Elite soccer players master the art of trapping without breaking their stride: Study

Each cell in our bodies carries about two meters of DNA in its nucleus, packed into a tiny volume of just a few hundred cubic micrometers—about a millionth of a milliliter. The cell manages this by winding the strings of DNA around protein spools. The protein-DNA complexes are called nucleosomes, and they ensure that DNA is safely stored.

The origin of some neuropsychiatric diseases, such as autism, bipolar disorder, or depression, and certain neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, can be found in very early stages of brain formation in the fetus. That is, earlier than previously recognized, according to a study by the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and Yale University, published in Nature Communications.

The laminin-411 protein is vital for the formation of the myelin membrane by oligodendrocytes, report researchers from Japan. Furthermore, the A4G47 peptide from the E8 region of laminin-411 was found to be the main active amino acid sequence that drives myelin formation. The research findings have the potential to transform current cell culture practices to study myelination and may enable the development of novel therapeutic agents to treat demyelinating diseases.

Autophagy is essentially the "rubbish collection" of our cells. If there are problems in this process, which is so important for our health, diseases such as Parkinson's can result. In their latest study, leading cell biologists at the Max Perutz Labs at the University of Vienna investigated mitophagy—a form of autophagy—and came to a remarkable conclusion: the researchers have described a new trigger for mitophagy.

People who are gestational carriers (or "surrogates") appear more likely to be diagnosed with a new mental illness during and after pregnancy, according to new research from ICES, McGill University, and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center.

Using mathematical analysis of patterns of human and animal cell behavior, scientists say they have developed a computer program that mimics the behavior of such cells in any part of the body. Led by investigators at Indiana University, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Oregon Health & Science University, the new work was designed to advance ways of testing and predicting biological processes, drug responses and other cell dynamics before undertaking more costly experiments with live cells.

Thanks to vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 in the period 2020–2024, 2.533 million deaths were prevented at the global level; one death was avoided for every 5,400 doses of vaccine administered.

Researchers from Columbia Engineering have established a framework for the design of bioactive injectable hydrogels formulated with extracellular vesicles (EVs) for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is having a significant impact on the mental health and well-being of Australian women who migrated from directly impacted countries, or have family ties to the region, according to researchers from UNSW Sydney and The Australian National University (ANU).

The number of Americans caring for an older or disabled family member has risen dramatically during the past 10 years, according to a new AARP policy report.

A virus that typically infects black-eyed peas is showing great promise as a low-cost, potent cancer immunotherapy—and researchers are uncovering why.

Researchers at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health found that certain kinds of long-lasting chemicals firefighters are exposed to may affect the activity of genes linked to cancer and other diseases. The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research.

This week, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised concerns about a surge in the number of cases of a mosquito-borne viral infection called chikungunya.

A study evaluating a pioneering lentivirus (LV)-mediated gene therapy trial for classical Fabry disease showed promising results over five years, indicating a potential breakthrough in treatment for the genetic disorder.

Age often brings a gradual decline in the ability to learn new things and retain memories. This phenomenon, often associated with the elderly, is linked to the brain's deteriorating capacity to generate new neurons—a process that primarily occurs in the hippocampus—as neural stem cells (NSCs) divide and mature.

Oregon Health & Science University-led research is reporting that daily full-body emollient use starting before 9 weeks of age lowered atopic dermatitis incidence by 24 months in a representative US infant cohort.

GLP1 agonist drugs, commonly known by brand names such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, reduce asthma symptoms in obese people according to a new study from the University of Aberdeen and the Observational and Pragmatic Research Institute (OPRI), Singapore.

University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center researchers have discovered a genetic biomarker that could help identify patients with glioblastoma most likely to benefit from the cancer drug bevacizumab.