Science and Health News

Alzheimer’s Research UK has renewed its call for urgent action on dementia as new analysis estimates that one in three people born this year will develop the condition during their lifetime. The findings, revealed on World Alzheimer’s Day (21 September), foreshadow a looming national health crisis as the UK population ages, and underlines the need for global efforts to develop new treatments to succeed.

Two drugs that affect the structure and function of DNA have been found to block the growth of pancreatic tumor cells in mice. Researchers hope the drugs can soon be tested in humans with the disease. A combination of two drugs, one already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, appears to be effective at shrinking pancreatic cancers in laboratory mice, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Researchers have discovered that a particular protein, Fstl1, plays a key role in regenerating dead heart-muscle cells. Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine and their colleagues have enabled damaged heart tissue in animals to regenerate by delivering a protein to it via a bioengineered collagen patch.

San Diego, Calif., September 16, 2015 -- Nanoparticles disguised as human platelets could greatly enhance the healing power of drug treatments for cardiovascular disease and systemic bacterial infections. These platelet-mimicking nanoparticles, developed by engineers at the University of California, San Diego, are capable of delivering drugs to targeted sites in the body — particularly injured blood vessels, as well as organs infected by harmful bacteria. Engineers demonstrated that by delivering the drugs just to the areas where the drugs were needed, these platelet copycats greatly increased the therapeutic effects of drugs that were administered to diseased rats and mice.

A national team of researchers has developed a first-of-its-kind, 3D-printed guide that helps regrow both the sensory and motor functions of complex nerves after injury. The groundbreaking research has the potential to help more than 200,000 people annually who experience nerve injuries or disease. Collaborators on the project are from the University of Minnesota, Virginia Tech, University of Maryland, Princeton University, and Johns Hopkins University. Nerve regeneration is a complex process. Because of this complexity, regrowth of nerves after injury or disease is very rare, according to the Mayo Clinic. Nerve damage is often permanent. Advanced 3D printing methods may now be the solution.

DURHAM, NC - A first draft of the “tree of life” for the roughly 2.3 million named species of animals, plants, fungi and microbes -- from platypuses to puffballs -- has been released. A collaborative effort among eleven institutions, the tree depicts the relationships among living things as they diverged from one another over time, tracing back to the beginning of life on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago. Tens of thousands of smaller trees have been published over the years for select branches of the tree of life -- some containing upwards of 100,000 species -- but this is the first time those results have been combined into a single tree that encompasses all of life. The end result is a digital resource that available free online for anyone to use or edit, much like a “Wikipedia” for evolutionary trees.

The traditional diet of Greenland natives — the Inuit — is held up as an example of how high levels of omega-3 fatty acids can counterbalance the bad health effects of a high-fat diet, but a new study hints that what’s true for the Inuit may not be true for everyone else.

Tute Genomics, a leader in clinical sequencing informatics and genomic interpretation technology, today announced a commercial partnership with Genatak, a leading center for genomic medicine in the Middle East. Genatak recently deployed Tute Genomics’ cloud-based platform to advance and scale the center’s genetic diagnostic service, and now plans to make the platform available directly to other clinical laboratories and hospitals throughout the Middle East.