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Seeking to improve upon existing checkpoint inhibitor therapies, scientists have developed a common checkpoint inhibitor (anti-PD-L1) in a nanoparticle formulation, which were activated specifically at tumor sites in mouse models of cancer. Their approach intends to prevent the immune system from becoming tolerant of tumors - which occurs in 30% of all cancer patients - and could help avoid the toxic off-target effects observed during the use of standard antibody checkpoint inhibitors.
What The Study Did: Called a systematic review and meta-analysis, this study combined the results of 26 studies to examine the cognitive and motor development of infants and children exposed to opioids prenatally.
Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy using the antibody that combats the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) shows great potential and is causing a revolution in clinical cancer management. Unfortunately, only a subset of treated patients responds to current ICB therapies, likely due to the immunological tolerance of tumors. Therefore, developing a practical strategy to combat this immunological tolerance and amplify ICB therapies has become a priority.
Gaku Kudo of Hokkaido University and Elisabeth J. Cooper of the Arctic University of Norway have demonstrated that early snowmelt results in the spring ephemeral Corydalis ambigua flowering ahead of the emergence of its pollinator, the bumblebee.
Singapore, 7 July 2019 - Functional regions within the brain become less distinct and inter-connected in the elderly over time, especially in those networks related to attention span and cognition. The finding, published by researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School in The Journal of Neuroscience, adds to current understanding of longitudinal decline in brain network integrity associated with ageing.
Two proteins that activate the fastest molecule in our nerve cells identified by researchers at University of Warwick
Mechanism is responsible for transport through our nervous system
Faults in cargo transporters can lead to hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) and other neurodegenerative disorders
Could lead to therapeutic treatment for people with HSP and neurological disorders
Scientists at the University of Warwick have discovered a new process that sets the fastest molecular motor on its marathon-like runs through our neurons.
HERSHEY, Pa. -- Preventing a protein from doing its job may keep a certain type of ovarian cancer cell from growing and dividing uncontrollably in the lab, according to a new study from Penn State College of Medicine.
In a study with cell cultures, the researchers identified the protein as a potential therapeutic target for high-grade serous ovarian cancer cells. Approximately 70% of patients with this type of ovarian cancer relapse with chemo-resistant disease, increasing the need for new approaches to treatment.
Many burn victims suffer acute kidney injury (AKI), but early recognition of AKI remains challenging. Now an Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) model developed at UC Davis Health and reported in a new study can predict acute kidney injury quicker and more accurately than ever.
A promising new way to treat some types of cancer is to program the patient's own T cells to destroy the cancerous cells. This approach, termed CAR-T cell therapy, is now used to combat some types of leukemia, but so far it has not worked well against solid tumors such as lung or breast tumors.
New research by neuroscientists at the University of Chicago shows that the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), an area of the brain often associated with planning movements and spatial awareness, also plays a crucial role in making decisions about images in the field of view.
Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is DNA found in trace amounts in blood, which has escaped degradation by enzymes. Scientists from Tokyo University of Science, led by Prof Ryushin Mizuta, have now discovered exactly how cfDNA is generated. They also talk about the applications of DNase1L3--the enzyme mainly responsible for generating cfDNA--as a novel molecule to prevent the spread of tumors.
An international team of researchers has succeeded in measuring the current system responsible for Jupiter's aurora. Using data transmitted to Earth by NASA's Juno spacecraft, they showed that the direct currents were much weaker than expected and that alternating currents must therefore play a special role. On Earth, on the other hand, a direct current system creates its aurora. Jupiter's electric current system is kept going in particular by large centrifugal forces, which hurl ionized sulfur dioxide gas from the gas giant's moon Io through the magnetosphere.
Last week's massive southern California earthquakes shut down Ridgecrest Regional Hospital throughout the July 4 holiday weekend while the tiny town of Ridgecrest assessed the damages. A new optical sensor developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) could speed up the time it takes to evaluate whether critical buildings like these are safe to occupy shortly after a major earthquake.
To date, 17 Chinese self-developed FengYun (FY) meteorological satellites have been launched, which are widely applied in weather analysis, numerical weather forecasting and climate prediction, as well as environment and disaster monitoring. Currently, seven satellites are in operation.
Plants with green leaves and stems are a common sight and are one of the most natural things on earth. But when considering that this colouring is achieved by small chlorophyll-filled organelles called chloroplasts, distributed within plant cells, where they utilise their green pigmentation to convert solar energy into chemical energy, this green colouration no longer seems to be such a trivial thing. Because of their fundamental role in plant biology, chloroplasts and their ability to colour plants have been since long in the focus of intense research.