New study proves that sense of taste is hardwired in the brain, independent of learning or experience. Most people probably think that we perceive the five basic tastes sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (savory) with our tongue, which then sends signals to our brain “telling” us what we’ve tasted. However, scientists have turned this idea on its head, demonstrating in mice the ability to change the way something tastes by manipulating groups of cells in the brain. “Taste, the way you and I th...

A team from Rice University has developed single-molecule nanosubmarines that could eventually be used to deliver medicines directly inside the body. Back in 2006, this same group developed nanocars, a single-molecule vehicle with four wheels, axles, and independent suspensions that could be “driven” across a terrestrial surface. Unfortunately, many of the nano-scale devices developed since then either required or emitted toxic chemicals. Several years ago, however, a new motor developed by a gr...

A compound that blocks the synthesis of hyaluronan, a substance generally found in in all body tissue, protects mice from getting Type 1 diabetes.Nadine Nagy and Paul Bollyky and their colleagues found that a drug helped prevent the onset of Type 1 diabetes in mice. They hope to find out if the drug will work similarly in humans. Type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes, afflicts one in 300 people in the United States. A compound that blocks the synthesis of hyaluronan, a substance ...

Building on wireless technology that has the potential to interfere with pain, scientists have developed flexible, implantable devices that can activate and, in theory, block pain signals in the body and spinal cord before those signals reach the brain. The researchers, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the implants one day may be used in different parts of the body to fight pain that doesn’t respond to other therapi...

Scientists discover two gene variations linked to the condition Depression which can run in families and be in the genes. While it has long been known that the condition can run in families, researchers have struggled to find any DNA mutations linked to it, despite analyzing more than 9,000 cases. This had led to debate over whether people inherited a susceptibility to the illness or if another factor, such as the environment was the true culprit. Studies on severe depression within families hav...

Eczema, which affects thousands of New Zealanders, is characterized by red patches of itchy, dry broken skin driven by inflammation and is most common in people who suffer from allergies. Eczema can be brought on by a wide range of environmental triggers, including soaps and detergents, perfumes, clothing, jewelry, certain foods and even extremes of weather. Ten new genetic links to eczema have been uncovered that could lead to greater understanding of the skin condition, as well as potential...

Researchers have patented a low-cost device that can easily monitor the health of HIV patients living in low-resource settings. The portable device works by helping clinicians count the number of CD4 cells that are attacked by HIV in the body. HIV is known to decrease the number of CD4 cells an individual has. When CD4 counts are very low, that indicates the patient’s HIV is progressing toward AIDS and a ramp up of medication is necessary. Patients with HIV are encouraged to participate in re...

We leave a trail of microbes on every surface we touch, from pens and keyboards to door handles and elevator buttons. Everywhere you go, in everything you do, you are surrounded by an aura of microbes. They drift down from your hair when you scratch your head, they fly off your hand when you wave to your friend, and they spew out of your mouth when you talk. Even when you sit around doing nothing, you’re sitting in your own, personal microbial bubble. In addition to leaving our mark on surfaces,...

This past August, Hardison, now 41, received an entirely new scalp and face. For the first time since 2001, he has ears, a nose, lips, and eyelids, the last was especially crucial because, although he retained his vision on the fire, he was unable to blink or close his eyes for 14 years. His new face was donated by 26-year-old David Rodebaugh, a young BMX biker from Brooklyn, who was pronounced brain dead after being thrown off his bike. The revolutionary face transplant took 26 hours and was pe...

A recent study shows that a large fullerene system can interrupt the infection of an artificial Ebola virus. An infection with Ebola starts when the virus gains access to the cellular DC-SIGN receptor and begins to infect the immune system’s dendritic cells. Thanks to the new, larger molecule comprised of fullerenes that are coated with carbohydrates, scientists can block the receptor and interrupt the infection. This has been tested on an artificial virus model. Researchers attained a remark...

Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder that affects millions of people. It can make you feel lousy. Even worse, it can cause potentially disabling or deadly strokes. A special MRI scan may help identify people with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of having a stroke. This could help many people with this condition to avoid taking warfarin or other clot-preventing medications for life. A normal heartbeat starts in a cluster of cells called the pacemaker. It sits in the heart’s ...

Microbial life forms including viruses, bacteria, and fungi are the most diverse and abundant organisms on earth. They have shaped our evolutionary origins for billions of years and continue to have widespread impact. The UMIC foresees the microbiomes being leveraged through genetic engineering for applications within 10 years. “Microbes are everywhere. Therefore understanding microbiomes, whether they be the ones that live in and on our bodies or the ones in the environment, is essential to ...

A new study finds that at least 16.8 million Americans could potentially benefit from lowering their systolic blood pressure (SBP) to 120 mmHg, much lower than current guidelines of 140 or 150 mmHg. The scientists calculated the potential impact of preliminary results from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) that will be presented in full at the American Heart Association meeting and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. The initial analysis of SPRINT, r...

A team of Harvard statisticians has come up with a new way to track the flu virus using Internet search data. The system uses a method that has been used before, tracking searchers for key words and phrases, but has coupled it with additional data to improve its accuracy. The new model, ARGO (AutoRegression with Google search data), was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was built on Google Flu Trends, which was Google’s flu tracking model that emerged in 200...

A surgically implantable, artificial kidney could be a promising alternative to kidney transplantation or dialysis for people with end stage renal disease (ESRD). Currently, more than 20 million Americans have kidney diseases, and more than 600,000 patients are receiving treatment for ESRD. U.S. government statistics indicate kidney care costs the U.S. health care system $40 billion annually, accounting for more than 6 percent of Medicare spending. “We aim to conduct clinical trials on an implan...

