Medical research

An elusive mechanism of wasting syndrome cachexia revealed

Researchers from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Koc University in Turkey and the Pole of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Nutrition, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research at Université Catholique ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia

Immunotherapy for Alzheimer's disease shows promise in mouse study

Alzheimer's disease starts with a sticky protein called amyloid beta that builds up into plaques in the brain, setting off a chain of events that results in brain atrophy and cognitive decline. The new generation of Alzheimer's ...

Medications

Why some RNA drugs work better than others

Spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, is the leading genetic cause of infant death. Less than a decade ago, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Adrian Krainer showed this brutal disease can be treated by tweaking a ...

Neuroscience

New therapeutic strategies for spinal muscular atrophy

Modulating the activity of a kinase in motor neurons may help mitigate mitochondrial defects and other symptoms of spinal muscular atrophy, offering a new therapeutic avenue for the devastating disease, according to a Northwestern ...

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Atrophy

Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself. Hormonal and nerve inputs that maintain an organ or body part are referred to as trophic.

Atrophy is a general physiological process of reabsorption and breakdown of tissues, involving apoptosis on a cellular level. When it occurs as a result of disease or loss of trophic support due to other disease, it is termed pathological atrophy, although it can be a part of normal body development and homeostasis as well.

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