by Anthony King, Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine Young parents are showing to their daughter the best way to brush teeth. Credit: Nebojsa Tatomirov, Shutterstock Did you ever think that a simple task like brushing your teeth could actually keep your lungs healthy—in addition to preventing cavities and gum disease? From chewing sticks...
by Mike Silver, Tufts University Illustration of a lipid nanoparticle surrounded by plasma proteins. Credit: Min Qiu Tufts researchers are building a reputation for precision targeting in drug delivery. Their tools: tiny lipid-based nanoparticles (LNPs) fine-tuned to latch on to specific tissues, organs, even cell types within the body. Their latest creation: LNPs that carry...
by University of California, Los Angeles Healthy airways (left) show well-defined layers of ciliated cells (green) and basal stem cells (red). In airways affected by cystic fibrosis (right), the layers are disrupted, and scientists identified a transitioning cell type that combines properties of both stem cells and ciliated cells (red and green in the same cell)....
by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Credit: Anne Weston, Francis Crick Institute A gene not previously linked to cancer has been shown to play a key role in the spread of certain cancers to the lungs, new research from scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute has shown. The team found that when the gene LRRN4CL was over-expressed in mice,...
by University of Cambridge Credit: CC0 Public Domain A team of engineers has identified the ‘violent’ physical processes at work inside the lungs which cause wheezing, a condition which affects up to a quarter of the world’s population. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used modelling and high-speed video techniques to show what causes wheezing and...
EUROPEAN LUNG FOUNDATION IMAGE: CT SCAN OF PATIENT’S LUNGS SHOWING COVID-19 DAMAGE IN RED. COVID-19 patients can suffer long-term lung and heart damage but, for many, this tends to improve over time, according to the first, prospective follow-up of patients infected with the coronavirus, presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress. [1] Researchers in...
by Jacqueline Carey, University of Illinois at Chicago Macrophages are white blood cells that, depending on the signals they get from the immune system, become specialized in either increasing or decreasing inflammation. When macrophages are programmed to be pro-inflammatory, they help to increase inflammation, which is beneficial for fighting infections; when they are programmed to...
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL SOCIETY New research published today in The Journal of Physiology shows that nitrate improves function in the diaphragm, the muscle involved in coughing and breathing, by improving power. The study done in old mice, if replicated in humans, could provide a strategy for helping elderly people clear the lungs more effectively and avoid...
By NORMAN E. SHARPLESSAUGUST 13, 2020 This year’s annual release of cancer statistics generated more buzz than usual. Perhaps the most publicized finding in the Cancer Facts & Figures 2020 report was the 2.2% decline in overall cancer deaths from 2016 to 2017, the last year for which we have final statistics. That was the...
by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne gulation factor XII (FXII), and the mice without the enzyme had a highly reduced risk of thrombosis without bleeding side-effects. The discovery triggered a race for FXII inhibitors. The Laboratory of Therapeutic Proteins and Peptides of Professor Christian Heinis at EPFL has now developed the first synthetic inhibitor of...
