Category: 4. Health

  • A first blueprint of chemical transport pathways in human cells

    A first blueprint of chemical transport pathways in human cells

    An unprecedented international effort to decode how cells manage the transport of chemical substances has culminated in four groundbreaking studies published in Molecular Systems Biology. Led by Giulio Superti-Furga at CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and supported by an international consortium of academic and pharmaceutical partners under the European Union’s Innovative Medicines Initiative, this decade-long project provides the first…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Early puberty increases risk of overweight later in life for girls

    Early puberty increases risk of overweight later in life for girls

    Girls who enter puberty early have a higher risk of developing overweight later in life — even if they were not overweight as children.

    This is shown by a new study from Aarhus University, which has analyzed height, weight, and puberty data from nearly 13,000 Danish children.

    “Overall, we found that children who entered puberty early had a higher BMI before, during, and after puberty,” explains postdoc Anne Gaml-Sørensen from the Department of Public Health.

    “However, we were surprised to…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • New protein target for childhood medulloblastomas

    New protein target for childhood medulloblastomas

    Medulloblastomas are one of the most common childhood brain cancers.

    Particularly, Group-3 medulloblastomas are aggressive and incurable, contributing to childhood cancer deaths.

    Led by University of Michigan researchers, a study in Cancer Cellidentified a new target for Group-3 medulloblastomas.

    The results help identify new therapeutic avenues for treating these deadly tumors.

    Compared to normal cells, cancer cells use nutrients differently to build new molecules and generate energy.

    To…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Changes in the aging heart may lessen the risk of irregular heartbeats

    Changes in the aging heart may lessen the risk of irregular heartbeats

    Virginia Tech researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC have discovered that microscopic structural changes in the aging heart may reduce the risk of irregular heartbeats.

    Medically known as arrhythmias, irregular heartbeats become more common with age and can lead to health problems.

    But a new study in JACC Clinical Electrophysiology, a journal of the American College of Cardiology, revealed that a tiny gap between heart cells called the perinexus naturally narrows with…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Maintaining balance in the immune system

    Maintaining balance in the immune system

    Researchers from the Turner lab have published the first description of the role of the ZFP36 family of RNA binding proteins in regulatory T cells (Tregs). Tregs are key to maintaining balance in the immune system and essential to preventing autoimmune disease.

    Immunologists from the Institute have been the first to uncover a role for a family of RNA binding proteins in the function of regulatory T cells in the immune system. As their name suggests, regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a key role…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Could nanoplastics in the environment turn E. coli into a bigger villain?

    Could nanoplastics in the environment turn E. coli into a bigger villain?

    Nanoplastics are everywhere. These fragments are so tiny they can accumulate on bacteria and be taken up by plant roots; they’re in our food, our water, and our bodies. Scientists don’t know the full extent of their impacts on our health, but new research from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign food scientists suggests certain nanoplastics may make foodborne pathogens more virulent.

    “Other studies have evaluated the interaction of nanoplastics and bacteria, but so far, ours is the first…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Gut bacteria and acetate, a great combination for weight loss

    Gut bacteria and acetate, a great combination for weight loss

    Researchers led by Hiroshi Ohno at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Japan have discovered a new way to reduce obesity. Their study shows that supplying the gut with extra acetate reduces fat and liver mass in both normal and obese mice, as long as bacteria of the Bacteroides species is also present in the gut. When both these conditions are met, gut bacteria can eliminate more sugars from the gut and promote the burning of fats for energy in the host. The findings…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • New research highlights health benefits of using heritage art practices in art therapy

    New research highlights health benefits of using heritage art practices in art therapy

    Heritage art practices include indigenous and traditional arts practices — such as fiber arts, clay work, distinct painting styles etc. — handed down in families or communities across generations. The fact that they have been sustained for generations, and helped to serve the expressive and psychosocial needs of communities, suggest that they could be ideal approaches to support mental health and emotional well-being. To better understand their potential therapeutic benefits, researchers…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Sophisticated data analysis uncovers how city living disrupts ADHD’s path to obesity

    Sophisticated data analysis uncovers how city living disrupts ADHD’s path to obesity

    A hidden link between impulsivity and obesity may not be fixed in human biology but shaped by the cities we live in.

    Using a novel engineering-based approach, researchers from NYU Tandon School of Engineering and Italy’s Istituto Superiore di Sanità found that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) contributes to obesity not only directly through known biological pathways but also indirectly, by reducing physical activity. The findings are published in PLOS Complex Systems.

    Obesity…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Experimental painkiller could outsmart opioids — without the high

    Experimental painkiller could outsmart opioids — without the high

    An experimental drug developed at Duke University School of Medicine could offer powerful pain relief without the dangerous side effects of opioids.

    The drug, called SBI-810, is part of a new generation of compounds designed to target a receptor on the nerves and spinal cord. While opioids flood multiple cellular pathways indiscriminately, SBI-810, a non-opioid treatment, takes a more focused approach, activating only a specific pain-relief pathway that avoids the euphoric “high” linked to…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com