news 2017

A UCL-led research team has identified a rare mutation that causes one family to have unusually low sensitivity to pain. The researchers hope the findings, published today in Brain , could be used to identify new treatments for chronic pain. They studied an Italian family, the Marsilis, which includes six people who have a distinctive pain response that has not been identified in any other people.

EPFL scientists have discovered that neutrophils, a type of immune cell, can actually help lung tumors grow. The work is published in Cell Reports, and has enormous implications for cancer immunotherapy. Neutrophils inside lung adenocarcinoma tumors. On the left, neutrophils inside a mouse tumor are stained brown; on the right, neutrophils inside a human tumor are stained red (credit: E. Meylan/EPFL).

UCLA-led study holds promise for development of vaccines and therapeutic drugs to fight the virus Enrique Rivero Survivors of the first known Ebola outbreak, which occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976, may be key to development of vaccines and therapeutic drugs to treat future outbreaks, according to a new study led by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

A new study co-authored by Prof. Michael Greenstone finds infants born to mothers living up to about 2 miles from a hydraulic fracturing site suffer from poorer health. From North Dakota to Texas to Pennsylvania, hydraulic fracturing has transformed many places in America into energy powerhouses.

Matthew Aliota, assistant scientist in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, works with a strain of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes stored in a research lab insectary in the Hanson Biomedical Sciences Building. Aliota is an expert on mosquito-borne pathogens such as the Zika virus, dengue fever and yellow fever infections.

FINDINGS An experimental blood test developed at UCLA that uses gene activity data from immune cells was 93 percent accurate in predicting survival rates for people with advanced heart failure who had surgery to implant mechanical circulatory support devices. BACKGROUND Mechanical circulatory support devices, such as ventricular assist devices and temporary total artificial hearts, can be surgically implanted in people with advanced heart failure to help the heart's pumping function.

A perplexing question in immunology has been, how do immune cells remember an infection or a vaccination so that they can spring into action decades later? Research led by scientists at the UCalifornia, Berkeley, in collaboration with investigators at Emory University, has found an answer: A small pool of the same immune cells that responded to the original invasion remain alive for years, developing unique features that keep them primed and waiting for the same microbe to re-invade the body.

As resistance to existing antibiotics increases, new approaches to serious bacterial infections are needed. Now researchers at Lund University in Sweden, together with colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) in the US, have investigated one such alternative. New approach to resistant bacteria.

It is the first representative survey of the state's youth population to measure gender expression Rachel Dowd A new UCLA study finds that 27 percent, or 796,000, of California's youth, ages 12 to 17, report they are viewed by others as gender nonconforming at school. The study also assessed differences in mental health among gender nonconforming youth and gender conforming youth in the state, and found no significant difference in the rates of lifetime suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts between gender nonconforming youth and their gender conforming peers.

Autophagy refers to a fundamental recycling process of cells that occurs in yeast, fungi, plants, as well as animals and humans. This process allows cells to degrade their own components and thus activate energy resources to be able to adapt to nutritional needs. In addition, autophagy plays a central role in steering an organism's immune response.

A story aired on the ABC that reported on issues concerning long-acting contraceptives was unbalanced and alarmist writes Associate Professor Kirsten Black. Last night ABC's 7.30 featured a  report on long-acting reversible contraception  (LARC) that was unbalanced and alarmist. This could have a long-lasting detrimental impact on women's reproductive health in Australia.

New research by Yale Cancer Center (YCC) researchers shows a majority of pediatric cancer providers endorse the potential use of medical marijuana for children with advanced cancer, although providers who are legally eligible to certify its use are more cautious than those who aren't. The findings also show clinicians would prefer to see much stronger clinical evidence that marijuana treatments can help in relieving symptoms, such as nausea and pain.

Researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have discovered how high glucose levels — whether caused by diabetes or other factors — keep heart cells from maturing normally. Their findings help explain why babies born to women with diabetes are more likely to develop congenital heart disease.

A small-molecule inhibitor tested by researchers at Yale and Stanford may be the answer to blocking the spread of harmful mosquito-borne pathogens, including Zika and dengue viruses, according to a new study published in Cell Reports. The molecule, dubbed NGI-1, was identified by co-author Joseph Contessa, M.D., an associate professor of therapeutic radiology and of pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine.

Researchers at Cardiff University, in collaboration with the University of Dundee, have identified a drug molecule within a medicine used to treat tapeworm infections which could lead to new treatments for patients with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that, according to the charity, Parkinson's UK, affects one person in every 500.

A new method for preparing ultra-thin slices of heart tissue in the lab could help scientists to study how cells behave inside a beating heart. The heart is made up of millions of individual muscle cells called cardiomyocytes that are kept in place by a criss-crossing network of collagen fibres. These cells work together, contracting in sync to create a strong and regular heartbeat.

Different types of privacy laws in U.S. states produce markedly different effects on the willingness of patients to have genetic testing done, according to a new study co-authored by an MIT professor. As the research shows, policies that focus on the privacy risks of genetic testing, and ask for patient consent to those risks, lead to a reduction in tests performed.

A new way of triggering nerve regeneration to help repair spinal cord injury and in the longer-term potentially paralysis has successfully been demonstrated by University of Bristol scientists. The work is published in PLOS ONE today [Monday 11 December]. There is currently no cure for spinal cord injury or treatment to help nerve regeneration so therapies offering intervention are limited.

Investigational therapy crizanlizumab (SEG101, formerly SelG1) approximately doubled the time to first on-treatment sickle cell pain crisis, according to new subgroup analysis of Phase II SUSTAIN data Results were consistent across patient subgroups despite differences in disease severity, genotype or background therapy New findings for crizanlizumab, a potential disease-modifying, preventive treatment option for patients with sickle cell diseas

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have shown, for the first time, that a naturally occurring hormone plays a vital part in regulating a woman's fertility, a discovery that could lead to better diagnosis and treatment of infertility. Research by Associate Professor Ravinder Anand-Ivell , Professor Richard Ivell and Yanzhenzi Dai in the School of Biosciences has been published in the online journal Frontiers in Physiology.