Science and Health News

Medications often have unwanted side-effects. One reason is that they reach not only the unhealthy cells for which they are intended, but also reach and have an impact on healthy cells. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), working together with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, have developed a stable nano-carrier for medications. A special mechanism makes sure the drugs are only released in diseased cells.

Spinal cord injury often leads to permanent functional impairment. In a new study published in the journal Science researchers at Karolinska Institutet show that it is possible to stimulate stem cells in the mouse spinal cord to form large amounts of new oligodendrocytes, cells that are essential to the ability of neurons to transmit signals, and thus to help repair the spinal cord after injury.

The number of mutations that can contribute to ageing may be significantly higher than previously believed, according to new research on fruit flies. The study by scientists at Linköping University supports a new theory about the type of mutation that can lie behind ageing.

An international research team has shown in mice that Rictor, a protein that helps to regulate the growth, energy, and oxygen consumption of cells, plays a key role in the cellular metabolism and longevity of hair follicle stem cells / publication in ‘Cell Metabolism’

New research from Penn State College of Medicine may help health care professionals understand which patients who report insomnia are at increased risk for developing dementia. Middle-aged adults who report symptoms on insomnia and sleep less than six hours of asleep a night may be at increased risk of cognitive impairment.

The mature brain is infamously bad at repairing itself following damage like that caused by trauma or strokes, or from degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s. Stem cells, which are endlessly adaptable, have offered the promise of better neural repair. But the brain’s precisely tuned complexity has stymied the development of clinical treatments.

The results from our Phase 2a clinical trial have shown that bexarotene is capable of regenerating lost myelin – the protective coating that surrounds nerve fibres, which is damaged in MS. Now, a new trial of the diabetes drug metformin will build on this work.

Cancer cells are killed in lab experiments and tumour growth reduced in mice, using a new approach that turns a nanoparticle into a 'Trojan horse' that causes cancer cells to self-destruct, a research team at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has found.