By Rich Haridy April 16, 2020 A new study is presenting the most current meta-analysis of published observational research investigating whether long-term aspirin use reduces the risk of developing digestive tract cancers. While the results suggest aspirin may help prevent some cancers, some experts question how useful this kind of associational study is, particularly when...
by Salk Institute Persistent inflammation of the pancreas (chronic pancreatitis) is a known risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer, the third-deadliest cancer in the United States. Tuft cells—cells sensitive to chemical (chemosensory) changes typically found in the intestines and respiratory tract—had previously been discovered in the pancreas, but their function has largely remained a mystery....
A glove-like device which taps into a user’s semi-conscious mind to record the creativity of their dreams has been developed by scientists. The glove, named the Dormio, records users as they begin dreaming before falling fully asleep – a state known as hypnagogia. This stage takes place in the moment between sleep and wakefulness, and...
CAMBRIDGE, MA — One of the defining features of Covid-19 is the excessive immune response that can occur in severe cases. This burst of immune overreaction, also called a cytokine storm, damages the lungs and can be fatal. A team of MIT researchers has developed specialized proteins, similar in structure to antibodies, that they believe...
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For more than 40 years, scientists have hypothesized the existence of enzyme clusters, or “metabolons,” in facilitating various processes within cells. Using a novel imaging technology combined with mass spectrometry, researchers at Penn State, for the first time, have directly observed functional metabolons involved in generating purines, the most abundant cellular...
By Nick Lavars One of the serious and enduring side effects of a spinal cord injury can be the gradual development of regular muscle spasms, something that afflicts around 70 percent of sufferers, according to researchers at the University of Copenhagen. These scientists may have uncovered an effective new treatment for this side effect in...
When people think of glutamate, the first thing they remember is the flavour enhancer that is often used in Asian cuisine. Glutamate is also an important messenger substance in the nervous system of humans. There it plays a role in learning processes and memory. Some Alzheimer drugs, for example, slow down the progression of the...
Scientists across the globe are rushing to find inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic. Some are using computer simulations to identify promising compounds before conducting actual experiments in the lab. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have used computer modeling to assess four peptides that mimic the virus-binding domain of the...
After eluding researchers for more than 30 years, the VP3 protein of rotavirus has finally revealed its unique structure and function to a team led by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine. The researchers discovered that VP3 consists of four molecular modules that uniquely integrate five enzymatic activities that are necessary for capping messenger-RNA (mRNA),...
by Technical University Munich 130 million people in Europe suffer from hay fever and other forms of allergic rhinitis. Until now, these conditions have typically been diagnosed using blood samples or skin prick tests. The latter method is often seen as particularly uncomfortable because the skin is exposed to various allergens and punctured with a...
