BOSTON – A team led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has taken an important step forward in the goal of developing a potential treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the most common form of chronic liver disease. There are currently no approved medications for NAFLD, but in a study published in the…
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Within cells, molecules known as transfer RNAs, or “tRNAs,” play an important but unglamorous workhorse role in keeping the genetic translation process moving along from codes of DNA to functional proteins. Because they play such a vital role in this translational “housekeeping,” tRNAs are plentiful. There are hundreds of tRNA genes in mammalian cells and…
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Zinc isn’t just an ingredient in the lozenges you might take when you feel a cold coming on. It’s also crucial to communication among the neurons–or nerve cells–in your brain, whether those neurons are helping you remember what lozenges to buy or eavesdrop on a conversation in the next pharmacy aisle. According to Charles Anderson–a…
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DURHAM, N.C. – Biomedical engineers at Duke University have shown that the efficacy of a two-pronged type 2 diabetes treatment increases when the drugs are linked by a heat-sensitive tether rather than simply concurrently administered. The combination molecule is formed by an elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) linker that forms a gel-like depot when injected under the…
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August 26, 2020 – For patients with elongated labia, vague terms like “vaginal rejuvenation” and “designer vagina” can undermine the seriousness of the condition, which includes a variety of functional concerns. Often attributed to congenital causes, exogenous hormones, chronic irritation, childbirth, aging and external physical causes, women at nearly every age, from birth to later…
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LONDON, ONTARIO – A team from Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University has made significant steps forward in understanding COVID-19 through two back-to-back studies published this week in Critical Care Explorations. In one study, the team has identified six molecules that can be used as biomarkers to predict how severely ill a patient will…
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LOWELL, Mass. – Incumbent Edward Markey has opened up a double-digit lead over challenger U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III one week before the Democratic primary in the race for U.S. Senate, according to a new poll of Massachusetts voters released today. Conducted by the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion, the poll of 800 likely…
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Two different interventions both worked to significantly reduce the rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions made by physicians in a telemedicine practice, a new study led by Children’s National Hospital researchers shows. This finding, published Aug. 26 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, could offer a new way to stem the growing problem of antibiotic…
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Up to 60 percent of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) report that fatigue is the disease’s most debilitating symptom. And yet, fatigue remains one of MS’s mysteries — despite its prevalence and significance, the root cause of the symptom remains unclear. In a study published in Neurology Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation, investigators from Brigham and Women’s…
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In one out of 100,000 infants, a mutation in the GALC gene causes an incurable, always fatal disorder known as infantile Krabbe disease, or globoid cell leukodystrophy. Most children with the condition die before they turn 2. A parallel condition also naturally affects dogs, who typically show symptoms of the disease at six weeks old…
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