A Florida State University researcher is examining how the polyphenol compounds found in blackberries could be used to help fight the buildup of artery plaque. Gloria Salazar, associate professor of nutrition, has received $805,409 from the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program at the Florida Department of Health to look at the protective effects of polyphenols, bioactive...
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New medication may improve effects of psychological treatment for PTSD
A medication that boosts the body’s own cannabis-like substances, endocannabinoids, shows promise to help the brain un-learn fear memories when these are no longer meaningful. This according to an early-stage, experimental study on healthy volunteers at LiU. The new findings give hope that a new treatment can be developed for post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. “We have used a medication that blocks the way...
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The right dose to the right person
This news or article is intended for readers with certain scientific or professional knowledge in the field. Malin Lindqvist Appell is working to develop tools to tailor the treatment of leukaemia and inflammatory bowel disease. Serious adverse drug reactions can now be avoided using a blood sample to determine who can take a lower dose of a...
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Researchers identify biomarker to predict if someone infected with malaria will get sick
by Cell Press Immunological signatures can predict whether malaria-infected children will develop fever or other symptoms, suggests a study publishing September 3 in the journal Immunity. Surprisingly, activation of the well-known tumor-suppressor protein p53 is associated with enhanced protection against malaria fever—and increasing p53 in human immune cells and in mice results in a decrease in...
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Gut bacteria may enhance lifespan-extending effect of common diabetes drug
By Rich Haridy New research from an international team of scientists has revealed the effects of a commonly prescribed type 2 diabetes drug are regulated by metabolites produced by certain gut bacteria. The study offers compelling insights into how the microbiome can influence the efficacy of drugs, and more specifically the activity of a drug increasingly under the spotlight for its possible lifespan-extending effects....
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FAK protein linked to chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – SAN DIEGO Although the number of women being diagnosed and dying of ovarian cancer is declining, recurrence, drug resistance and mortality remain high for women with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, the most common form of epithelial ovarian cancer. A new study in the journal eLife by University of California San Diego School...
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Scientists link ‘hunger hormone’ to memory in Alzheimer’s study
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS Scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas have found evidence suggesting that resistance to the “hunger hormone” ghrelin in the brain is linked to the cognitive impairments and memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The findings, based on observations of postmortem brain-tissue samples from Alzheimer’s patients and on experiments with a mouse model of AD, also...
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Major depressive disorder blamed for major diseases
by Annabel Mansfield, University of South Australia Major depressive disorder—referred to colloquially as the ‘black dog’ – has been identified as a genetic cause for 20 distinct diseases, providing vital information to help detect and manage high rates of physical illnesses in people diagnosed with depression. Assessing risk factors between depression* and 925 diseases, a...
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Parkinson’s disease may originate in the intestines
by Mette Louise Ohana, Aarhus University In 2003, a German neuropathologist proposed that Parkinson’s disease, which attacks the brain, actually might originate from the gut of the patients. Researchers from Aarhus have now delivered decisive supportive evidence after seeing the disease migrate from the gut to the brain and heart of laboratory rats. The scientific...
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Nanodiamonds Cross Blood-Brain Barrier to Image Inside, Deliver Drugs
MEDGADGET EDITORSMATERIALS, MEDICINE, NANOMEDICINE, NEUROLOGY, NEUROSURGERY The blood-brain barrier is nearly impenetrable to most drugs and contrast agents, making it difficult to diagnose and treat diseases afflicting the brain. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have now developed a way of using nanodiamonds coated with a biopolymer to penetrate through the blood-brain...