to tuberculosis, you likely...
Post
Synaptic protein regulates anxiety behaviour
Anxiety disorders are severe mental disorders in which patients suffer from intense fears and anxiety or from sudden, inexplicable panic attacks. In extreme cases, the affected individuals barely leave their homes, which can have serious consequences for their relationships with family and friends as well as for their professional lives. Scientists at the Max Planck...
Post
Human blood cells can be directly reprogrammed into neural stem cells
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the stem cell institute HI-STEM in Heidelberg have succeeded for the first time in directly reprogramming human blood cells into a previously unknown type of neural stem cell. These induced stem cells are similar to those that occur during the early embryonic development of the central...
Post
A tilt of the head facilitates social engagement, researchers say
Every time we look at a face, we take in a flood of information effortlessly: age, gender, race, expression, the direction of our subject’s gaze, perhaps even their mood. Faces draw us in and help us navigate relationships and the world around us. How the brain does this is a mystery. Understanding how facial recognition works...
Post
Researchers review applications, properties, and pharmacological potentials of rose hip
The genus Rosa from family Rosaceae is one of the most widespread species from the family. One species, rose hip (rose haw), is known as a good source of different types of micronutrients and phytochemicals such as phenolic acids, tannins, and flavonoids. It is known as a traditional treatment in folk medicine. It has been used for...
Post
Why You Should Have Heart Surgery in the Afternoon
“You know how Carl Sagan said that we have billions of stars? Well, we have billions of clocks,” says Carrie Partch. “Someday I think there’s going to be this palm-to-forehead moment where we all say: I cannot believe we didn’t understand that every form of life on this planet has a clock that links us to...
Post
Hope for millions of men with enlarged prostates as scientists discover the gland can be shrunk with direct injections of alcohol
Injecting ethanol directly into the prostate could shrink it by more than a third And it reduces how often men need to get up in the night to urinate One expert said the pioneering treatment is ‘excellent news’ Researchers in Venezuela have trialled the therapy on 60 middle-aged men Injecting alcohol directly into the prostate gland could...