R&D

A step closer to cancer precision medicine

Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and the Institute for Molecular Medicine (FIMM) at the University of Helsinki have developed a computational model, Combined Essentiality Scoring (CES) that enables accurate identification of essential genes in cancer cells for development of anti-cancer drugs.

Unique case of disease resistance reveals possible Alzheimer's treatment

Defying the odds, an individual at high risk for early-onset Alzheimer's disease remained dementia-free for many years beyond what was anticipated. A study funded in part by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, led researchers to suggest that a gene variant may be the key, perhaps providing a new direction toward developing a treatment.

Synthetic phages with programmable specificity

Bacteriophages ("phages" for short) are viruses that infect bacteria. Phages are highly host-specific and will typically only infect and kill an individual species or even subspecies of bacteria. Compared to conventional antibiotics, phages do not indiscriminately kill bacteria. Therefore when used as a therapeutic, phages do not cause collateral damage to beneficial "good" bacteria living in the gut.

Researchers find new signaling systems in human cells

The human cell has a wide variety of receptors on its surface that many molecules and therapeutic drugs can bind to in order to activate signals inside the cell to regulate different physiological functions. GPCRs are the largest - and a very important - family of receptors on human cells.

One avocado a day helps lower 'bad' cholesterol for heart healthy benefits

Move over, apples - new research from Penn State suggests that eating one avocado a day may help keep "bad cholesterol" at bay. According to the researchers, bad cholesterol can refer to both oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and small, dense LDL particles. In a randomized, controlled feeding study, the researchers found that eating one avocado a day was associated with lower levels of LDL (specifically small, dense LDL particles) and oxidized LDL in adults with overweight or obesity.

Rare diseases: Over 300 million patients affected worldwide

Rare diseases represent a global problem. Until now, the lack of data made it difficult to estimate their prevalence. Created and coordinated by Inserm, the Orphanet database, which contains the largest amount of epidemiological data on these diseases taken from the scientific literature, has made it possible to obtain a global estimate.

Bed time is the best time to take blood pressure medication

People with high blood pressure who take all their anti-hypertensive medication in one go at bedtime have better controlled blood pressure and a significantly lower risk of death or illness caused by heart or blood vessel problems, compared to those who take their medication in the morning, according to new research.

Research & Development

A step closer to cancer precision medicine

Unique case of disease resistance reveals possible Alzheimer's treatment

Synthetic phages with programmable specificity

Researchers find new signaling systems in human cells

One avocado a day helps lower 'bad' cholesterol for heart healthy benefits

Rare diseases: Over 300 million patients affected worldwide

Bed time is the best time to take blood pressure medication

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