Immune cells trigger OCD-like behaviour in multiple sclerosis, study finds

A class of cells that defends the body against invaders also triggers obsessive-compulsive behaviour that appears in autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has found. Autoimmune disorders, in which the body’s immune system goes rogue and attacks healthy cells, are difficult to treat. MS, for example, is a debilitating […]

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Calcifications in the eye increase risk for progression to advanced AMD by more than six times

Calcified nodules in the retina are associated with progression to late stages of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Experts from Queen’s University Belfast, working in partnership with the University of Alabama of Birmingham and in collaboration with UK material scientists and US clinical ophthalmology practices, made the ground-breaking discovery that the calcified nodules in the retina – the thin layer of […]

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5 Ways to Be More Sexual—Even When You're Not in Bed

This piece is adapted from the new book The Feminine Revolution: 21 Ways to Ignite the Power of Your Femininity for a Brighter Life and a Better World ($17, amazon.com). This may seem counterintuitive in a culture that celebrates the Kardashians and made 50 Shades of Grey a bestseller, but female sexual power has always been controversial. Women who own their erotic power have, […]

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Opioid gene variant in adolescents reduces reward, may increase later substance abuse risk

Adolescents with a particular variant of an opioid receptor gene have less response in a part of prefrontal cortex that evaluates rewards, compared to those with the other version of the gene, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). For the study, presented Monday at Neuroscience 2018, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (abstract #7517), the investigators […]

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Standing in for a kidney, MXene materials could give dialysis patients the freedom to move

For more than 3 million people around the world, kidney failure is a life-altering diagnosis, if not a life-threatening one. While about 17 percent of people in the U.S. with end-stage kidney disease are now getting transplants, the average time spent waiting is 3-5 years. And much of that time is consumed by planning for, receiving and recovering from treatment. […]

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Happy childhood memories linked to better health later in life

People who have fond memories of childhood, specifically their relationships with their parents, tend to have better health, less depression and fewer chronic illnesses as older adults, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “We know that memory plays a huge part in how we make sense of the world—how we organize our past experiences and how we […]

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New study finds evidence of brain injuries in football players at surprisingly young age

There have been more and more cases confirming that repeated hits to the head have lifelong consequences for professional football players, but a new study by Orlando Health in collaboration with the Concussion Neuroimaging Consortium finds evidence of lasting effects from head injuries at a much younger age than expected. The study tested biomarkers in the blood called microRNA’s and […]

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Innovations in ultrasound imaging improve breast cancer detection

A new ultrasound technique can help distinguish benign breast tumours from malignant ones. The technology was developed with support from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Ultrasound is one of the three main technologies used in medical imaging. It is more compact and affordable than nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, and safer than x-rays. But the images it produces are […]

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Researchers find bacteria residing in guts of mice come from mother and remain nearly constant over many generations

A team of researchers at the University of California has found that bacteria residing in the guts of mice are mainly obtained from their mothers and their microbiome makeup remains nearly the same over many generations. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their experiments with house mice and what they learned. Prior research has shown […]

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Obesity problem starts early phase of therapy in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Children with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) gain weight during treatment, and researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered that this problem starts during remission-induction treatment and suggests that early intervention should be considered. Chemotherapy drugs to treat ALL contribute to myriad problems, one of which is an increased risk of becoming overweight or obese. And because patients […]

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