An aging Baby Boomer population in the U.S. will contribute to an expected doubling of the prevalence of visual impairment and blindness in the next 35 years, according to a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology.
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Patients with asthma have chronic lung inflammation that results in sporadic narrowing of the airways and difficulty breathing. Symptoms and severity are variable among individuals; however, the cells and inflammatory factors that trigger asthmatic events have been fairly well characterized and are similar regardless of the asthma-inducing stimuli. In this issue of JCI Insight, investigators led by Karin Reif of KARBio LLC and Cary Austin of Genentech Inc.
Obesity and subsequent complications are increasing in frequency worldwide. The accumulation of adipose tissue is associated with increased inflammation, and it has been proposed that modification of proinflammatory responses could alter adipose tissue composition. A study in this issue of JCI Insight demonstrates that mice lacking the proinflammatory signaling molecule TAK1 are protected from obesity and insulin resistance induced by a high fat diet.
Sepsis is a life-threatening complication of infection in which the molecules that the body releases to fight an infection trigger widespread inflammatory responses, resulting in damage to multiple organ systems. In this issue of JCI Insight, Huan Yang of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Ulf Andersson of the Karolinska Institutet and colleagues, report on a method to scavenge inflammatory molecules that mediate sepsis in mice.
Right across the bird and animal kingdoms, the colour red is used for communication, often to attract mates, and zebra finches are no different: the males have a distinctive red beak, which is a sexually selected trait - as females prefer males with redder beaks.
New research on zebra finches has identified for the first time the genes that allow some bird species to produce the red pigment that plays such a critical role in attraction and mating.
New York, NY (May 19, 2016) - Scientists at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute discovered an important biological phenomenon in human cells that will help scientists and clinicians design safer treatments to prevent mitochondrial diseases. NYSCF first pioneered a technique, mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), in 2012 to prevent inheritance of these devastating and debilitating diseases.
OAKLAND, Calif., May 19, 2016 -- Overweight colorectal cancer patients were 55 percent less likely to die from their cancer than normal-weight patients who have the disease, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published today in JAMA Oncology.
A strain of inbred mice commonly used for the creation of so-called knockout animals has been found to carry a previously undetected mutation that could affect the results of immune system research studies. In paper receiving online publication in Cell Reports, a team based at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard describe finding a chromosome 11 mutation in a strain of C57BL/6 -- often called "black 6" or B6 -- mice that they traced back to a specific commercial supplier.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have discovered that high levels of the protein p62 in human liver samples are strongly associated with cancer recurrence and reduced patient survival. In mice, they also found that p62 is required for liver cancer to form.
The study, published May 19, 2016 in Cancer Cell, suggests p62 could be used as a prognostic marker and potential therapeutic target for liver cancer.
WASHINGTON -- Interventions designed to reduce alcohol use among fraternity members are no more effective than no intervention at all, according to an analysis of 25 years of research involving over 6,000 university students published by the American Psychological Association.
Chemotherapy is a key part of the standard treatment regimen for triple-negative breast cancer patients whose cancer lacks expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors and the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). While many patients respond well to chemotherapy, a significant fraction of those treated are resistant to chemotherapy or will develop recurrent tumors that are chemoresistant.
By studying the rare person -- about one in a million -- who can fight off viral infections more effectively than everyone else, investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a strategy to help the rest of us achieve this enhanced anti-viral state.
Their research, published in Nature Communications, provides a path toward creation of the first broad-spectrum antiviral drug. None currently exists.
That the morphology of many pollinators corresponds strikingly to the shape of the flowers they pollinate was observed more than 150 years ago by Charles Darwin. He described this perfect mutual adaptation of flowers and pollinators as the result of a co-evolutionary process. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, have now provided further proof of the famous naturalist's theory. They were able to show that Manduca sexta moths acquired the highest energy gain when they visited flowers that matched the length of their proboscis.
The results of a new survey published in ecancermedicalscience indicate that a majority of oncology professionals believe that writing condolence letters to the families of deceased patients is an important component of cancer palliative care.
The study explored whether institutions should consider changing policies to raise condolence letters to a more official standing.
A new study suggests that natural proteins can be used to effectively test new replacement hip and knee joints in the laboratory. The work could help with improving design in order to reduce wear and tear and increase the lifespan of such prosthetics. Details are reported this week in the International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering.