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Neuroscience

New insight into how the human motor cortex encodes complex handwriting

Compared to other animal species, humans can plan and execute highly sophisticated motor tasks, including the ability to write complex characters using their hands. While many past studies have tried to better understand ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Existing drug could revive immune cells in sepsis treatment

When the immune system does not function properly, individuals become more susceptible to infections caused by viruses, bacteria, or fungi. Researchers from Radboud University Medical Center have demonstrated that an existing ...

Medical research news

Alzheimer's disease & dementia

Modulating the brain's immune system may curb damage in Alzheimer's

New research suggests that calming the brain's immune cells might prevent or lessen the damaging inflammation seen in Alzheimer's disease. The study points to the key role of the hormone and neurotransmitter norepinephrine, ...

Health

High school experiences linked to midlife body weight

High schools have long been recognized for shaping students' futures. According to a new study by researchers from Penn State, the University of Texas, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota, ...

Neuroscience

Brain imaging study reveals synaptic mechanisms of learning

How do we learn something new? How do tasks at a new job, lyrics to the latest hit song or directions to a friend's house become encoded in our brains? The broad answer is that our brains undergo adaptations to accommodate ...

Health

Is nitrogen fertilizer supercharging allergy-causing pollen?

Nitrogen-fertilized grasslands may produce six times more pollen than their unfertilized counterparts, suggests a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health. The study also suggests pollen from fertilized grasslands is ...

Genetics

Genetic variant reveals how cleft lip and cleft palate can arise

Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common birth defects, occurring in about one in 1,050 births in the United States. These defects, which appear when the tissues that form the lip or the roof of the mouth do not ...

Medical research

New strategy may enable cancer monitoring from blood tests alone

A new, error-corrected method for detecting cancer from blood samples is much more sensitive and accurate than prior methods and may be useful for monitoring disease status in patients following treatment, according to a ...

Oncology & Cancer

New immune boost could expand access to cancer immunotherapy

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have found that tapping into the body's own immune system and activating a type of immune cell known as B cells, could be the key to boosting the effectiveness of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte, ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

RNA-based blood test identifies Parkinson's before symptoms appear

Researchers have developed a simple and cost-effective blood test capable of detecting Parkinson's disease long before symptoms emerge, comparing the current state of diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases to the fight against ...

Oncology & Cancer

Research reveals a hidden vulnerability of lung cancer

Treatment resistance and relapse in the most common type of lung cancer can be traced to a protein called agrin, according to a preclinical study led by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Results of the study, led ...

Genetics

Candidate deafness genes revealed in new study

New candidate genes which could be responsible for deafness have been identified. Congenital deafness (hearing loss from birth) is common, impacting around one in 1,000 babies born in the UK. The condition affects communication, ...

Obstetrics & gynaecology

First baby born via fully automated ICSI system

The world's first baby has been born following conception with a fully automated, digitally controlled intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) system. ICSI, developed and adopted into widespread use in the 1990s and is now ...

Oncology & Cancer

Master switch gene can turn immune cells into cancer eradicators

To grow, cancer tumors must hijack the immune system for their needs. One of the main tricks that most tumors use is to manipulate a type of immune cell called a macrophage, causing it to protect the tumor from the rest of ...

HIV & AIDS

Worm eradication: A surprising ally in the fight against HIV

Researchers from the Munich Tropical Institute, the Tanzanian NIMR-MMRC, DZIF, together with colleagues from Bonn, have discovered a risk factor for HIV infection that has received little attention to date. In an earlier ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Dogs could help predict valley fever spread in humans

Valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis, is caused by a fungus that thrives in moist soils and becomes airborne during drought. Its spores are easily inhaled, leading to infection. Climate change is creating the perfect conditions ...

Oncology & Cancer

Scientists create 'metal detector' to hunt down tumors

Researchers have created a "metal detector" algorithm called PRRDetect to hunt down vulnerable tumors, in a development that could one day revolutionize the treatment of cancer.

Neuroscience

How the cerebellum controls tongue movements to grab food

By studying the skilled movements of marmoset tongues, researchers have discovered that Purkinje cells (P-cells) in a brain region called the cerebellum signal to stop protrusion as the tongue approaches its target, according ...