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It might be complicated, but the concept is as simple as a light switch. A team of researchers led by two Harvard alumni have uncovered a switch-like mechanism in the brains of larval zebrafish that flips their brains between two distinct motivational states—one a highly focused hunting state and the other an easily distracted, exploratory state. The findings, which they […]
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Published studies have long found a correlation between obesity in children and decreased executive function. New research published in JAMA Pediatrics, based on data mined from a massive national research study, suggests that a change in brain structure—a thinner prefrontal cortex—may help explain that interrelationship. “Our results show an important connection; that kids with higher BMI tend to have a […]
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Researchers from Lawson Health Research Institute and Brescia University College found that teenage pregnant women are more likely to live in poverty, have poorer mental health and have higher rates of substance use. There are limited Canadian studies on teenage pregnancies, in particular looking at risk factors and birth outcomes compared to women who became pregnant during adulthood. London researchers […]
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Researchers have identified a genetic signature with prognostic value for certain kinds of breast cancer. The discovery also contributes to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of pathological angiogenesis, the aberrant proliferation of blood vessels that occurs during cancer and other diseases. The research, published in the journal PLOS Genetics, combined a study of the genes involved in retinopathy, […]
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Glycine receptors are among the most widely distributed inhibitory receptors in the central nervous system and have important roles in a variety of physiological processes. Researchers from Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI), University of Toyama, Yamagata University, Cairo University, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences and Setsunan University collaborated to study glycine receptors, particularly glycine receptor alpha-4 (Glra4), […]
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It is a generally accepted idea that good aerobic fitness reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes, and it has also been thought to protect against other obesity-induced adverse changes in the glucose metabolism. However, this idea is based on studies whose methodology does not allow a distinction between the roles of aerobic fitness and body fat percentage as risk […]
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At least 90 percent of head and neck cancer patients develop symptoms that affect their ability or desire to eat, because of either the tumor itself or the surgery or radiation used to treat it. These problems, called nutrition impact symptoms, have wide-ranging negative effects on patients’ physical and mental health and quality of life. However, patients who eat foods […]
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People were less likely to catch either influenza or a common cold-causing rhinovirus if they were already infected with the other virus, a new study by scientists from the Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research has found. Understanding how these distinct viruses inhibit each other could help public health planning to improve forecasting models that predict respiratory […]
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Survival rates for patients with breast cancer have improved significantly in the last four decades, and many patients will eventually die from non-cancer-related causes. Researchers recently conducted the largest population-based long-term retrospective analysis of non-cancer causes of death among patients with breast cancer. The findings are published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Of […]
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A novel technological approach developed by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine expands from two to six the number of molecular pathways that can be studied simultaneously in a cell sample with the dual luciferase assay, a type of testing method commonly used across biomedical fields. Published in the journal Nature Communications, the report shows that multiplexed hextuple luciferase assaying, […]
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