Category Biology/Biotechnology

This graphical abstract depicts the effects of a 2-year calorie restriction (CR) trial in healthy, non-obese humans, which found evidence that prolonged CR enhances resting energy efficiency, resulting in decreased oxidative damage to tissues and organs. Credit: Redman et al./Cell Metabolism

One of the first studies to explore the effects of calorie restriction on humans showed that cutting caloric intake by 15% for 2 years slowed aging and metabolism and protected against age-related disease. The study, which will appear March 22 in the journal Cell Metabolism, found that calorie restriction decreased systemic oxidative stress, which has been tied to age-related neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as cancer, diabetes, and others.

“Restricting calo...

An MIT-led research team reversed age-related endurance loss in mice by treating them with a compound that promotes new blood vessel growth.

Activating proteins linked to longevity may help to increase endurance and combat frailty in the elderly. As we get older, our endurance declines, in part because our blood vessels lose some of their capacity to deliver oxygen and nutrients to muscle tissue. An MIT-led research team has now found that it can reverse this age-related endurance loss in mice by treating them with a compound that promotes new blood vessel growth. The compound, which re-activates longevity-linked proteins called sirtuins, promotes the growth of blood vessels and muscle, boosting the endurance of elderly mice by up to 80%.

If the findings translate to humans, this restorati...

A tissue section 14 days post-wounding shows hair follicles regenerating at center of the wound. Regrowing hair follicles is one of the biggest challenges in the field of wound healing. Image courtesy of the Disease Biophysics Group/Harvard University

Nanofiber dressings heal wounds, promote regeneration. Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed new wound dressings that dramatically accelerate healing and improve tissue regeneration. The two different types of nanofiber dressings, described in separate papers, use naturally-occurring proteins in plants and animals to promote healing and regrow tissue.

“Our fiber manufacturing system was developed specifically fo...

More than 135,500 cases of cancer a year in the UK could be prevented through lifestyle changes, according to new figures from a Cancer Research UK landmark study published today.* This equates to 37.7% of all cancers diagnosed each year in the UK – rising to 41.5% in Scotland.

The latest figures, calculated from 2015 cancer data, found that smoking remains the biggest preventable cause of cancer despite the continued decline in smoking rates. Tobacco smoke caused around 32,200 cases of cancer in men (17.7% of all male cancer cases) and around 22,000 (12.4%) in women in 2015, according to the research published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Excess weight is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer. Around 22,800 (6...