PENN STATE Knee injuries can be a scourge to collegiate and pro athletes alike, but Penn State researchers say a single measurement taken by a clinician may help predict whether a person is at risk for knee instability. The researchers found that measuring the distance between the tibial tubercle (TT) — a bony bump on...
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New study finds both components of blood pressure predict heart attack, stroke risk
by Kaiser Permanente Both numbers in a blood pressure reading—the “upper” systolic and the “lower” diastolic—independently predicted the risk of heart attack or stroke in a very large Kaiser Permanente study that included more than 36 million blood pressure readings from more than 1 million people. The study, which was published today in the New England Journal...
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Despite monitoring and risks, many still become pregnant while on acne drug
The acne drug isotretinoin — formerly sold as Accutane — is known to cause miscarriages and birth defects. But a new study finds that many women on the drug still become pregnant. Looking through the FDA’s adverse event reporting system, researchers found that between 1997 and 2017, more than 6,700 women became pregnant while taking...
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MIT study identifies dynamic drug duo that’s surprisingly effective against cancer
A huge range of drugs are in development to help fight cancer, but sometimes they work better in pairs than alone. Now researchers at MIT have identified a surprising new dynamic drug duo, combining two classes that are already beginning to be widely used. Interestingly, the combo appears to work in a completely different way to what scientists previously expected. The researchers started...
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Clemson researchers tie metabolic enzyme to obesity and fatty liver disease
The study was published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry CLEMSON UNIVERSITY CLEMSON, South Carolina – Researchers from Clemson University’s Environmental Toxicology Program have published research connecting an enzyme associated with detoxification to obesity and fatty liver disease, especially in males. William Baldwin, professor and graduate program coordinator in the College of Science’s department of biological sciences, and members of his laboratory used a novel mouse model...
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The way a single neuron processes information is never the same
by Hillary Sanctuary, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne How do neurons process information? Neurons are known to break down an incoming electrical signal into sub-units. Now, researchers at Blue Brain have discovered that dendrites, the neuron’s tree-like receptors, work together—dynamically and depending on the workload—for learning. The findings further our understanding of how we think and may inspire...
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Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer May Raise Risk of Alzheimer’s, Dementia
Posted Today For patients with prostate cancer, treating the disease with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is linked to a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, compared to patients who do not receive the therapy, according to a study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results were published in JAMA. Of the...
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Patterns in DNA reveal hundreds of unknown protein pairings
Posted Today Sequencing a genome is getting cheaper, but making sense of the resulting data remains hard. Researchers have now found a new way to extract useful information out of sequenced DNA. By cataloging subtle evolutionary signatures shared between pairs of genes in bacteria, the team was able to discover hundreds of previously unknown protein interactions. This method...
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GENE THERAPY RESTORES VISION IN BLIND MICE
The Rain Has Gone Thanks to a new gene therapy targeting specific cells in the eye, blind mice have regained the ability to see. A team of neuroscientists developed a treatment that re-activated the Cngb1 gene, which when disabled causes light-detecting rod cells found in the retina to deteriorate, according to research recently published in the journal JNeurosci. The recovered rod cells not only regained the...
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A cure for blindness: Father, 35, who suddenly lost his sight aged nine is among six patients to have their vision restored by pioneering treatment that beams images directly into the brain
Five men and one woman have regained vision after years of ‘living in the dark’ They had electrode chips planted in the visual cortex at the back of their skulls These picked up images from a tiny video camera mounted in a pair of glasses One of the participants, Benjamin James Spencer, who went blind aged nine, described his joy at seeing his wife and three daughters for the...