Scientists show that serotonin activates brain areas influencing behavior and motivation

Using light stimulation and MRI, scientists compared the effects of stimulating the brain’s serotonin center in awake and anesthetized mice, showing a clear difference in activation levels between the two states. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48489-6 Our brains are made of tens of billions of nerve cells called neurons. These cells communicate with each other through biomolecules called neurotransmitters. Serotonin, a type of neurotransmitter, is produced by serotonin neurons in our brains and influences many of our behavioral and cognitive functions such as memory, sleep, and mood. Using mice, Read More

Patient care takes center stage

The 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting is being held May 31 to June 4, 2024, in Chicago and online. The theme of this year’s meeting is “The Art and Science of Cancer Care: From Comfort to Cure.” Attendees will share and discuss the latest clinical cancer research impacting patient care. “Treatment advances involving targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and new uses of technology, as well as research on improving patient quality of life and outcomes are among the topics that will be highlighted in the meeting’s official Press Read More

Parental legal system involvement linked to adverse child mental health

Parental legal system involvement may negatively impact child mental health, according to a study published online May 23 in Pediatrics. Lilian G. Bravo, Ph.D., R.N., from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues used two-year follow-up data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study when children were 11 to 12 years of age to examine whether adverse parental legal system involvement (incarceration, arrest) was associated with suicide risk. Of the 10,532 children included in the study, 6.5 percent reported parent incarceration Read More

Rates of severe multiple drug intolerance syndrome up in fibromyalgia, IBS

Patients with fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have increased rates of severe multiple drug intolerance syndrome (MDIS), according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. Alicia A. Alvarez, M.D., from Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida, and colleagues conducted a retrospective chart review to examine the prevalence of MDIS in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia or IBS. Patients who had been seen at a large academic center were identified and matched to controls seen within the same timeframe by exact Read More

HPV vaccination positively affecting more than just cervical cancer risk

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is associated with reduced odds of several types of HPV-related cancers, not just cervical cancer, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from May 31 to June 4 in Chicago. Jefferson DeKloe, from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving patients aged 9 to 39 years attending medical encounters where any vaccine was administered between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2023. Participants were categorized into those vaccinated for HPV Read More

Researchers develop new light-controlled ‘off switch’ for brain cells

Membrane-trafficking signals improve KCR localization to axons. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47203-w Researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School have found that a new class of light-sensitive proteins are capable of turning off brain cells with light, offering scientists an unprecedentedly effective tool to investigate brain function. The study, published in Nature Communications, opens exciting new opportunities to apply optogenetics to investigate the brain activity underlying neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and depression. Optogenetics is a technique where specific cells are bioengineered to include light-sensitive proteins that act Read More

New global targets proposed to reduce AMR-linked deaths and improve access to essential antibiotics

Staphylococcus aureus – Antibiotics Test plate. Credit: CDC Access to effective antibiotics is essential to all health systems in the world. Antibiotics prolong lives, reduce disabilities, limit health care costs and enable other life-saving medical interventions such as surgery. However, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens this backbone of modern medicine and is already leading to deaths and disease which would have once been prevented. Speaking at the World Health Assembly on May 28, 2024, leading scientists who authored the new Lancet series—including researchers at St George’s, University of London—are calling for Read More

Scientists leverage machine learning to decode gene regulation in the developing human brain

Massively parallel characterization and prediction of gene regulatory activity in the developing brain. Credit: Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adh0559 In a scientific feat that broadens our knowledge of genetic changes that shape brain development or lead to psychiatric disorders, a team of researchers combined high-throughput experiments and machine learning to analyze more than 100,000 sequences in human brain cells—and identify over 150 variants that likely cause disease. The study, from scientists at Gladstone Institutes and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), establishes a comprehensive catalog of genetic sequences involved in brain Read More

Autonomous medical intervention extends ‘golden hour’ for traumatic injuries with emergency air transport

The autonomous Resuscitation based on Functional Hemodynamic Monitoring (ReFit) system is shown in the foreground, while emergency clinicians and researchers check the animal. The ReFit system supplies fluids, medication and blood based on its assessment of the animal’s needs, keeping it alive without human intervention. Credit: Nathan Langer, UPMC For the first time, a closed loop, autonomous intervention nearly quadrupled the “golden hour” during which surgeons could save the life of a large animal with internal traumatic bleeding while in emergency ground and air transport. This breakthrough in trauma care, Read More

