What do turmeric, apples, and grapes have in common? According to a new study, they could hold the key to preventing and treating one of the most common cancers in the United States Researchers have identified a number of natural compounds that have the potential to “starve” prostate cancer tumors and shrink them. Compounds present in turmeric,...
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How oxygen-producing pond scum could save your life after a heart attack
If you’re having a heart attack, your life might someday be saved by pond scum. That’s because these lowly bacteria are capable of producing something a stricken heart desperately needs: oxygen. In fact, when Stanford scientists injected massive doses of cyanobacteria into the hearts of rats who suffered the equivalent of a “widow-maker” heart attack,...
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Distant brain regions selectively recruit stem cells
New neurons (white) enter the olfactory bulb, a part of the brain that processes odor signals. Stem cells persist in the adult mammalian brain and generate new neurons throughout life. A research group at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel reports in the current issue of Science that long-distance brain connections can target discrete pools...
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New mechanism behind Parkinson’s disease revealed
Diagram of the vesicle recycling process in the nerve terminal. The vesicles are represented by blue and white circles at the top left. The white circles are empty and the blue ones contain a neurotransmitter. “Full” vesicles move toward the membrane of the nerve terminal, represented by the overall outline of the figure, where they...
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Listening to cellular conversations to grow better livers in the lab
A three-day-old mini-liver, grown in a lab from human pluripotent stem cells Organ transplants save lives, but in terms of human donors, demand far exceeds supply. Current research is looking into how viable animal alternatives might be, whether human organs can be grown inside living pigs and how replacements could be grown in a lab. A new breakthrough could make...
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For headache, telemedicine may be as effective as in-person visit
For people with headache, seeing the neurologist by video for treatment may be as effective as an in-person visit, according to a study published in the June 14, 2017, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Headache is the most common neurologic disorder, yet is often not diagnosed or people...
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Cardiac stem cells from heart disease patients may be harmful
Patients with severe and end-stage heart failure have few treatment options available to them apart from transplants and “miraculous” stem cell therapy. But a new Tel Aviv University study finds that stem cell therapy may, in fact, harm heart disease patients. The research, led by Prof. Jonathan Leor of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and...
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Magnesium supplement helps boost brainpower
New research finds that an increase in brain magnesium improves learning and memory in young and old rats. The study, published in the January 28th issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that increasing magnesium intake may be a valid strategy to enhance cognitive abilities and supports speculation that inadequate levels of magnesium impair cognitive function, leading...
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Treating autism by targeting the gut
Experts have called for large-scale studies into altering the make-up of bacteria in the gut, after a review showed that this might reduce the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Until now, caregivers have relied on rehabilitation, educational interventions and drugs to reduce ASD symptoms, but now researchers suggest that treating this condition could be...
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A surprising new link between inflammation and mental illness
In the brain, a synapse (orange) is seen being wrapped around and attacked by immune cells called microglia (green), leading to synapse loss. Up to 75 percent of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus—an incurable autoimmune disease commonly known as lupus—experience neuropsychiatric symptoms. But so far, our understanding of the mechanisms underlying lupus’ effects on...