Category Health/Medical

A new study in mice, published recently in the journal Cell Metabolism, shows that cutting down the amount of a single amino acid called isoleucine can, among other benefits, extend their lifespan, make them leaner and less frail as they age and reduce cancer and prostate problems, all while the mice ate more calories.

There’s a popular saying in some circles that “a calorie is a calorie,” but science shows that it may not be true. In fact, it may be possible to eat more of some kinds of calories while also improving your health.

“We like to say a calorie is not just a calorie,” says Dudley Lamming, a professor and metabolism researcher at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health...

Researchers have found a bacteriocin that can help inhibit the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a growing global problem. Part of the solution may lie in copying the bacteria’s own weapons. The research environment in Tromsø has found a new bacteriocin, in a very common skin bacterium. Bacteriocin inhibits the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are often the cause of disease and can be difficult to treat.

One million deaths each year

The fact that we have medicines against bacterial infections is something many people take for granted.

But increasing resistance among bacteria means that more and more antibiotics do not work.

When the bacteria become resi...

Limits of large language models in precision medicine. Treating cancer is becoming increasingly complex, but also offers more and more possibilities. After all, the better a tumor’s biology and genetic features are understood, the more treatment approaches there are. To be able to offer patients personalized therapies tailored to their disease, laborious and time-consuming analysis and interpretation of various data is required. Researchers at Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have now studied whether generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT can help with this step...

Scientists have developed a novel approach that allows stem cells to be turned into retinal ganglion cells that are capable of migrating and surviving in the eye’s retina. This approach presents a promising new treatment strategy for diseases like glaucoma, in which the loss of retinal ganglion cells caused by the disease leads to irreversible vision loss.

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, and vision loss, due to the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), cannot currently be reversed with any treatment...