Neurons, or nerve cells, communicate with each other through contact points called synapses. When these connections are damaged, communication breaks down, causing the messages that would normally help our feet push our bike pedals or our mind locate our car keys to fall short.
Scientists have long known that the human body runs like clockwork, guided by a circadian system that responds to daily patterns of light and darkness. Now a team of researchers is developing a personal device to measure daily light intake and activity, which could allow them to predict optimal timing for light therapy to synchronize the circadian clock to the 24-hour solar day and relieve psychosocial stress.
A specific gene mutation may be useful in predicting the level of aggression of thyroid cancer and help guide treatment options and follow-up care, according to new study findings.
A ?5 million investment in the development of personalized medicines at the University of Liverpool will see the introduction of treatments tailored for individual patients.
The Simons Foundation, through its Autism Research Initiative, has signed a $7.8 million, two-year contract with the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) to establish a collection of DNA samples for autism studies. The samples will be collected from 2,000 families that have a single autistic child.
Northwestern University is using an economics theory to rehab people with lousy health habits. Researchers want participants to just change two unhealthy behaviors to see if the others will tag along. Sort of a buy two, get two free sale based on the Behavioral Economics Theory used by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. Couch potatoes also get an arsenal of high-tech tools to help them make the changes.
A simple imaging technique developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers has revealed fat buildup in the hearts of pre-diabetic people long before symptoms of heart disease or diabetes appear.
If you sit on cold boulders or forget to wear your woollen underwear, you can develop a urinary tract infection. However, these diseases are more complicated than this, and in some cases they have a genetic background.
Whilst we all know that tall parents are more likely to have tall children, scientists have been unable to identify any common genes that make people taller than others. Now, however, scientists have identified the first gene, known as HMGA2, a common variant of which directly influences height.
The unique laboratory of Dr. David R. Soll at the University of Iowa is making a big footprint in the field of cancer research, thanks to a new agreement reached between Soll and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health.