Cart is empty A hunger hormone produced in the gut can directly impact a decision-making part of the brain in order to drive an animal’s behavior, finds a new study by UCL (University College London) researchers.
Lab-grown ‘small blood vessels’ point to potential treatment for major cause of stroke and vascular dementia
Cambridge scientists have grown small blood vessel-like models in the lab and used them to show how damage to the scaffolding that supports these vessels can cause them to leak, leading to conditions such as vascular dementia and stroke.
Gene finding provides new insights into pancreas development and helps search for type 1 diabetes cure
Understanding how the human pancreas develops is crucial to allow scientists to make insulin producing–beta cells in the quest to cure type 1 diabetes. Now, scientists have made a unique and surprising discovery—a gene that is essential for making the pancreas in humans is not present in almost all other animals.
Study provides insights into impact of COVID-19 and vaccination on mother and child health
A study by KKH, Singapore General Hospital, National Center for Infectious Diseases and the Ministry of Health found that COVID-19 vaccination (mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine) taken during pregnancy was associated with a reduced risk of COVID-19 infections among infants up to six months of age.
Type 2 diabetes linked to increased risk for colorectal cancer
Type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancer (CRC), with increased associations for those without colonoscopy screening and with smoking history, according to a study published online Nov. 14 in JAMA Network Open.
Neighborhood disadvantage tied to higher risk for autism diagnosis
Children residing in more disadvantaged neighborhoods at birth have a higher likelihood of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, according to a brief report published online Nov. 15 in JAMA Psychiatry.
A better way to study Parkinson’s disease in the lab could lead to earlier diagnosis
A study published in Progress in Neurobiology and led by researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, has developed an improved method to study Parkinson’s disease in the lab. Along the way, researchers also uncovered clues that may help scientists figure out how to detect Parkinson’s earlier and point the way toward better treatments.
Microbubble gene therapy may protect against heart disease
Gene therapy has great promise for treating genetic diseases, and even for more common diseases such as atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Over the past decade, the gene-editing technology CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)—a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of certain bacteria—has allowed scientists to fix individual errors in the genetic code that cause disease.
Opioid Rx down, but overdoses and deaths up, AMA report shows
Opioid prescribing by physicians and other health professionals has decreased for the 13th consecutive year, down nearly 50% since 2012, while overdoses and deaths related to illicitly manufactured fentanyl, xylazine, and other synthetic substances continue to increase, according to the Overdose Epidemic Report 2023, released by the American Medical Association (AMA).
Investigating the pathogenesis of rare congenital nerve disorder
A new Northwestern Medicine study has uncovered previously unidentified intracellular mechanisms in the peripheral nervous system that cause Charcot–Marie–Tooth Type 2B disease, a rare congenital disorder that causes sensory deficits and muscle atrophy and weakness.