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A ripe areca nut. Image credit: Banni Pulikottil / CC BY 2.5.

Arecoline: Compound Found in Areca Nuts Has Anti-Cancer Potential

Nov 29, 2016 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Molecular Cell reports that arecoline, an active compound found in areca nuts, has anti-cancer properties. A ripe...

Cannabis use in humans is associated with reduced dopamine in the striatum. PET studies have shown lower striatal dopamine synthesis and release capacity in cannabis users. Lower dopamine synthesis capacity in the dorsal striatum is directly associated with reduced motivation levels, whereas reduced dopamine release in the ventral striatum is directly associated with negative emotion levels and severity of addiction. Image credit: Michael A. P. Bloomfield et al, doi: 10.1038/nature20153.

Long-Term Marijuana Use Blunts Brain’s Reward System, Say Researchers

Nov 28, 2016 by News Staff

Regular use of cannabis over many years lowers levels of dopamine, a key chemical in the brain’s reward center, says an international team of researchers...

According to the study, participants aged 65 years and older have a greater rate of injury from practicing yoga when compared with other age groups. Image credit: Janeb13.

Yoga is Relatively Safe, Researchers Say

Nov 22, 2016 by News Staff

Participating in yoga is relatively safe, but know your limits, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) who conducted the first...

According to Hoel et al, the message of sun avoidance must be changed to acceptance of non-burning sun exposure sufficient to achieve serum 25(OH)D concentration of 30 ng/mL or higher in the sunny season and the general benefits of UV exposure beyond those of vitamin D. Image credit: Biedermann.

Study Says Avoiding the Sun is an Emerging Health Problem

Nov 20, 2016 by News Staff

Americans are increasingly at risk of insufficient sun exposure, according to a landmark study published this week in the Journal of Dermato-Endocrinology. According...

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of filamentous Ebola virus particles (blue) budding from a chronically infected cell (yellow). Image credit: NIAID / CC BY 2.0.

Symptom-Free Ebola Discovered in Sierra Leone

Nov 19, 2016 by News Staff

A research team headed by Stanford University scientist Eugene Richardson has identified twelve individuals with previously undetected Ebola virus infection...

Discovery and screening of the humimycins. Top: the humimycins were predicted from closely related gene clusters found in two Rhodococcus spp. cultured from human subjects. Center: chemical structures of humimycin A and B; the two antibiotics differ only at the fourth (F or Y) and sixth (V or I) residues. Bottom: MIC values for the humimycins against a panel of human commensal and pathogenic bacteria; the humimycins were particularly active against bacteria in the Staphylococcus and Streptococcus genus. Image credit: John Chu et al.

Humimycins: Scientists Discover Two New MRSA-Active Antibiotics

Nov 17, 2016 by News Staff

Using a novel approach called syn-BNP (synthetic-bioinformatic natural product) approach, scientists from the Rockefeller and Rutgers Universities have...

Scanning electron micrograph of HIV particles infecting a human T cell. Image credit: National Institutes of Health.

Newly Identified Antibody Neutralizes 98% of HIV Strains

Nov 16, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Dr. Mark Connors of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has identified an antibody from an HIV-infected...

The study reveals the number of people with high blood pressure has nearly doubled in four decades. Image credit: Gerald Oswald.

Study: High Blood Pressure Affects Over a Billion People Worldwide

Nov 15, 2016 by News Staff

As many as 1.13 billion people in the world have high blood pressure, says a new study published in the journal The Lancet. The study reveals the number...

Singh et al found that marijuana users were almost twice as likely to develop stress cardiomyopathy compared to non-users. Image credit: Tabeajaichhalt.

Active Marijuana Use May Double Risk of Stress Cardiomyopathy, Study Says

Nov 14, 2016 by News Staff

According to a new study by researchers at St. Luke’s University Health Network, active cannabis use may double the risk of stress cardiomyopathy, a...

