Laying the groundwork for potential age-related macular degeneration therapies

Patients with womb cancer are not being tested for a genetic condition that increases their chance of developing further cancers, a study has found. The work is published in the journal BMJ Oncology.

Approximately 10% of the human population is left-handed. Among them, one in five exhibits a peculiar brain phenomenon known as atypical language lateralization. While most people attribute their language capability to their left hemisphere, this atypical group of left-handers utilizes their right hemisphere to speak. One of the oldest questions in neuroscience is how this phenomenon impacts brain organization and human behavior.

Cocaine, a drug of abuse, activates just a portion—10% to 20%—of the neurons in the brain's nucleus accumbens, a critical region linked to motivation and addiction. Though small in numbers, this activated neuronal population strongly controls drug-related behavior through downstream changes in gene expression, nerve synapses, neural circuitry and neural function that lead to behavioral change, including addiction.

In a study estimating the incidence rates of appendiceal adenocarcinoma (AA), or appendix cancer, across birth cohorts in the United States, researchers observed a sharp increase in AA incidence rates for those born after 1945, particularly for Generation X and Millennials. These patterns suggest a timely need for etiologic research and increased AA awareness among physicians and the public.

In Brazil, there is still no advanced therapy product for the treatment of chronic wounds and burns that has been registered with health regulatory bodies. A startup based at the Supera Innovation and Technology Park in Ribeirão Preto, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, intends to break down this barrier and become a pioneer in this segment.

A salmonella outbreak tied to a major egg recall has sickened nearly 80 people and sent at least 21 to the hospital, health officials have said.

Exercising during chemotherapy and before surgery may help the body send more immune cells into cancerous tumors, according to a first-of-its-kind pilot study from the University of Surrey and Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust.

Using a modern imaging technology known as cryo-electron microscopy, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined the structure of a protein called midnolin that's crucial to the survival of malignant cells in some leukemias, lymphomas, and multiple myelomas. Their findings, published in PNAS, provide insight into how this protein functions in cells and could inform the design of new pharmaceuticals that avoid the serious side effects of current therapies.

Researchers from the Biostatistics Unit at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) have led a study, published in BMJ Open, which analyzes how in-hospital mortality evolved during four waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Catalonia, taking into account the patients' ceiling of care.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is highly associated with the development of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), with a diagnosis requiring the presence of steatotic liver disease (SLD) along with at least one of five cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs), including obesity, arterial hypertension (HTN), type 2 diabetes (T2D)/prediabetes, and dyslipidemia.

Just as folds are important in the ancient art of origami, they are also vital for the function of many proteins. Mutations in a protein associated with conditions such as seizures and autism spectrum disorder prevent it from folding correctly and hinder its movement to the cell surface, where it would normally do its job.

Northwestern University biophysicists have developed a new computational tool for identifying the gene combinations underlying complex illnesses like diabetes, cancer and asthma.

Depression and bipolar disorder of late onset may represent more than just mental health conditions. Growing evidence suggests these late-life mood disorders (LLMDs) could be not merely risk factors, but rather early warning signs of neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, even when they appear years before memory loss or other cognitive symptoms become apparent.

A new study explains the genetic underpinnings of a rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer—and offers a potential pathway for new treatments.

More young women in the United States are being diagnosed with breast cancer and several celebrities have helped raise awareness by sharing their stories.

As recommendations suggest extending hormone-based breast cancer treatment to 10 years for some patients, a new study sheds light on whether patients are opting for it.

The inaccuracy of race and ethnicity data found in electronic health records (EHRs) can negatively impact patient care as artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into health care. Because hospitals and providers inconsistently collect such data and struggle to accurately classify individual patients, AI systems trained on these datasets can inherit and perpetuate racial bias.

Cancer cannot be understood as a single, uniform disease. The more we delve into studying each type of tumor, the more we recognize the need to subclassify the disease. This concept has led to what we now call precision oncology, characterizing the molecular features of a patient's specific cancer to determine the most effective treatment.