A new research has revealed that a flowering plant Corydalis used for centuries as a pain reliever in Chinese medicine has the ability to fight inflammatory and neuropathic pain.
A key pain-relieving ingredient is a compound known as dehydrocorybulbine (DHCB) found in the roots of Corydalis, a member of the poppy family.
A special class of immune cells called ‘invariant natural killer T cells’ keep the deadly tuberculosis infection in check – a heartening news for India that has the most number of tuberculosis cases in the world.
Often dubbed ‘junk DNA’, retrotransposons – short sequences of DNA that autonomously amplify and move around the genome – may play a key role in developing schizophrenia.
A team of researchers in Japan found that a class of retrotransposons named Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements (LINE-1) in the schizophrenia brain modify the expression of genes related to schizophrenia during brain development and may be one of the causes of the disease.
People covered under health care plan use emergency rooms 40 percent more than those who do not have health insurance, claimed a study.
“When you cover the uninsured, emergency room use goes up by a large magnitude,” said Amy Finkelstein, Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Finkelstein, along with Katherine Baicker, professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, examined emergency room records for roughly 25,000 people over 18 months.
Here is a wake-up call. Smoking ruins productive sleep, leading to cognitive dysfunction, mood disorders, depression and anxiety.
“This study has found a common pathway whereby cigarette smoke impacts both pulmonary and neurophysiological function. Further, the results suggest the possible therapeutic value of targeting this pathway with compounds that could improve both lung and brain functions in smokers,” said Irfan Rahman, a researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Centre in Rochester, New York.
Doctors may need to treat high blood pressure in women more fiercely than they do in men.
In a study, the researchers for the first time found significant differences in the mechanisms that cause high blood pressure in women as compared to men.
“The medical community thought that high blood pressure was the same for both sexes and treatment was based on that premise,” said Carlos Ferrario, professor of surgery at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre and lead author of the study.
Finding a cure for cancer may lie in knowing – and controlling – various ways in which a human cell divides.
Researchers at University of Exeter in Britain have found that cells demonstrate considerable flexibility in the way they divide. This finding, they hope, may have links to the underlying causes of many cancers.
The study describes a number of routes to the formation of a microtubule spindle – the tracks along which DNA moves when a cell divides in order to make two genetically-identical cells.
An exercise science professor has compiled seasonal fitness tips to keep individuals fit, inspired, and warm during the winter months
Dr Heidi Freeman, PhD, program director of exercise science and wellness management at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, said that once chilly weather arrives, the temptation to skip outdoor exercise routine can often be very strong, however, the cold weather does not have to mean an end to outdoor exercise, and it certainly shouldn’t intimidate exercisers.
A multi-institutional team of researchers have developed a novel breast-cancer therapy that partially reverses the cancerous state in cultured breast tumor cells and prevents cancer development in mice.
The new breakthrough could one day provide a new way to treat early stages of the disease without resorting to surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.
An exercise science professor has compiled seasonal fitness tips to keep individuals fit, inspired, and warm during the winter months
Dr Heidi Freeman, PhD, program director of exercise science and wellness management at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, said that once chilly weather arrives, the temptation to skip outdoor exercise routine can often be very strong, however, the cold weather does not have to mean an end to outdoor exercise, and it certainly shouldn’t intimidate exercisers.
Researchers have shown that cells demonstrate remarkable flexibility and versatility when it comes to how they divide – a finding with potential links to the underlying causes of many cancers.
The study describes a number of routes to the formation of a microtubule spindle – the tracks along which DNA moves when a cell divides in order to make two genetically identical cells.
Researchers have found that rates of smoking, drinking and drug use are significantly higher among those who suffer from psychotic disorders compared to those in the general population.
Women who eat foods rich in antioxidants may have a lower risk of cataracts as they age, according to a new Swedish analysis.
“Oxidative damage of the eye lens caused by free radicals has been suggested to be crucial in development of cataract,” said Susanne Rautiainen of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet, who led the study.
Eating a diet packed with lentils can dramatically lower blood pressure levels, a new study has found.
