A diet high in fiber and yogurt is associated with a reduced risk for lung cancer. The benefits of a diet high in fiber and yogurt have already been established for cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal cancer. The new findings based on an analysis of data from studies involving 1.4 million adults in the United States,…

A study in mice shows that removing chemical messengers in the brain that are involved in both wakefulness and addiction may make withdrawal from opioids easier and help prevent relapse. In 2000, UCLA sleep researchers discovered that human narcolepsy — a condition where people are overwhelmed with daytime drowsiness and sudden attacks of sleep —…

Microbiologists have discovered that some pathogens depend on carbon monoxide to survive when other nutrients are not available. Associate Professor Chris Greening and his team of microbiologists from the School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, have discovered that some pathogens depend on carbon monoxide to survive when other nutrients are not available. The research focused…

The enzyme ribonucleotide reductase is a bottleneck for cancer cell growth. Scientists have identified a way of targeting ribonucleotide reductase that may avoid the toxicity of previous approaches, informing focused drug discovery efforts. The results were published on July 19 in Nature Communications. Ribonucleotide reductase controls the supply of DNA building blocks, which cancer cells…

Gut microbes produce compounds that prime immune cells to destroy harmful viruses in the brain and nervous system, according to a mouse study. The findings suggest that having a healthy and diverse microbiota is essential for quickly clearing viruses in the nervous system to prevent paralysis and other risks associated with diseases such as multiple…

Cannabidiol (CBD) oils are equally or less effective at inhibiting the growth of certain cancer cells compared to pure CBD, according to researchers. The results of their recent study indicate that future research into the clinical applications of cannabinoids should include an analysis of whether the pure cannabinoid compound or intact plant material is more…

Proteins need to interact in a complex manner for a so-called ‘messenger RNA’ (mRNA) to be created in human cells from a precursor molecule. mRNA provides a blueprint for proteins; the first vaccines against the coronavirus are also based on mRNAs. Scientists have now discovered how an essential final step in the production of mRNA…

A research group using HIV-1-infected cells performed ‘multiomics’ analyses, which are technologies recently developed to comprehensively investigate the features of biological samples.In this study, a hematopoietic stem cell-transplanted humanized mouse model infected with a gene-modified HIV-1 was used to reveal multiple characteristics of HIV-1-producing cells in vivo. A research group at The Institute of Medical…

Impaired memory, reduced motivation, and declining motor skills. These are some of the problems that may persist several years after people contract tick-borne encephalitis, a recent thesis shows. Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is caused by a virus, found in parts of Europe and Asia, that is spread mainly by tick bites. Though rare, in recent years…

The spread of infectious diseases such as Zika depends on many different factors. Researchers were able to generate reliable maps for the transmission risk of the Zika virus in South America. In most cases, mosquitoes of the genus Aedes transmit the Zika virus to humans. Primary vectors are the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) and…