Think of it as a cancer therapy zag instead of a zig. While many groups are developing cancer therapies to target proteins and pathways that are highly active in cancer cells, a team of investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, with collaborators at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is taking a...
Category: <span>biological sciences</span>
Post
Extraordinary Case: 4 People Get Cancer From Donated Organs
There are rare instances wherein organ donors unwittingly pass infectious diseases to the organ recipients, but an even rarer occurrence is passing cancer through the transplant. In Europe, four people who received organs from a single donor develop breast cancer many months to several years after the transplant. What are some important things to know...
Post
Dangerous blood pressure spikes among blacks happen five times more often than average
Black adults experience dangerous spikes in high blood pressure, called a hypertensive crisis, at a rate that is five times the national average, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Joint Hypertension 2018 Scientific Sessions, an annual conference focused on recent advances in hypertension research. Hypertensive crisis is a complication of high blood...
Post
Infectious Theory of Alzheimer’s Disease Draws Fresh Interest
Dr. Leslie Norins is willing to hand over $1 million of his own money to anyone who can clarify something: Is Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia worldwide, caused by a germ? The search for the cause of Alzheimer’s has so far come up dry. Some researchers are now asking if germs play a role....
Post
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...
Post
Study: Kidney stones have distinct geological histories
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A geologist, a microscopist, and a doctor walk into a lab and, with their colleagues from across the nation, make a discovery that overturns centuries of thought about the nature and composition of kidney stones. The team’s key insight, reported in the journal Scientific Reports, is that kidney stones are built up...
Post
Reprogramming skin cells to repair themselves
Skin grafts are risky in an increasing number of patients, partly due to rising rates of diabetes This method by the Salk Institute could avoid dangerous outcomes UC San Diego biology professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte explains his work People with severe burns, bedsores or chronic diseases such as diabetes are at risk for developing...
Post
Swarms Of Tiny Magnetic Nanobots Could Be Used To Treat Blood Clots In The Near Future
In the future, nanobots will save lives. Scientists from Hong Kong have made a breakthrough in controlling swarms of minuscule robots to treat blood clots. A team of scientists has designed and implemented a strategy using oscillating magnetic fields to “reconfigure paramagnetic nanoparticles into ribbon-like swarms.” The strategy was published in the journal Nature. An...
Post
An egg a day may keep hair loss at bay, according to dermatologists in Japan
An egg a day may keep hair loss at bay, according to dermatologists in Japan. A series of studies, in which human hair follicles were implanted into mice, found that egg yolk stimulated the growth of new human hair cells. The research, published in the Journal Of Medicinal Food, revealed a compound in egg yolk which, when...
Post
Scientists Are Retooling Bacteria to Cure Disease
By manipulating DNA, researchers are trying to create microbes that, once ingested, work to treat a rare genetic condition — a milestone in synthetic biology. A newborn is tested for PKU, a rare inherited blood disorder, at a hospital in California.CreditCreditSpencer Grant/Science Source In a study carried out over the summer, a group of volunteers...