Medical research

Obesity prevented in mice fed high-fat diet

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a way to prevent fat cells from growing larger, a process that leads to weight gain and obesity. By activating a pathway in fat cells in ...

Medications

Epilepsy drug inhibits brain tumor development

Medication prescribed for a certain type of epilepsy may offer a new method for treating malignant infantile brain tumors. A specific mTOR inhibitor has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier to both reach and attack ...

Medical research

Eating less fat may save your hair

It's well known that obesity is linked to the development of numerous diseases in humans. Heart disease, diabetes, and other ailments are extremely common in obese individuals. However, it's not fully clear how body organs ...

Cardiology

Study uncovers foundations of heart regeneration

While the human heart can't heal itself, the zebrafish heart can easily replace cells lost by damage or disease. Now, researchers have discovered properties of a mysterious outer layer of the heart known as the epicardium ...

Medical research

Researchers regrow hair on wounded skin

By stirring crosstalk among skin cells that form the roots of hair, researchers report they have regrown hair strands on damaged skin. The findings better explain why hair does not normally grow on wounded skin, and may help ...

Oncology & Cancer

New approach to improve ovarian cancer treatment

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a type of cancer treatment that help the immune system's T cells recognize and attack tumors. But these immunotherapy drugs aren't effective against all cancers. In a study published today ...

Oncology & Cancer

Leukemia drug shows promise for treating a childhood brain cancer

A drug used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia appears to be more effective at stopping a type of medulloblastoma in mouse models than existing treatments for the deadly pediatric brain tumor, reports a multi-institutional ...

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Hedgehog

A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand (by introduction). There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas. Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (order Soricidae), with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and have changed little over the last 15 million years. Like many of the first mammals they have adapted to a nocturnal, insectivorous way of life.

The name 'hedgehog' came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English 'heyghoge', from 'heyg', 'hegge' = hedge, because it frequents hedgerows, and 'hoge', 'hogge' = hog, from its piglike snout. Other names include 'urchin', 'hedgepig' and 'furze-pig' .

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