Transmission electron micrograph of Zika virus. Virus particles are 40 nm in diameter, with an outer envelope, and an inner dense core. Image credit: Cynthia Goldsmith / CDC.

Newly Discovered Antibody ‘Neutralizes’ Zika Virus, Shows Mouse Study

Nov 11, 2016 by News Staff

A research team led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center scientist Prof. James Crowe, Jr., has isolated a human monoclonal antibody that in a mouse...

TRPA-1/TRPA1 activation via a-dicarbonyls (a-DCs) is relayed through UNC-43 (CaMKII), PMK-1, and SEK-1 (MAPK) to SKN-1/Nrf, resulting in the expression of various downstream glyoxalases to achieve organism-wide a-DC detoxification. Image credit: Jyotiska Chaudhuri et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.09.024.

New Research Provides Path to Study Diabetic Complications

Nov 8, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from the United States and China has found a sensor for the reactive molecules linked to diabetic complications. The...

Schematic of gradual induction of severe hypoxemia. Image credit: Yuji Nakada et al, doi: 10.1038/nature20173.

Study: Extremely Low-Oxygen Environment Leads to Heart Regeneration in Adult Mice

Nov 4, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from Japan, UK and the United States has been able to regenerate heart muscle by placing adult mice in a low-oxygen...

Structure of the human mitochondrial genome. Image credit: Shanel / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Study Confirms Genetic Link between Autism Spectrum Disorder and mtDNA

Nov 3, 2016 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal PLoS Genetics has confirmed a genetic link between mitochondrial DNA, which is passed on from the mother, and some...

In the study, whole-brain degree count maps, collected before the start of treatment, were used to identify potential brain regional markers for placebo propensity. Group differences in whole-brain maps for degree count (number of connections of any location to the rest of the brain) between placebo responders and non-responders identified four brain regions that differentiated placebo responders from non-responders. The highest significant difference was seen for the right midfrontal gyrus. Abbreviations: r-MFG - right midfrontal gyrus; ACC - anterior cingulate cortex; PCC - posterior cingulate cortex; r-S2/M1 - right secondary somatosensory and primary motor cortex. Image credit: Tétreault P. et al.

New Study Spotlights Brain Region Responsible for Placebo Response in Pain

Oct 31, 2016 by News Staff

A Northwestern University-led team of researchers has identified a region in the brain responsible for the ‘placebo effect’ in pain relief, when a...

H1N1 influenza virus. Image credit: CDC Influenza Laboratory.

Ethnicity Influences Response to Influenza Vaccine

Oct 27, 2016 by Bhuminder Singh

Dr. Raj Kurupati and colleagues from the Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Duke University Medical Center showed that an individual’s...

Mark et al demonstrate that vitamin D promotes protein homeostasis and slows aging in the nematode C. elegans. Image credit: Karla A. Mark et al.

Vitamin D Enhances Lifespan and Protein Homeostasis, New Study Shows

Oct 26, 2016 by News Staff

A new animal study published in the journal Cell Reports shows vitamin D engages longevity genes to increase lifespan and prevent the accumulation of toxic...

According to a new study, the mouths of migraine sufferers harbor more nitrate-reducing microbes than people who do not get migraine headaches. Image credit: Sasha Wolff / CC BY 2.0.

Scientists Find Link between Migraines and Nitrate-Reducing Oral Bacteria

Oct 21, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the University of Chicago and the University of California, San Diego, has found that migraine sufferers harbor significantly...

Study Casts New Light on Evolution, Spread of Zika Virus

Oct 17, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by Dr. Massimo Ciccozzi from the University Campus Bio-Medico in Rome, Italy, has modeled the evolutionary development and diversity...

This image shows technology and methodology involved in MRI-guided transplantation of neural stem cells into the Parkinsonian brain. Image credit: Scott C. Vermilyea et al, doi: 10.3727/096368916X692979.

RT-IMRI: Improving Stem Cell Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease

Oct 14, 2016 by News Staff

In a study using RT-IMRI (real-time intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging) to guide the transplantation of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons...