IN BRIEF The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is leading projects to expedite the development of regenerative medicine. The group will work to standardize materials and practices to achieve this goal. GROWING GOOD HEALTH Major strides are being made in the field of regenerative medicine. Developments have been made growing tissue and even organs...
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Fears erased with pulses of light
Innovative research demonstrates how weakening specific fear-related connections in the brain of a mouse can erase previous fear responses to a stimulus. The work may help to build future treatment programs for post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias. Science is one step closer to removing specific fears. As we evolved, swiftly learning to be afraid...
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Antibiotics found to weaken body’s ability to fight off disease
Adding another reason for doctors to avoid the overuse of antibiotics, new research shows that a reduction in the variety of microbes in the gut interferes with the immune system’s ability to fight off disease. Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have found that antibiotic use made neutrophils, a type of immune...
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How whip-like cell appendages promote bodily fluid flow
IMAGE: ON THE LATERAL VENTRICULAR WALL, WELL-ORIENTED CILIA EXHIBIT A COORDINATED BEATING MOTION THAT DRIVES DIRECTIONAL CSF FLOW. DAPLE MUTANT MICE LOSE THE ORIENTATION OF CILIARY BASES, LEADING TO STAGNANT CSF… view more Nagoya, Japan – Some cells in the body contain long thin structures called cilia on their surface, which exhibit a whip-like motion that promotes...
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Organ crosstalk: Fatty liver can cause damage to other organs
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is becoming more and more common. Approximately every third adult in the industrialized countries has a morbidly fatty liver. This not only increases the risk of chronic liver diseases (liver cirrhosis and liver cancer), but also in particular type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The cause for this is the altered...
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Heavily Used Pesticide Linked to Breathing Problems in Farmworkers’ Children
Elemental sulfur, the most heavily-used pesticide in California, may harm the respiratory health of children living near farms that use the pesticide, according to new research led by UC Berkeley. In a study of children in the agricultural community of Salinas Valley, California, researchers found significant associations between elemental sulfur use and poorer respiratory health....
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Collagen in Cartilage Tissues Behaves Like Liquid Crystals in a Smart Phone Screen
Cartilage in our joints contains collagen which behaves a bit like the liquid crystals on a smart phone screen, according to researchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The collagen changes its crystallinity in response to physical forces, so the ordered arrangement in collagen molecules of the cartilage in our knees may be flipping...
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Slowing Dangerous Bacteria May Be More Effective Than Killing Them, Researchers Report
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers at the University of Illinois have discovered a mechanism that allows bacteria of the same species to communicate when their survival is threatened. The study suggests it may be possible to slow dangerous infections by manipulating the messages these microbes send to each other, allowing the body to defeat an infection...
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Occupational therapy shown to improve lives of people in chronic pain
A new study from the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy shows that lifestyle-based occupational therapy treatment significantly improves the experiences of people living with chronic pain. “Having quantitative evidence for occupational therapy’s effectiveness in chronic pain management is really valuable,” said Ashley Uyeshiro Simon ’08, MA ’10, OTD ’11, the study’s lead author...
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Intermittent fasting could help tackle diabetes – here’s the science
Intermittent fasting is currently all the rage. But don’t be fooled: it’s much more than just the latest fad. Recent studies of this kind of fasting – with restricted eating part of the time, but not all of the time – have produced a number of successes, but the latest involving diabetes might be the most...