ScienceDaily: Top Health News

A team of researchers has found a link between the way that cells produce energy for brain function and the mutated genes found in Alzheimer's disease.

When cells are exposed to ionizing radiation, more destructive chain reactions may occur than previously thought. An international team led by researchers has now observed intermolecular Coulombic decay in organic molecules. This is triggered by ionizing radiation such as from radioactivity or from space. The effect damages two neighboring molecules and ultimately leads to the breaking of bonds – like the ones in DNA and proteins. The finding not only improves the understanding of radiation damage but could also help in the search for more effective substances to support radiation therapy.

Scientists have identified a key signal that the fetus uses to control its supply of nutrients from the placenta, revealing a tug-of-war between genes inherited from the father and from the mother. The study, carried out in mice, could help explain why some babies grow poorly in the womb.

Scientists have found a way to prove that biochemical signals sent from cell to cell play an important role in determining how those cells develop, findings that can help explain how stem cells differentiate and how cancer arises and proliferates, possibly leading to new treatments.

Scientists investigating the DNA outside our genes - the 'dark genome' - have discovered recently evolved regions that code for proteins associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Blocking function of a blood-clotting protein, called fibrin, prevented bone loss from periodontal (gum) disease in mice, according to new research. The study suggests that suppressing abnormal fibrin activity could hold promise for preventing or treating periodontal disease, as well as other inflammatory disorders marked by fibrin buildup, including arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

Melanoma patients receiving therapy that makes it easier for their immune system to kill cancer cells respond to treatment better when their diet is rich in fiber, according to a large, international research collaboration.

Restoring hearing through cochlear implantation for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can help them understand spoken language and enhance social interactions, according to a new study.

Inhaled CBD shrinks the size of the highly aggressive, lethal brain tumor glioblastoma in an animal model by reducing the essential support of its microenvironment, researchers report.

Making initiation of buprenorphine easy and timely was associated with a 25 percent increase in the likelihood of its use of treatment in emergency departments.

An international research team succeeded in identifying global factors that explain the diversity of form and function in plants. The researchers collected and analyzed plant data from around the world. For the first time, they showed for characteristics such as plant size, structure, and life span how strongly these are determined by climate and soil properties. Insights derived from this could be crucial to improving Earth system models with regard to the role of plant diversity.

Researchers have developed a method that allows resting human immune cells to be genetically analyzed in detail for the first time.

Brain imaging studies have shown structural and functional abnormalities in people with psychosis in the connections between the cortex and the thalamus, the major waystation for incoming sensory information and a critical regulator of cortical activity. A new study shows that those differences are not present during development, but that the integrity of the connections is compromised in youth with psychosis spectrum symptoms.

They are at the forefront in the fight against viruses, bacteria, and malignant cells: the T cells of our immune system. But the older we get, the fewer of them our body produces. Thus, how long we remain healthy also depends on how long the T cells survive. Researchers have now uncovered a previously unknown signaling pathway essential for T cell viability.