A new study adds to a growing body of evidence that organoids — lab-grown collections of cells that mimic a patient’s tumor — are a promising avenue for drug discovery to improve outcomes in patients with cancer, particularly rare cancers for which clinical data on drug effectiveness is often lacking. Organoids are grown in a…

In a new study, researchers found that pediatric acoustic neuroma patients had similar symptoms to those of adult patients; however, tumor size was typically larger in the pediatric patients at the time of diagnosis, symptoms of mass effect (secondary effects caused by the tumor) were more common, and the pediatric patients had a higher rate…

Individualized brain stimulation therapy improves language performance in stroke survivors. Aphasia is a debilitating language disorder that impacts all forms of verbal communication, including speech, language comprehension, and reading and writing abilities. It affects around one-third of stroke survivors, but can also be present in those with dementia, especially in the form of primary progressive…

Psychiatric researchers have identified interactions between genes and sex that might partly explain how major psychiatric disorders affect males and females differently. The findings, from a multinational consortium of psychiatric researchers including investigators and a senior author at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), could spur better treatments for major psychiatric disorders. They are published in the…

Opioid receptors play key roles in regulating our senses and emotions. Recently, their discovery outside the nervous system raised several questions about the effects of opioids on the immune system. Now, researchers have shown that KNT-127 — a drug that targets delta opioid receptors — can reduce pro-inflammatory signals in the colon. Their research highlights…

Researchers have discovered that a drug commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis may, after necessary modifications, one day be used to treat patients with epilepsy. This is good news for patients with Dravet syndrome, one of the most dangerous forms of childhood epilepsy, for which there is currently no effective treatment. According to a new…

Two prominent early intervention models for toddlers with autism show a very similar impact, whether delivered at 15-hours or 25-hours per week intensities, a study has found. «When parents receive the first diagnosis, they typically ask: What kind of treatment should I seek and for how many hours per week?» said Sally J. Rogers, professor…

Scientists have created a machine learning method for classifying the mutations of glioma brain tumors based on MR images alone. Thus far, classification has only been possible by tissue sampling during surgery. The new method is noninvasive, may remove the need for a tissue sample and help accelerate delivery of treatment for patients. Cancer treatment…

New research has shown that over-activity in a specific area of the brain is linked to certain symptoms of Schizophrenia, opening up possibilities for the development of more targeted treatments. Researchers from the University of Nottingham found that faulty inhibitory neurotransmission and abnormally increased activity in the hippocampus doesn’t disrupt the ability to filter out…

Chemical analysis of blood samples, combined with an artificial intelligence program, could speed up the diagnosis of brain tumors. Brain tumours tend to have ambiguous symptoms, such as headache or memory problems, and a brain scan is currently the only reliable way of diagnosing them. Researchers say their test, which works by detecting chemical clues…