by University of California, San Francisco Researchers at UC San Francisco and the University of Queensland have discovered a scorpion toxin that targets the “wasabi receptor,” a chemical-sensing protein found in nerve cells that’s responsible for the sinus-jolting sting of wasabi and the flood of tears associated with chopping onions. Because the toxin triggers a...
Tag: <span>inflammation</span>
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Treatment doctor tested on himself can put others into remission
by Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Five years ago, David C. Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, both a Penn Medicine researcher and patient, tried an experimental treatment on himself based on his laboratory research findings in the hopes of saving his own life. He has been in remission ever since. Now his...
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Using a common anticonvulsant to counteract inflammation
by Tokyo University of Science Serious conditions, including sepsis, stem from inflammation in the body, and there is a lack of effective medication for sepsis. A chromosomal protein called high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), secreted by immune and dying cells, binds to a specific cellular receptor—receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE)—and triggers the process of inflammation in the body. Through...
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For women’s sake, let’s screen for depression as part of the new heart health checks
by Adrienne O’neil, The Conversation The latest government statistics, released last week, show that from 2001-2016, the rate of cardiac events (heart attacks or unstable angina) fell by more than half among Australian women. That’s largely because of greater education about risk factors for heart disease (smoking rates continue to fall), and medical advances in prevention...
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Swell Snapshots
Posted Today After decades of attempts by the scientific community, researchers at Harvard Medical School and Peking University have provided the first clear look at a protein implicated in a vast array of inflammatory conditions. The finding, published in Nature, lifts a blindfold that has hampered scientists’ ability to intervene when the immune system overreacts to...
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Inflammation-driven deterioration of structural proteins contributes to aging
Posted YesterdayThis news or article is intended for readers with certain scientific or professional knowledge in the field. Aging-related inflammation can drive the decline of a critical structural protein called lamin-B1, which contributes to diminished immune function in the thymus, according to research from Carnegie’s Sibiao Yue, Xiaobin Zheng, and Yixian Zheng published in Aging Cell. Each of our cells is undergirded by...
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Researchers identify previously unknown bacterial strain
by Johannes Angerer, Medical University of Vienna Clinicians at the Department of Neurology of MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital identified muscle weakness and severe fatigue in a previously healthy patient, to the extent that he was soon confined to a wheelchair. These symptoms were indicative of the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis. However, the treating neurologist, Matthias Tomschik,...
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The benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet
by Len Canter, Healthday Reporter (HealthDay)—The body’s immune system is designed to fight off threats, like infection-causing germs, through a process called inflammation. But a steady state of inflammation can lead to everything from diabetes to autoimmune diseases to heart disease to cancer. Many of these health threats don’t come from foreign invaders like scary bacteria, but...
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Phenols in purple corn fight diabetes, obesity, inflammation in mouse cells
Scientists at the University of Illinois have developed new hybrids of purple corn containing different combinations of phytochemicals that may fight obesity, inflammation and diabetes, a new study in mice indicates. The pericarp – or outer layer – of purple and other brightly colored corn kernels also may provide an alternative source of colorants for food products, giving corn producers another value-added product from their crop, said the U....
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Cimzia injection approved for new inflammatory arthritis indication
(HealthDay)—Cimzia (certolizumab pegol) injection has been approved to treat adults with nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) with objective signs of inflammation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced. The injection is the first treatment approved for nr-axSpA. Approval was based on data from a randomized clinical trial of 317 adult patients with nr-axSpA and objective signs of inflammation as indicated by magnetic resonance imaging showing elevated C-reactive protein levels...