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Teen girls—but not boys—who prefer to go to bed later are more likely to gain weight, compared to same-age girls who go to bed earlier, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings by researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, and other institutions appear in JAMA Pediatrics. A total of 804 adolescents (418 girls and […]
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Parenting books, magazines and apps are filled with tools to help parents keep track of their child’s developmental milestones. Parents are often particularly concerned about their child’s language and communication skills. But what does it mean if your child doesn’t meet these early milestones? New research published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics suggests that repeated delays in […]
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Cancer therapies that use immune cells to trigger the body to attack tumours could be improved by a molecule that boosts their function. Studies with mice have found the improved therapies produced a powerful anti-cancer immune response, which led to tumours shrinking. Initial experiments show the molecule has similar effects on human cells and could boost the success of cancer […]
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Teens who choose to spend time alone may know what’s best for them, according to new research that suggests solitude isn’t a red flag for isolation or depression. The key factor is choice, say researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Wilmington College: When solitude is imposed on adolescents and young adults, whether as punishment or as a […]
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UT Southwestern researchers have succeeded in neutralizing what they believe is a primary factor in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, opening the door to development of a drug that could be administered before age 40, and taken for life, to potentially prevent the disease in 50 to 80 percent of at-risk adults. Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is a protein that carries fatty substances […]
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CAR T-cell therapy, which reprograms immune cells to fight cancer, has shown great promise in people with some blood cancers who have not responded to other treatments. But until now, the underlying biological pathways enabling anti-cancer responses have not been thoroughly examined. Understanding these pathways is important for designing future generations of CAR T-cell therapies, including reducing side effects, preventing […]
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When it comes to breast cancer screening, there’s a delicate balance between the benefits and harms. Breast screening can save lives by picking up breast cancers at an earlier stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful. But it also picks up some cancers that would never have gone on to cause harm. This is called overdiagnosis. At the […]
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Researchers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto have discovered that epigenetic proteins promote the proliferation of mammary gland stem cells in response to the sex hormone progesterone. The study, which will be published June 19 in the Journal of Cell Biology, suggests that inhibiting these proteins with drugs could prevent the development of breast cancer in women at […]
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The bacterial infection leptospirosis is increasingly recognized as an important cause of fever in Africa. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have analyzed the major risk factors for contracting leptospirosis and discovered that rice and cattle farming are associated with acute infection. Leptospirosis, caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira, causes a wide range of symptoms and can […]
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Highly effective drugs that can cure chronic hepatitis C infection in approximately 95 percent of patients first became available in the U.S. in 2014. But both public and private insurers continue to deny coverage for these costly drugs at high rates nationwide, despite efforts to remove treatment restrictions, according to a new study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. The […]
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