Category Health/Medical

Treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a mental health condition characterized by distressing, uncontrollable thoughts and repetitive behaviors, has centered on psychotherapy and medication to curb symptoms. New research identifying a previously unknown brain circuit involved in OCD could be a key step toward treatments that target specific brain regions to better control the condition.

Published in the journal Neuron and led by Joshua L. Plotkin, Ph.D...

The spread of cancer from a primary tumor to another place in the body, called metastasis, remains one of the greatest challenges in cancer treatment and is responsible for most cancer-related deaths.

“Cancer cells that have moved to another part of the body can stay dormant for years after the original tumor has been treated,” explains Crick group leader Ilaria Malanchi, who leads a lab studying how cancer cells interact with the rest of the body. “It’s a worrying period for people, as they don’t know if these metastatic cells will reactivate, leading to a relapse.”

Breast cancer cells often spread to the bone marro...

Omega fatty acids have long been recognized for their benefits: supporting cardiovascular health, reducing systemic inflammation, and promoting brain development and cognitive function. But scientists now warn of a long-unrecognized downside to these compounds when it comes to cancer and immunotherapy.

New preclinical experiments by medical investigators in the Vascular Biology and Therapeutic Program at Yale University School of Medicine show that omega fatty acids can blunt the cancer-killing capabilities of the immune system’s natural killer cells.

Their research is part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that well-known—and largely beneficial—fatty acids can circumvent the body’s defenses and promote cancer growth.

A unifying he...

Brown fat burns fuel to make heat, and this activity is controlled by the body clock: It drops during sleep and rises before waking. But a cold morning or a skipped meal makes demands the clock never planned for. How the body keeps to a fixed energy timetable while still improvising has long been a puzzle.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen’s NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR) now show that SLC25A34, a little-studied protein in the mitochondria of fat cells, acts as a switch that connects the body clock, temperature and diet to how fat cells store and spend energy. The study was published in Science.

“We usually think of the body clock, the response to temperature and the response to food as separate systems...