In 1966, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu introduced extreme policies to increase the country's birth rate. This led to the widespread abandonment of children, who ended up in orphanages in appalling conditions where they received no...
Smartwatches that can collect physical and physiological data on users could be potentially interesting tools in biomedicine to gain a better understanding of brain diseases and behavioral disorders and possible driver mutations related...
Researchers have profiled the molecular structure and features of a key part of the deadly Nipah virus. Experiments in cells showe how changes in the viral polymerase -- a protein involved in viral replication -- can alter the virus's...
Over half of our genomes consists of thousands of remnants of ancient viral DNA, known as transposable elements, which are widespread across the tree of life. Once dismissed as the 'dark side' of the genome, researchers have now revealed...
Yulan Xiong, associate professor of neuroscience at UConn Health, and her team have discovered one more piece of the puzzle of the genetic causes of Parkinson's Disease, paving the way for new treatment options.
New research into the single-celled organism is providing clues about what the early planet looked like – and raising the prospect that we may not be alone in the universe For scientists, our earliest ancestor wasn’t Adam or Eve but...
Researchers have improved our understanding of how rotavirus, the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in children, makes people sick. The study is among the first to show that the rotavirus protein NSP4 is both necessary and...
Bone pain. Joint pain. Bone swelling. These are symptoms that about 1,000 people in the United States begin to feel each year shortly before being diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of cancer that starts in the bones. Although any age...
Scientists explored the evolutionary success of leaf beetles, the most diverse herbivores on Earth. They showed that symbioses with bacteria have evolved repeatedly and independently in different beetle lineages, and contribute...
The European consortium for Solving the Unsolved Rare Diseases has demonstrated the significance of international collaboration to address the unmet medical needs for rare diseases' diagnosis. More than 500 European patients with unknown...
A new tool could make it easier to study scarce plant molecules. Researchers have developed so-called microbial cell factories -- using E. coli and yeast -- to produce a special class of plant hormones, known as strigolactones, at...
A team of scientists at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg and the University of Regensburg has unveiled insights into how HIV-1, the virus responsible for AIDS, skillfully hijacks cellular...
An international team of researchers has taken an important step toward understanding how gene expression is controlled across the human genome. The research is published in the journal Nature.
Scientists have unveiled insights into how HIV-1, the virus responsible for AIDS, skillfully hijacks cellular machinery for its own survival. By dissecting the molecular interplay between the virus and its host, the researchers...
Scientists have discovered that the protein machines that shape our DNA can switch direction. Until now, researchers believed that these so-called SMC motors that make loops into DNA could move in one direction only. The discovery is key...
Genetic changes are a significant cause of infertility, impacting over 15% of the global population. TLE6, a major protein involved in early embryonic development, is known to affect female fertility. In a recent study, researchers...
Within a few days of being born, more than 300,000 Australian babies a year have a spot of their blood analyzed to screen for a range of serious but treatable health conditions.
EU-backed researchers and doctors are pioneering advanced pre-implantation and prenatal genetic testing to improve the chance of healthy pregnancies in at-risk families.
Oregon Health & Science University has a leading role in a new database designed to track the normal expression of genes in organs and tissues from prenatal development through adulthood. Researchers describe the overall project in a...
Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Medical School, and McLean Hospital have discovered a surprising mechanism by which the inherited genetic mutation known to cause Huntington's disease leads to the death of...
Mutations in a gene called OTP cause obesity by controlling the output of another gene already targeted by an anti-obesity drug, a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers shows. The findings, reported in Science...
Polygenic scores (PGS) are metrics used to estimate the genetic predisposition of people to developing specific mental health conditions, personality traits or diseases. In recent years, these metrics have often been used to investigate...
Scientists have revealed the secret to the structural integrity of tiny particles that transport cargo from cell to cell through blood vessels and bodily fluids: special proteins that keep their membranes intact as they negotiate...
Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) infections are one of the most common reasons for prescribing antibiotics to children. Although some ENT infections can be simple to identify and diagnose, others are more severe and require immediate...
A research team has discovered how the 'Shethna protein II' protects the nitrogen-fixing enzyme nitrogenase from damage. The oxygen sensor protein could help to make nitrogenase usable in biotechnology, thereby reducing the need for...
Researchers from Iwate Medical University and Tohoku University have revealed that it is possible to predict cancer relapse and treatment response by measuring circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), in tandem with data from comprehensive genomic...
Birch pollen allergy is one of the most common allergies in Europe and affects around 450,000 people in Austria alone. It considerably impairs the quality of life and can lead to chronic diseases such as asthma in the long term. Despite...
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have described the neurodegeneration that occurs in the nervous system of the bowel in Batten disease, a rare and fatal genetic condition. In their latest study, a team...
A little-known mouse protein disrupts cancer-causing chemical changes to genes associated with human colorectal cancer cells and potentially could be used to treat solid tumors, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns...
Researchers have now uncovered the 3D structure of the RNA enzyme SAMURI. Their study provides insights into the development of ribozymes and the evolution of catalytically active RNA.
While most known types of DNA damage are fixed by our cells' in-house DNA repair mechanisms, some forms of DNA damage evade repair and can persist for many years, new research shows. This means that the damage has multiple chances to...
Past psychology research suggests that there is a strong relationship between difficult experiences during childhood and the development of depressive symptoms. In fact, statistics suggest that adverse experiences during childhood can...
Study highlights role of women in Celtic Britain and challenges assumptions most societies were patrilocal From Neanderthals to royal courts, history seems awash with women upping sticks to join men’s families, but researchers have found...
While most known types of DNA damage are fixed by our cells' in-house DNA repair mechanisms, some forms of DNA damage evade repair and can persist for many years, new research shows. This means that the damage has multiple chances to...
Researchers have developed a gene-editing treatment for prion disease that extends lifespan by about 50 percent in a mouse model of the fatal neurodegenerative condition. The treatment, which uses base editing to make a single-letter...
Researchers have identified a novel genetic risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection, providing new insights into the virus's ability to invade human cells. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that spreads COVID-19.
Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine have published a study in JACC: Heart Failure that sheds light on how managing cardiovascular risk factors can influence health outcomes in...
If the development of blood vessels in the placenta is impaired, fetal growth retardation may result. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Mannheim Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University discovered that the...
People who get divorced tend to have higher genetic predispositions for psychiatric disorders, even if they never develop these conditions themselves, according to a Rutgers Health analysis of millions of marital histories in Sweden.
Scientists have developed a new strategy to enhance pharmaceutical production in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, which are commonly used to manufacture protein-based drugs for treating cancer, autoimmune diseases and much more. By...
Scientists are working to produce plant-based cheese with all the characteristics of real cheese, but with better health benefits. To create a cheesy product with the same texture as the real thing, they looked at a variety of physical...
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which affects about 200 million people worldwide and can result in legal blindness, impairs an area of the eye (retina) used for reading, driving and many other critical daily tasks.
Among those who have had gestational diabetes, about 35% will develop type 2 diabetes within a decade. A new study led by Dr. Saifur Khan, Ph.D., cardiology research faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh Vascular Medicine...
New genetic risk factors for depression have been identified across all major global populations for the first time, allowing scientists to predict the risk of depression regardless of ethnicity. The study is published in the journal Cell.
Wider sample used data from across 29 countries and 5m people, with a quarter from non-European ancestries A global study has identified 300 previously unknown genetic risk factors for depression because it included a much wider...