Pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes have recently been associated with a higher risk of developing heart disease later in life. But a new Northwestern Medicine study has found obesity before or during pregnancy is the actual root cause of future cardiovascular disease. Prior to this study, scientists were unsure which factor — […]
Researchers from the United States, Brazil, and Spain, including scientists with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, published an analysis in a special edition of the British Medical Journal with a timely and controversial recommendation: It’s time for an international shift in the way we think about ultra-processed food. “There is converging and consistent […]
Scientists have uncovered why night shift work is associated with changes in appetite in a new University of Bristol-led study. The findings, published in Communications Biology, could help the millions of people that work through the night and struggle with weight gain. Scientists from Bristol and the University of Occupational and Environmental Health in Japan, […]
Huntington’s disease is among the so-called polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases, a group of neurodegenerative disorders caused by multiple repetitions of glutamine amino acids in specific proteins. Huntington’s disease is an inherited condition that causes widespread deterioration in the brain and disrupts thinking, behavior, emotion and movement. In their recent study, Professor Dr David Vilchez (CECAD) and […]
A team of researchers has uncovered a previously unknown compensatory mechanism found in liver disease. If Kupffer cells (KCs), a specific kind of immune cells found in the liver, become impaired by tissue scarring, immune cells originating in the bone marrow flow to the organ, where they form larger cell clusters to perform the same […]
In cases where standard therapies fail, a medication called XEN1101 reduces seizure frequency by more than 50% in some patients and sometimes eliminates them altogether, a new study shows. Unlike several treatments that must be started at low doses and slowly ramped up, the new drug can safety be taken at its most effective dose […]
Researchers have identified a ‘guard mechanism’ for a protein which attacks microbes in infected cells, opening the possibility of new treatments for Toxoplasma, Chlamydia, Tuberculosis and even cancer. A study, led by the University of Birmingham and published in Science has discovered the lock and key mechanism that controls the attack protein GBP1. GBP1 is […]
Scientists have long recognized the fact that mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, comes exclusively from egg cells in humans, meaning only the mother contributes the genetic code carried by thousands of mitochondria necessary for energy production in every cell in the body. Previously, it was believed that paternal mtDNA was eliminated soon after a sperm fuses […]
There are currently around 55,920 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the UK each year and it is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. In a new study researchers developed a technique using sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect salt levels in breast cancer tumors in mice. Using this technique, […]
A UCLA-led team of researchers has found nerve pathways that supply brown adipose tissue (BAT), a type of tissue that releases chemical energy from fat metabolism as heat — a finding that could pave the way toward using it to treat obesity and related metabolic conditions. The researchers have for the first time detailed this […]