People diagnosed with schizophrenia who are prone to hallucinations are likely to have structural differences in a key region of the brain compared to both healthy individuals and people diagnosed with schizophrenia who do not hallucinate, according to new research. The study, led by the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Durham University, Macquarie University,…
Author: D.C.Demetre
How Depleting The Gut Microbiota Protects From Obesity
Research on gut microbiota has started to unravel its tremendous role in our body, and how it symbiotically affects the functioning of our organs. In particular, microbiota has also an impact on the way calories are absorbed and how fat cells develop. By studying mice without microbiota, scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) were…
Experimental Drug Targeting Alzheimer’s Disease Shows Anti-aging Effects
Salk Institute researchers have found that an experimental drug candidate aimed at combating Alzheimer’s disease has a host of unexpected anti-aging effects in animals. The Salk team expanded upon their previous development of a drug candidate, called J147, which takes a different tack by targeting Alzheimer’s major risk factor—old age. In the new work, the…
Reproductive History Linked To Risk Of Cognitive Impairment In Elderly Women
Reproductive history, an important modifier of estrogen exposure across women’s lifetime, is associated with risk of cognitive impairment in postmenopausal women, researchers led by Professor Jun-Fen Lin at Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention have found. Prof. Lin notes that postmenopausal women carry an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) than age-matched…
Can Listening To Music Help You Fall Asleep?
By now, you’ve surely heard that Americans aren’t getting enough sleep. In our always-on society, a solid chunk of nightly rest seems, well, like a dream. We shave the edges of sleep to keep up, exchanging extra waking hours for compromised health, productivity and safety. Despite this, we actually know how to sleep better; the…
Emotionally Supportive Relationships Linked to Lower Testosterone
Science and folklore alike have long suggested that high levels of testosterone can facilitate the sorts of attitudes and behaviours that make for less than ideal male parents. It has long been known that among humans, and some other species as well, males who cooperate amicably with their female mates in raising and nurturing offspring…
Flexible Wireless Implants May Halt Untreatable Pain
Researchers are testing flexible wireless implants that could be used in different parts of the body to fight pain that doesn’t respond to other therapies. Unlike devices that need to be anchored to bone, these are soft and stretchable, which means they can be implanted into parts of the body that move, says Robert W.…
What Are Laminins?
Laminins are high-molecular weight (~400 to ~900 kDa) proteins of the extracellular matrix. They are a major component of the basal lamina (one of the layers of the basement membrane), a protein network foundation for most cells and organs. The laminins are an important and biologically active part of the basal lamina, influencing cell differentiation,…
Missing Dopamine Makes Mutant Worms Flee Odor
Biologists working with nematodes called C. elegans noticed something strange when different genes were deleted from the worm’s DNA. One particular deletion resulted in nematodes with a heightened sense of smell: They backed away from repulsive odors unusually fast. The lead researchers, Denise Ferkey and Michael Yu of the University at Buffalo, took note— they…