By Catharine Paddock, Ph.D. Fact checked by Isabel Godfrey Over the last decade, scientists have been discovering that microglia, a type of immune cell that resides in the brain, do more than respond to illness and infection. Now, new research in mice has linked the dysfunction of microglia of a particular genetic lineage to anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)....
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High fiber, yogurt diet associated with lower lung cancer risk
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER A diet high in fiber and yogurt is associated with a reduced risk for lung cancer, according to a study by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers published in JAMA Oncology. IMAGE: SENIOR AUTHOR XIAO-OU SHU, MD, PHD, MPH, INGRAM PROFESSOR OF CANCER RESEARCH, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR GLOBAL HEALTH AND CO-LEADER OF...
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IKBFU researchers have discovered another natural antioxidant — alder bark
An alder bark may become a great source of anti-aging and anti-disease natural antioxidants IMMANUEL KANT BALTIC FEDERAL UNIVERSITY An alder bark may become a great source of anti-aging and anti-disease natural antioxidants. That’s the results discovered by the IKBFU’s Institute of Living Systems researchers. For the past 10 years, the workers of the IKBFU’s...
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Ultrastructure of focal adhesion scaffold unveiled in human pluripotent stem cells
UNIVERSITY OF TURKU Focal adhesions are known as signalling platforms broadcasting the information of the biochemical and physical qualities of the extracellular matrix into intracellular signalling cascades. However, focal adhesions remain unstudied in the context of human pluripotent stem cells. The research group from the Turku Bioscience Centre at the University of Turku in Finland...
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A new discovery: How our memories stabilize while we sleep
CNRS Scientists at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CNRS/Collège de France/INSERM)[1] have shown that delta waves emitted while we sleep are not generalized periods of silence during which the cortex rests, as has been described for decades in the scientific literature. Instead, they isolate assemblies of neurons that play an essential role in long-term memory formation. These...
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No link found between youth contact sports and cognitive, mental health problems
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER Adolescents who play contact sports, including football, are no more likely to experience cognitive impairment, depression or suicidal thoughts in early adulthood than their peers, suggests a new University of Colorado Boulder study of nearly 11,000 youth followed for 14 years. The study, published this month in the Orthopaedic Journal...
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Autism spectrum disorder risk linked to insufficient placental steroid
Single ALLO injection during pregnancy was enough to avert both the cerebellar abnormalities and the aberrant social behaviors in experimental models CHILDREN’S NATIONAL HOSPITAL CHICAGO-A study in experimental models suggests that allopregnanolone, one of many hormones produced by the placenta during pregnancy, is so essential to normal fetal brain development that when provision of that...
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SciLifeLab and AstraZeneca use cryo-EM to advance biomedicine
Research team of Alexey Amunts in collaboration with AstraZeneca unravel the extracellular region of the receptor tyrosine kinase RET involved in degenerative diseases. SCIENCE FOR LIFE LABORATORY The study published in Science Advancesreveals the mechanism by which the receptor tyrosine kinase RET can increase neuronal survival in degenerative diseases. To understand the mechanism of this signalling...
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Creatine powers T cells’ fight against cancer
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – LOS ANGELES HEALTH SCIENCES Creatine, the organic acid that is popularly taken as a supplement by athletes and bodybuilders, serves as a molecular battery for immune cells by storing and distributing energy to power their fight against cancer, according to new UCLA research. The study, conducted in mice and published in...
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Microbiome: Untapped source of novel antimicrobials
by Delthia Ricks , Medical Xpress Just as Gold Rush prospectors once mined the Northern California hills for the shiny precious metal, “bioprospectors” are searching for a new prize: potential antimicrobial molecules—and they are hunting them down in the human microbiome. For nearly two decades scientists have been lifting the veil of mystery from the...