The study from the University of Manitoba in Canada found that adding lentils to the diet can effectively block the increase in blood pressure that occurs with age.
The research, conducted on rats, also found that eating lentils can reverse the changes that occur in blood vessels as a result of high blood pressure.
The enzyme that manufactures melatonin – hormone which regulates the body’s internal clock – originated 500 million years ago, according to a new study which may hold clues to treating jet lag and ‘winter blues’.
The research by an international team of scientists led by National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicates that this crucial enzyme likely began its role in timekeeping when vertebrates diverged from their non-vertebrate ancestors.
Our cells have a housekeeping service called autophagy that cleans up dysfunctional cellular components – essential to maintain cellular health.
This cell-maintenance process may have an answer to schizophrenia.
Researchers have discovered that autophagy is reduced in the brains of schizophrenic patients which may lead them to develop new diagnostic tests and drug treatments for the disease.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Tuesday issued notice to the Chhattisgarh government after women patients who attended a sterilisation camp were forced to sleep on the floor.
According to reports, a sterilisation camp was organised in Dhaneli Kanhar in Kanker district. After the operation, the women were not provided with beds and had to sleep on the floor. Some beds were later arranged only after the media reported the matter.
The women also had to wait for hours as the doctors arrived late.
A daily dosage of vitamin E can slow functional decline and reduce caregiver time in assisting Alzheimer’s patients.
Researchers have found that alpha tocopherol – a fat-soluble vitamin (E) and antioxidant – in patients with moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was shown to be effective in slowing clinical progression.
Researchers have found that one night of sleep depravity can cause morning blood concentrations of molecules NSE and S-100B to increase in healthy young men.
These molecules are typically found in the brain. Thus, their rise in blood after sleep loss may indicate that a lack of snoozing might be conducive to a loss of brain tissue.
The study involved fifteen normal-weight men, and in one condition they were sleep-deprived for one night, while in the other condition they slept for approximately 8 hours.
Researchers have found that patients suffering from mild to moderate Alzheimer slowed functional decline after they took a daily dosage of 2,000 IUs of vitamin E.
Maurice W. Dysken, M.D., of the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, and colleagues examined the effectiveness and safety of vitamin E, memantine, and the combination for treatment of functional decline in patients with mild to moderate AD who were taking an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (a chemical that increases the level and duration of action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine).
Researchers believe that they have found an effective strategy to make chemotherapy treatment more effective for pancreatic cancer patients.
The research found pancreatic cancer cells may have their own specialised energy supply that maintains calcium levels and keeps cancer cells alive.
Maintaining a low concentration of calcium within cells is vital to their survival and this is achieved by calcium pumps on the plasma membrane.
This calcium pump, known as PMCA, is fuelled using ATP – the key energy currency for many cellular processes.
The common notion about ‘fungus’ is that they are something that smells or looks disgusting, but ask David Perlin, executive director of the Public Health Research Institute at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and the response will be far more somber- because he knows how deadly fungi can be.
“More than a million people around the world are blind because of fungal infections of the eye,” Perlin points out, “and half of the world’s 350,000 asthma-related deaths each year stem from fungal infection that could be treated effectively with drugs.”
Researchers have tried to explain how nicotine exploits the body’s cellular machinery to promote addiction.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, nicotine activates receptors known as nAChRs and, remarkably, unlike most other drugs of abuse, it acts as a “pharmacological chaperone” to stabilize assembly of its receptors within the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) and increase their abundance at the cell surface (up-regulation).
Researchers have said that high levels of “good” cholesterol and low levels of “bad” cholesterol are correlated with lower levels of the amyloid plaque deposition in the brain – a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
Lead study author Bruce Reed, associate director of the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center, said that their study shows that both higher levels of HDL – good – and lower levels of LDL – bad – cholesterol in the bloodstream are associated with lower levels of amyloid plaque deposits in the brain.
Obesity may be a “socially transmitted disease,” suggests a new study which found that social norms influence our food choices.
Researchers conducted a systematic review of several experimental studies, each of which examined whether or not providing information about other peoples’ eating habits influences food intake or choices.
After examining the data, investigators found consistent evidence that social norms influence food choices.