Zombie cells are the ones that can’t die but are equally unable to perform the functions of a normal cell. This zombie, or senescent, cells are implicated in a number of age-related diseases. And with a new letter in Nature, Mayo Clinic researchers have expanded that list. In a mouse model of brain disease, scientists report […]
If getting to the gym seems like a struggle, a University of British Columbia researcher wants you to know this: the struggle is real, and it’s happening inside your brain. The brain is where Matthieu Boisgontier and his colleagues went looking for answers to what they call the “exercise paradox”: for decades, society has encouraged […]
Air pollution shortens human lives by more than a year, according to a new study from a team of leading environmental engineers and public health researchers. Better air quality could lead to a significant extension of lifespans around the world. This is the first time that data on air pollution and lifespan has been studied […]
Statins are not associated with a reduction in cardiovascular disease (conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels) or death in healthy people aged over 75, finds a study published by The BMJ today. However, in those with type 2 diabetes, statins were related to a reduction in cardiovascular disease and death from any cause up to the […]
A new test may soon be available to predict advanced fibrosis in people with the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is the leading cause of chronic liver disease, affecting approximately one in four people, including children, worldwide. An international research team developed a score, based on the PRO-C3 biological marker, to accurately predict the […]
Pancreatic cancer is currently very difficult to detect while it is still respectable. A new blood test developed by researchers at Lund University in Sweden, Herlev Hospital, Knight Cancer Center and Immunovia AB, can detect pancreatic cancer in the very earliest stages of the disease. The results have been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. […]
Mothers with elevated blood glucose during pregnancy — even if not high enough to meet the traditional definition of gestational diabetes — were significantly more likely to have developed type 2 diabetes a decade after pregnancy than their counterparts without high blood glucose. For children born to mothers with elevated or normal glucose, researchers found […]
Ever wonder why you burn fat and heat up when you exercise or shiver? Now, researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have shown that sarcolipin, a small peptide only found in muscles, increases muscle energy expenditure and fat oxidization. The study was published today in the journal Cell Reports. The scientists found sarcolipin […]
A team of scientists has uncovered the neural processes mice use to ignore their own footsteps, a discovery that offers new insights into how we learn to speak and play music. The research is reported in the journal Nature. “The ability to ignore one’s own footsteps requires the brain to store and recall memories and to […]
A new scientific analysis of nearly 4,000 mutations deliberately engineered into the BRCA1 gene will immediately benefit people undergoing genetic testing for breast or ovarian cancer risk. The study will be published in the Sept. 12 edition of the scientific journal, Nature. Additional data from the research has been made available online. Jay Shendure and Lea […]