Study connects genetic risk for autism to changes observed in the brain

Single-cell genomics reveals cell type–specific and laminar changes in ASD. Credit: Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adh2602 A study led by UCLA Health has unveiled the most detailed view of the complex biological mechanisms underlying autism, showing the first link between genetic risk of the disorder to observed cellular and genetic activity across different layers of the brain. The study, titled “Molecular cascades and cell type–specific signatures in ASD revealed by single-cell genomics,” is part of the second package of studies from the National Institutes of Health consortium, PsychENCODE. Launched in 2015, Read More

How neurons build a 3D vascular structure to keep the retina healthy

Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.04.010 Scientists have known for years that a lattice of blood vessels nourishes cells in the retina that allow us to see—but it’s been a mystery how the intricate structure is created. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have found a new type of neuron that guides its formation. The discovery, described in Cell, could one day lead to new therapies for diseases that are related to impaired blood flow in the eyes and brain. “This is the first time anyone has seen retinal Read More

Study reveals right atrium changes in cardiovascular diseases

Credit: Cell Reports Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101556 Cardiovascular disease has profound effects on the structure and function of the heart. While past research has mainly focused on the left ventricle and the coronary arteries, the effects of the disease on the right atrium remain largely unexplored. The right atrium functions as the entryway to the heart, pushing blood towards the right ventricle and the lungs. It also houses the pacemaker of the heart, the sinoatrial node, that initiates and maintains the heartbeat. For this reason, pathological remodeling of the site Read More

New biomarker predicts success of immunotherapy in kidney cancer

Schematic overview of key conclusions from the study. Credit: Nature Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-02978-9 Immunotherapy increases survival rates in kidney cancer, but does not work for everyone. A Leuven research team has developed a new method to predict which patients will benefit from it. The team of Francesca Finotello (Computational Biomedicine Group) from the University of Innsbruck also contributed. Their study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, also opens new avenues to even more effective treatments. Every year, roughly 1,300 people in Austria are diagnosed with kidney cancer. Thanks to Read More

Combining human olfactory receptors with artificial organic synapses and a neural network to sniff out cancer

Pattern-recognition artificial olfactory system. Hyun Woo Song and colleagues have developed an artificial olfactory system that discriminates odorants at the molecular chain length level. The olfactory system has been developed through the integration of human olfactory receptors and organic synaptic devices. The system generates distinct conductance patterns for odorants and mixtures. This approach enables precise odorant recognition via training and inference simulations. Credit: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl2882 A team of chemical and biological engineers at Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea has developed a proof-of-concept device that Read More

Improving models to study the human heart

Credit: Cell Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114160 Northwestern Medicine scientists have developed a new method to measure and optimize the maturation process of cultured heart muscle cells, an approach that has the potential to set the future standard for a common cell model in scientific research, according to details published in Cell Reports. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are cultured heart muscle cell models widely used to study a variety of human heart disease and responses to experimental drugs. However, newly cultured cardiomyocytes don’t accurately reflect mature heart muscle Read More

Five key points in proposed pandemic agreement

Countries are trying to finalize a global agreement on how to prepare for and avert pandemics by Friday evening, after two years of negotiations triggered by the horrors of COVID-19. Here are five key sections of the draft agreement being discussed by national negotiators at the World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva, according to a draft seen by AFP: Pathogen access, benefit sharing The core of the agreement is the proposed Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS)—a new platform allowing the swift sharing of pathogen data with pharmaceutical companies, enabling Read More

Pandemic agreement talks come to the crunch

Countries trying to thrash out a global agreement on handling future pandemics are hoping to seal the deal Friday after weeks of creeping progress in exhausting talks. Having plowed past several previous deadlines, the hard stop of next week’s annual gathering of the World Health Organization’s 194 member states is now in clear sight. Scarred by the devastation caused by COVID-19—which killed millions, shredded economies and crippled health systems—WHO member countries have spent two years trying to hammer out binding commitments on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Read More

