UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS Why are older adults more likely to get seriously ill or even die from pneumonia? It turns out the cause may have as much to do with the gut as it does with the lungs. That’s according to new research from Rachel McMahan, PhD, assistant research professor of GI, trauma, and...
Month: <span>May 2022</span>
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Mental health assessments often fail to identify suicidal ideation with gun owners
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY WEXNER MEDICAL CENTER VIDEO: A NEW STUDY BY THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY WEXNER MEDICAL CENTER FINDS THE STANDARD QUESTIONS TO IDENTIFY THOSE AT RISK FOR SUICIDE OFTEN FALL SHORT, PARTICULARLY FOR THOSE WITH ACCESS TO FIREARMS. CREDIT: OHIO STATE WEXNER MEDICAL CENTER COLUMBUS, Ohio – As the stigma around mental health problems...
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Life after death for the human eye: Vision scientists revive light-sensing cells in organ donor eyes
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HEALTH IMAGE: FATIMA ABBAS, PHD, IS A POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW IN THE LAB OF FRANS VINBERG, PHD, AT THE JOHN A. MORAN EYE CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH AND LEAD AUTHOR OF THE STUDY. ABBAS CONDUCTED EXPERIMENTS IN THE DARK AS SHE EXPOSED DONOR EYE TISSUE TO DIFFERENT KINDS OF LIGHT AND...
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Hepatitis: 3D structure determination of the ‘gateway’ to the liver
CNRS IMAGE: ILLUSTRATION OF THE TWO 3D CONFORMATIONS ADOPTED BY NTCPS. LEFT: ‘OPEN’ CONFORMATION TO WHICH HBV AND HDV CAN BIND. RIGHT: ‘CLOSED’ CONFORMATION THAT PREVENTS RECOGNITION BY THE VIRUSES. CREDIT: © KAPIL GOUTAM/NICOLAS REYES/CNRS Though an essential gateway to the liver, NTCP had not been well described until now. Na+-taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide (NTCP) is...
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Multiple diagnoses are the norm with mental illness and a new genetic study explains why
by Lisa Marshall, University of Colorado at Boulder Credit: CC0 Public Domain More than half of people diagnosed with one psychiatric disorder will be diagnosed with a second or third in their lifetime. About a third have four or more. This can make treatment challenging and leave patients feeling unlucky and discouraged. But a sweeping...
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A study confirms the relationship between an amino acid present in diet and depression
by Universitat Pompeu Fabra – Barcelona Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell Metabolism (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2022.04.001 Researchers from the Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona, Spain, have identified the role of proline, an amino acid, in humans, mice and flies suffering depression. The results, published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism, also associate the...
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New study finds that the gut can hold important clues about concussions
by Houston Methodist Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A recently published study by Houston Methodist scientists suggests telltale signs of concussions might be found in the gut. By taking blood, stool and saliva samples from 33 Rice University football players, the researchers were able to examine the diagnostic potential of the gut’s microbiome. They say their...
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New study shows how tumor cells use mitochondria to keep growing
by Greg Glasgow, CU Anschutz Medical Campus MIRO1/2 alterations in cancer. A, The TCGA database was interrogated for MIRO1/2 mRNA expression across tumor types. PanCA, PanCancer. B, Relative expression of MIRO1/2 mRNA in cancer versus normal adjacent tissues on the prostate TCGA PanCancer study. C, Kaplan–Meier analyses based on MIRO1/2 mRNA expression in human primary...
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New study identifies potential treatment for inflammatory bowel disease
by Jillian Prior, Rutgers University High magnification micrograph of Crohn’s disease. Biopsy of esophagus. H&E stain. Credit: Nephron/Wikipedia Researchers at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have identified immune cells in the intestine that are needed to prevent inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), colitis and Crohn’s disease, which affect 3 million people in the United States....
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A brain circuit in the thalamus helps us hold information in mind
by Anne Trafton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT researchers have found that neurons of the anteroventral thalamus (labeled green) play a critical role in spatial working memory. Neurons of the anterodorsal thalamus are labeled in red. Credit: Dheeraj Roy and Ying Zhang As people age, their working memory often declines, making it more difficult to...