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have created a hybrid optical microscope/mass spectrometry-based imaging system capable of observing and analyzing specimens simultaneously. They have created a hybrid optical microscope, which also features a mass spectrometry-based imaging system. This new device paves the way for advance developments in the areas of chemical and pharmaceutical sciencesThe new device does not require any type of pretreatme...

A recent analysis indicates that women who work 55 hours or more per week have a 30% higher risk of having a stroke than those working standard hours, making them just as likely to have a stroke as their male counterparts. The analysis was conducted by European public health re-searchers. It involved data from over 600,000 women and men enrolled in long-term observational studies in Europe and the United States. It was the first such analysis of the relationship between working long hours and st...

A McMaster PhD candidate has harnessed a component naturally found in tears to develop a contact lens-based drug delivery system for glaucoma patients. Chemical engineer Myrto Korogiannaki has used hyaluronic acid to help get drugs to the eye from a lens in a controlled way. Patients with front-of-the-eye diseases, such as glaucoma, traditionally use medicated eye drops twice a day to treat their ailment. But those drops are incredibly inefficient as only about five per cent of the drug they car...

Scientists have discovered a new chemical that could reverse cataracts, one of the leading causes of blindness. This new substance could be used in eye drops, greatly simplifying the treatment and making it accessible to the general population at a low price and without intrusive procedures. A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye leading to a decrease in vision. It can affect one or both eyes, generally evolves slowly, and causes about 50% of all the blindness cases in the world. Catara...

The analysis of MRI scans of the ageing hearts of nearly 3,000 adults was led by investigators at Johns Hopkins.' Our results are a striking demonstration of the concept that heart disease may have different pathophysiology in men and women and of the need for tailored treatments that address such important biologic differences,' said João Lima of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who led the research. Published in the journal Radiology, this is believed to be the first long-term ...

Scientists are developing next-generation battery-free implantable pacemakers that may be powered by an unlikely source, the heart itself. The advancement is based upon a piezoelectric system that converts vibrational energy, created inside the chest by each heartbeat, into electricity to power the pacemaker. "Essentially, we're creating technology that will allow pacemakers to be powered by the very heart that they are regulating," said M Amin Karami, assistant professor of mechanical engineeri...

New research finds that one night of sleep deprivation and six months on a high-fat diet could both impair insulin sensitivity to a similar degree, demonstrating the importance of a good night’s sleep on health. This study, conducted by Josiane Broussard, PhD, and colleagues from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, used a canine model to examine whether sleep deprivation and a high-fat diet affect insulin sensitivity in similar ways. When the body becomes less sensitive to insulin (i...

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 has been awarded to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar “for mechanistic studies of DNA repair.” The three scientists outlined chemical pathways that cells in living things, including human beings, use to repair damaged DNA. "Their work has provided fundamental knowledge of how a living cell functions and is, for instance, used for the development of new cancer treatments," the academy said. The organization tweeted graphics explaining the scientists'...

A toxin in Polybia paulista's sting reportedly kills tumor cells without harming healthy ones. It seems like an oxymoron, but scientists say the venom of Polybia paulista, a wasp native to Brazil, fits that description. According to a study published in the Biophysical Journal this week, the wasp’s venom contains a toxin, named MP1, that selectively destroys tumor cells without harming normal ones. The BBC called the venom a potentially powerful “weapon against cancer.” In lab tests, MP1 was ...

A research led by scientists from the University of the Pacific holds new possibilities for the treatment of cancer and other diseases using peptide drugs. The researchers concocted a technique to considerably enhance the lifespan of peptides such that they could be used more efficiently. Peptides are small chains of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Treating diseases like cancer by using peptides is thought to be effective because they can be more potent, and safer to use than large...

A newly launched mobile eye-test device could lead to prescription virtual-reality screens. After five years of development and about 40,000 tests worldwide, the smartphone-powered eye-test devices developed by MIT spinout EyeNetra is coming to hospitals, optometric clinics, optical stores, and even homes nationwide. But on the heels of its commercial release, EyeNetra says it’s been pursuing opportunities to collaborate with virtual-reality companies seeking to use the technology to develop “vi...

Scientists identify markers on immune cells that 'predict who can stop drug therapy and stay well.' Scientists have discovered the way a patient's immune system responds to HIV infection could offer clues as to whether they will go on to achieve remission after drug treatment. The breakthrough sheds light on the phenomenon known as 'post-treatment control' where the virus remains undetectable in some patients even after medication is stopped. The findings could open new avenues for understand...

Johns Hopkins researchers today introduced EpiWatch, an app designed to collect data from patients with epilepsy before, during, and after their seizures. The app, which runs on Apple Watch and iPhone, uses the open source ResearchKit framework designed by Apple. The data gathered for the study by the app, including physiological changes, altered responsiveness, and other characteristics of recurrent seizures, will be used by researchers to better understand epilepsy, to develop new methods f...

BYU is leading a collaborative team that has just kicked off a massive multidisciplinary effort to combat a threat to global health, the rising prevalence of bacteria that can’t be treated by antibiotics. Four BYU professors from three colleges have joined forces on the multi-year, National Institutes of Health-sponsored effort to create a faster diagnostic test for drug-resistant blood infections. As it stands now, diagnostic tests for these types of infections can take up to three days to prod...

A safe and efficient technique using cellulose to get drugs to safely reach their target to save lives was created. Xiangtao Meng, a fourth-year graduate student in the College of Natural Resources and Environment has developed a new technique that can get drugs to market, and to patients, that would otherwise fail. Taking medications orally is typically much more practical for patients than methods like intravenous injections, but the bioavailability of a drug the amount that actually rea...