Extreme weather. A lack of lifesaving vaccines. Africa’s cholera crisis is worse than ever

A family uses a boat after fleeing floodwaters that wreaked havoc in the Githurai area of Nairobi, Kenya, April 24, 2024. Extreme weather events have hit parts of Africa relentlessly in the last three years, with tropical storms, floods and drought causing crises of hunger and displacement. They leave another deadly threat behind them: some of the continent’s worst outbreaks of cholera. In southern and East Africa, more than 6,000 people have died and nearly 350,000 cases have been reported since a series of cholera outbreaks began in late 2021. Read More

HPV vaccines prevent cancer in men as well as women, new research suggests

by Carla K. Johnson A doctor holds a vial of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil in Chicago on Aug. 28, 2006. Research published Thursday, May 23, 2024, by the American Society of Clinical Oncology suggests the HPV vaccine is preventing throat cancer in men, as well as cervical cancer in women, but fewer boys than girls are getting the shots in the United States. Credit: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File New research suggests the HPV vaccine is preventing cancer in men, as well as in women, but fewer boys Read More

Scientists propose therapeutic approach for inflammatory bowel disease

Graphical abstract. Credit: Li et al. In a study published in Cell Host & Microbe, a research team has demonstrated the causal link between microbial factors and dysfunction of intestinal stem cells (ISCs) in colitis. On the basis of this mechanism, they proposed a possible approach to restore ISC function in colitis. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disease characterized by microbial dysbiosis and dysfunction of ISCs in the gut. However, how these two factors are directly communicated remains poorly understood. In this study, researchers first revealed that ?2A-adrenergic Read More

Study suggests psychedelic drug-induced hyperconnectivity in the brain helps clarify altered subjective experiences

After psilocybin administration, there was an overall cerebral tendency to show more re-occurrence of a functional hyper-connectivity pattern. Credit: Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.04.001 A recent study shows that the use of psilocybin, a compound found in the widely known “magic mushrooms,” initiates a pattern of hyperconnectivity in the brain linked to the ego-modifying effects and feelings of oceanic boundlessness. The findings, appearing in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, help explain the so-called mystical experiences people report during the use of psychedelics and are pertinent Read More

In experiments, mice get ill from raw milk carrying bird flu virus

Confirming the dangers of drinking raw cow’s milk when the H5N1 avian flu virus is circulating in U.S. dairy herds, researchers found that mice fed the milk quickly got ill. “Our data indicate that HPAI A[H5N1] virus in untreated milk can infect susceptible animals that consume it,” concluded a team led by virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His team published the findings Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine. In late March, researchers first detected traces of H5N1 bird flu in nasal swabs and milk obtained Read More

How nonserious product reviews affect online sales

A new study from Temple University faculty members Sunil Wattal, a professor of management information systems and the Schaefer Senior Research Fellow, and Susan Mudambi, professor emeritus of marketing, finds that humorous, exaggerated product reviews can both increase and decrease sales. Credit: Temple University If you have ever done any online shopping, whether it be through Amazon or another retailer, you have likely come across a review that reads something along the lines of, “Can’t say enough how much I LOVE this T-shirt. When I opened the package and put Read More

Cramming for an exam isn’t the best way to learn—but if you have to do it, here’s how

Credit: Pixabay from Pexels Around the country, school and university students are hitting the books in preparation for exams. If you are in this position, you may find yourself trying to memorize information that you first learned a long time ago and have completely forgotten—or that you didn’t actually learn effectively in the first place. Unfortunately, cramming is a very inefficient way to properly learn. But sometimes it’s necessary to pass an exam. And you can incorporate what we know about how learning works into your revision to make it Read More

How tea may have saved lives in 18th century England

Drinking tea can have several health benefits. There is seemingly a brew for everything from sleep to inflammation to digestion. In 18th century England, however, drinking tea may have saved a person’s life, and it likely had very little to do with leaves and herbs. For CU Boulder economics professor Francisca Antman, it’s all about the water. Specifically, boiling the water and eliminating bacteria that could cause illnesses like dysentery, more commonly known during the Industrial Revolution as “bloody flux.” It’s not a new idea—the connection between boiling water for Read More