Medicine

A team of scientists led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered that a gene called SLFN11 — which encodes a protein known as Schlafen family member 11, or Schlafen11 — may induce a cellular response against infection by viruses including human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1). The research is published …

A process using human stem cells can generate heart cells belonging to the external layer, the epicardium, according to an international team of scientists from the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and AstraZeneca in Sweden. A model highlighting the specification …

In the Jan. 10 issue of the journal Stem Cell Reports, Dr. Michiko Mandai and colleagues at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan report that transplantation of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived retinal tissue improved vision in a mouse model of end-stage retinal degeneration. 3D observation of contact …

According to an international team of scientists from New Zealand and Australia, up to 76% of the world’s population is overfat. This amounts to an astonishing 5.5 billion people. Estimated number and percentage of overfat and underfat adults and children worldwide (based on 2014 world population numbers of 7.2 billion). …

A novel method of stimulating the renewal of living stem cells in tooth pulp using an Alzheimer’s drug called Tideglusib has been discovered by scientists at King’s College London, UK. Tideglusib treatment shows complete repair with vital dental pulp after 6 weeks. Image credit: V.C.M. Neves et al, doi: 10.1038/srep39654. …

A team of scientists at Michigan State University has discovered that a potential new drug, called CCG-203971, reduces the spread of melanoma cells by up to 90%. The findings are published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. Melanoma is a disease in which malignant cells form in melanocytes. Image credit: …

A team of researchers at the University of York, UK, has harnessed the therapeutic effects of carbon monoxide-releasing molecules to develop a new antibiotic which could be used to treat gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria. This illustration depicts a 3D computer-generated image of a number …

New experimental antibiotics developed by chemists at the University of Connecticut successfully treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. The success is due to their strategy, which found a weakness and exploited it in a way the bacteria should have trouble countering. Stephanie M. Reeve et al. identified two plasmid-borne genes …

A team of researchers in the UK is developing an interactive holographic video created from an MRI or CT scan that can display live footage of internal organs in front of a user where features can be rotated, enlarged, and isolated. Popping in to your local hospital may be much …

Australian manuka honey is at least as powerful against bacteria as the more commonly known New Zealand variety, according to a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE. A researcher with manuka honey in the lab. Image credit: Vanessa Valenzuela Davie. “Honey has been used therapeutically by many cultures …