All posts by : Felistas

A protein identified nearly 40 years ago for its ability to stimulate the production of red blood cells plays a surprising, critical role in dampening the immune system’s response to cancer.

Health care in Africa faces a perfect storm: high rates of infectious diseases like malaria and HIV, a rise in non-communicable diseases, and dwindling foreign aid.

If administered early, gene therapy has the potential to change the medical history of children born with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), a rare and lethal neurodegenerative disease of genetic origin which leads to the progressive loss of the ability to walk, talk and interact. This was confirmed by a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine which showed that the therapy, if administered early, is able to preserve motor function and cognitive abilities in most patients.

A study led by Pompeu Fabra University reveals which brain mechanisms allow psychosis to remit. The results of this pioneering research could have important clinical implications for exploring new intervention strategies in patients with psychosis. The study was carried out in collaboration with one of the main psychiatry groups at Lausanne University Hospital (Switzerland).

In a demographically diverse sample of healthy people, Cornell researchers found dramatic changes over the human lifespan in the brain’s “blue spot”—a tiny region involved in cognition and believed to be the first affected by neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer’s disease.

We know exercise is good for our body, but what about our brains? A new study from the University of Missouri suggests that exercise plays a crucial role in keeping our minds sharp, even when one of the brain’s key energy sources isn’t available.

Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death, with a five-year survival rate of 13%. The high mortality is largely due to a lack of effective therapy options. In a recent paper published in Nature, researchers from the University of Michigan have discovered that simultaneously targeting PIKfyve and KRAS-MAPK can eliminate tumors in preclinical human and mouse models.

Researchers in Nikolaus Rajewsky’s lab at Max Delbrück Center combined high-resolution, single-cell spatial technologies to map a tumor’s cellular neighborhoods in 3D and identify potential targets for personalized cancer therapy. They describe their findings in two separate papers.

A team of health researchers at the National Institute of Gastroenterology, in Italy, has found an association between regularly eating poultry and early death due to digestive system cancers. In their study published in the journal Nutrients, the group analyzed health-related data for 4,869 adults living in Italy over a 20-year period.

Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered how a testis-specific protein contributes to tumor growth and progression in lung cancer, according to a study published in Science Advances.