found Archives - Family Medicine News

Can’t stop putting your hand in the candy dish? Scientists may have found why

29.10.2019 Health Problems

A national team of scientists has identified a circuit in the brain that appears to be associated with psychiatric disorders ranging from overeating to gambling, drug abuse and even Parkinson’s disease. “We discovered the brain connections that keep impulsivity in check,” said Scott Kanoski, a neuroscientist and associate professor at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “The key […]

I feel you: Emotional mirror neurons found in rats

13.04.2019 Health Problems

Researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have found that the rat brain activates the same cells when they observe the pain of others as when they experience pain themselves. In addition, without the activity of these mirror neurons, the animals no longer share the pain of others. Finding the neural basis for sharing the emotions of others is an […]

Zombie cells found in brains of mice prior to cognitive loss

19.09.2018 Health Problems

Zombie cells are the ones that can’t die but are equally unable to perform the functions of a normal cell. These zombie, or senescent, cells are implicated in a number of age-related diseases. And with a new letter in Nature, Mayo Clinic researchers have expanded that list. In a mouse model of brain disease, scientists report that senescent cells accumulate […]

Synthetic sandalwood found to prolong human hair growth

19.09.2018 Health Problems

A team of researchers led by Ralf Paus of the University of Manchester has found that applying sandalwood to the scalp can prolong human hair growth. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the group describes experiments they conducted with the synthetic material and human skin samples, and what they found. The research built on prior work by […]

Novel gene mutation found in lymphatic disorder

28.08.2018 Health Problems

Pediatric researchers have identified a gene mutation that causes a serious lymphatic condition, and used that knowledge to restore normal lymphatic vessels in model animals. The laboratory findings may lead to a new therapy for patients with this type of abnormal lymphatic circulation. “This discovery offers a potential avenue for intervening with existing drugs to treat patients with this complex, […]

Chemicals found in vegetables prevent colon cancer in mice

14.08.2018 Health Problems

Chemicals produced by vegetables such as kale, cabbage and broccoli could help to maintain a healthy gut and prevent colon cancer, a new study from the Francis Crick Institute shows. The research, published in Immunity, shows that mice fed on a diet rich in indole-3-carbinol—which is produced when we digest vegetables from the Brassica genus—were protected from gut inflammation and […]

Liver cancer cell ‘switch’ found that could improve future therapies

01.08.2018 Health Problems

Imperial researchers have found a new cell mechanism that could be used to target tumours in the future. The newly discovered ‘switch’ controls the activity of two proteins – ‘deleted in liver cancer-1’ (DLC1), a tumour suppressor, and talin. Both proteins control whether or not cancer cells spread to other parts of the body, but the exact mechanisms have remained […]

Link found between resilience to dyslexia and gray matter in the frontal brain

24.07.2018 Health Problems

Dyslexia, a reading disorder, is characterized by a difficulty in “decoding”—navigating between the visual form and sounds of a written language. But a subset of dyslexic people, dubbed “resilient dyslexics,” exhibit remarkably high levels of reading comprehension despite difficulties decoding. What is the precise mechanism that allows certain individuals with dyslexia to overcome their low decoding abilities and ultimately extract […]

How I Found Myself After My Mother's & Son's Suicide Attempts

06.07.2018 Kids Health

There are no words to describe the feelings that washed over my body when the phone rang and I heard, “Your mom’s in the hospital; she took a lot of pills and her organs are close to shutting down.” Or when I walked into the laundry room in my house and found my 16-year-old son standing with a chair in […]

Proteins found in semen increase the spread of Ebola virus infection

26.06.2018 Health Problems

Protein fragments, called amyloid fibrils, in human semen significantly increase Ebola virus infection and protect the virus against harsh environmental conditions such as heat and dehydration. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report these findings in a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Although Ebola is […]

1 2 »