Category: Medical Research

High-Salt Diet Triggers Changes in Mouse Brains

A diet high in salt is known to be a risk factor for high blood pressure, which in turn raises the risk of stroke and other health problems. Research has suggested that high salt intake may also be a risk factor for declining brain function with age. However, the mechanisms responsible for this link aren’t… Continue reading High-Salt Diet Triggers Changes in Mouse Brains

Using Laser Technology to Detect Cancer Cells

We’ve come a long way since hearing Dr. Evil of Austin Powers movie fame describe “a sophisticated heat beam, which we call ‘a laser’” to take over the world, or sitting in awe watching Jedi knights in Star Wars blast through enemies using lightsabers. Now in real life, scientists are exploring different ways the laser… Continue reading Using Laser Technology to Detect Cancer Cells

Our Brain and The Colors We Perceive

Anyone who has ever sensed that a person is sick simply by looking at their face has experienced the wealth of information conveyed by face color. According to a new study by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there’s evidence that the human brain’s visual system is especially… Continue reading Our Brain and The Colors We Perceive

The Search for a Universal Flu Vaccine

Researchers will begin testing on human subjects a universal influenza vaccine that would, with one shot, combat various flu strains, including those that could cause a pandemic. The experimental vaccine, known as H1ssF_3928, was developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).… Continue reading The Search for a Universal Flu Vaccine

Can “Fake” Medicine Help You?

Linda Buonanno dealt with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) for years, suffering serious pain and stomach issues. She got involved with a study for a new IBS treatment. The doctor gave her this new medication: sugar pills with no active ingredients. She took the pills When new medicines are developed, they have to go and started… Continue reading Can “Fake” Medicine Help You?

A New Weapon in The Fight against Sepsis

A type of molecule known as a “nanocarrier” may someday help to protect against sepsis, a life-threatening infection that kills one in three patients in the U.S. Sepsis is one of the leading causes of death in intensive care units and, with an estimated price tag of $20 billion in 2011, the most expensive condition… Continue reading A New Weapon in The Fight against Sepsis

Coffee May Help Fight Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

The newest weapon in the battle against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson just might be coffee – and dark-roasted at that, new research says. “Coffee consumption does seem to have some correlation to a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease,” said Dr. Donald Weaver, co-director of the Krembil Brain Institute, in Toronto. “But we… Continue reading Coffee May Help Fight Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

Hypertension and Kidney Disease

Can blood pressure treatment be harmful? Reducing blood pressure is usually a good thing, but doctors have been concerned about intensive blood pressure lowering during hypertension therapy and the accompanying elevations of the molecule creatinine. Until the most recent research they worried that the creatinine elevations might be an indicator of kidney disease. Signs of… Continue reading Hypertension and Kidney Disease

Study Identifies Gene That Makes Gentle Touch Feel Painful After Injury

Researchers have discovered that a particular gene may be responsible for tactile allodynia: the skin’s reaction to injury that makes normally gentle touches feel painful. The gene, PIEZ02, also been shown to control our sense of bodies in space. The most recent discovery was made in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health… Continue reading Study Identifies Gene That Makes Gentle Touch Feel Painful After Injury

Scientists Can Now Study Thousands of Individual Brain Cells

Traumatic head injury can have widespread effects in the brain, but now scientists can look in real time at how head injury affects thousands of individual cells and genes simultaneously in mice. This approach could lead to precise treatments for traumatic brain injury (TBI). The study, which reported in Nature Communications, was supported by the… Continue reading Scientists Can Now Study Thousands of Individual Brain Cells

A Gene Mutation that Could Someday Block Diabetes

Researchers have discovered a gene mutation that slows the metabolism of sugar in the gut, giving people who have the mutation a distinct advantage over those who do not. Those with the mutation have a lower risk of diabetes, obesity and heart failure. According to a news release from the National Institutes of Health, the… Continue reading A Gene Mutation that Could Someday Block Diabetes

Worms Subjected to Stress Show Permanent Negative Effects

Worms whose sexual maturation was deliberately short-circuited by lack of food showed lasting effects, with the worms acting like juveniles even after they were adults, according to a new study. “We found that environmental stress [such as lack of food] can permanently and profoundly impact the connectivity of a developing nervous system,” said Oliver Hobert,… Continue reading Worms Subjected to Stress Show Permanent Negative Effects

Eat 10 Hours Per Day – and Avoid Obesity?

In an animal study, scientists at the Salk Institute found that mice lacking the biological clock needed for a healthy metabolism could still avoid obesity and metabolic diseases by having their food restricted to a ten-hour window of the day – and fasting for the remaining 14. The work, which appeared in the journal Cell… Continue reading Eat 10 Hours Per Day – and Avoid Obesity?

Using a Mouse Model, Scientists Reverse Age-Related Wrinkles and Hair Loss

Wrinkled skin and hair loss are unwelcome hallmarks of aging. But what if they could be reversed? Keshav Singh, Ph.D., and colleagues have done just that, in a mouse model developed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. When a mutation leading to mitochondrial dysfunction is induced, the mouse develops wrinkled skin and extensive, visible… Continue reading Using a Mouse Model, Scientists Reverse Age-Related Wrinkles and Hair Loss

Protecting Ribosome Genes to Prevent Aging

Aging, the process of gradual deterioration from exposure to time and the elements, begins with deterioration deep inside every cell. Researchers from Stanford University and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) have identified a protein that guards cells against senescence – aging-related problems – by protecting a particularly vulnerable set of genes. The… Continue reading Protecting Ribosome Genes to Prevent Aging

Key Protein Molecule of Aging Discovered

Scientists have discovered a protein molecule that represents a crucial switching point in the aging process. In fact, they say, it controls the life span of individuals from the fly to the human being. The discovery, by investigators at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg (DKFZ), opens up new possibilities for developing therapies against… Continue reading Key Protein Molecule of Aging Discovered

The Mystery of the “Cancer Enzyme”

Cancer, aging-related diseases and other illnesses are closely tied to an important enzyme called “telomerase.” UCLA researchers report in the journal Cell the deepest scientific understanding yet of this once-mysterious enzyme, whose catalytic core — where most of its activity occurs — can now be seen in near atomic resolution. “We’re now seeing not just… Continue reading The Mystery of the “Cancer Enzyme”