An experiment funded by the U.S. military meant to sharpen soldiers’ minds for the battlefield has found a way to improve memory: by zapping subjects’ brains with tiny bursts of electricity during sleep. In a multi-year study at the University of New Mexico, volunteers received a fraction of 9-volt battery’s worth of electrical stimulation to...
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Sentinel lymph node biopsy has no benefits for stage zero breast cancer
YALE UNIVERSITY New Haven, Conn. — Older women with a very early, non-invasive breast cancer known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) gain no long-term benefit from undergoing a sentinel lymph node biopsy to see if the cancer has spread, new research by the Yale School of Public Health has found. The study, believed to be the first to examine the long-term impact of sentinel lymph node biopsies on thousands of older women, found...
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Where the sun doesn’t shine? Skin UV exposure reflected in poop
Exposure of the skin to UVB light alters the mix of bacteria found in the gut, possibly via vitamin D FRONTIERS The Sun can indeed shine out of your backside, suggests research. Not because you’re self-absorbed, but because you’ve absorbed gut-altering UV radiation. This is the first study to show that skin exposure to UVB light alters the gut microbiome in humans. Published in Frontiers...
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Newly discovered protein is the permit to the powerhouse of cells
Medical University of South Carolina researchers report in Science Advances that they have discovered a protein, P17/PERMIT, that is key to recycling aging mitochondria and could be a connection between age-related diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA Aging, and the mechanics behind it, remains one of the most closely guarded...
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Study fingers new player in cancer immunity
Deleting immune-regulatory gene boosted tumor-fighting capacity in the immune cells of mice with colon cancer, melanoma HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL The immune system must strike an exquisite balance between vanquishing infections and cancer, while at the same time restraining its activity to avoid inadvertently attacking the body’s healthy tissues and organs. This balancing feat is accomplished by...
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Scientists reveal novel oncogenic driver gene in human gastrointestinal stromal tumors
CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS Sarcomas – cancers that arise from transformed mesenchymal cells (a type of connective tissue) – are quite deadly. Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common human sarcoma and are initiated by activating mutations in the KIT receptor tyrosine kinase. Micro-GISTs are a smaller variation of clinical GISTs and are...
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Exploring an unsung part of the brain: the choroid plexus
by Stephen Lyons, Children’s Hospital Boston If you’ve never heard of the choroid plexus, you’re not alone. In fact, few neuroscientists know much about this part of the brain. In the words of the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, the choroid plexus “don’t get no respect.” But that’s beginning to change, thanks in part to Maria Lehtinen, Ph.D., who has made the choroid plexus the focus of her research....
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Researchers find cells linked to leading cause of blindness in elderly
by Bill Hathaway, Yale University Age-related macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly, affecting more than 2 million people in the United States and leading to progressive loss of central vision. Genome wide studies have identified almost three dozen genes that play a role in the disease, but exactly...
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Neurorehabilitation: Fighting strokes with robotics
by Kyle Brown, Particle Having a stroke can be a scary experience, but the long road to recovery might be getting shorter, thanks to research out of ECU. Imagine suddenly losing control of a limb or your ability to communicate. And while this happens, excruciating pain spreads across your head. This was Joanna’s experience when...
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Green tea used as control trigger for activating cell therapies remotely
by Bob Yirka , Medical Xpress A team of researchers with East China Normal University and First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University has found that it is possible to use green tea as a control mechanism for activating cell therapies remotely. In their paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the group describes testing...