Category Health/Medical

Study finds Cancer Cells use a New Fuel in Absence of Sugar

microscopic image close up colorful blue red yellow
NCI – Visuals Online

Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center have discovered a new nutrient source that pancreatic cancer cells use to grow. The molecule, uridine, offers insight into both biochemical processes and possible therapeutic pathways.

The findings, published in Nature, show that cancer cells can adapt when they don’t have access to glucose. Researchers have previously identified other nutrients that serve as fuel sources for pancreatic cancer; this study adds uridine to the catalog.

Pancreatic tumors have few functioning blood vessels and can’t easily access nutrients that come from the bloodstream, like glucose. Costas Lyssiotis, Ph.D...

Read More

Insight into Brain’s Waste Clearing System may Shed Light on Brain Diseases

focused ultrasound
This microscopic image reveals the enhanced glymphatic transport of an intranasally delivered tracer (red), achieved using ultrasound combined with microbubbles. (Credit: Chen Lab)

Like the lymphatic system in the body, the glymphatic system in the brain clears metabolic waste and distributes nutrients and other important compounds. Impairments in this system may contribute to brain diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases and stroke.

A team of researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has found a non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical method to influence glymphatic transport using focused ultrasound, opening the opportunity to use the method to further study brain diseases and brain function...

Read More

The Feeling of Hunger itself may Slow Aging in Flies

fruitfly hunger refrigerator apple orange

From low-carb to intermittent fasting, surgery to Ozempic — people turn to a seemingly never-ending array of diets, procedures and drugs to lose weight. While it has been long understood that limiting the amount of food eaten can promote healthy aging in a wide range of animals, including humans, a new study from University of Michigan has revealed that the feeling of hunger itself may be enough to slow aging.

Previous research has demonstrated that even the taste and smell of food can reverse the beneficial, life-extending effects of diet restriction, even without its consumption.

These intriguing findings drove first author Kristy Weaver, Ph.D., principal investigator Scott Pletcher, Ph.D...

Read More

American Urological Association: Genomic Urine Test Accurately Predicts Bladder Cancer

AUA: genomic urine test accurately predicts bladder cancer

A new genomic urine test can predict bladder cancer as many as 12 years before clinical signs and symptoms emerge, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association, held from April 28 to May 1 in Chicago.

Yair Lotan, M.D., from the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues examined the effectiveness of screening for preclinical urinary carcinoma (UC) with a modified UroAmp (Convergent Genomics) genomic profiling test using 10 genes. The analysis included a model evaluation case-control design with 96 controls and 70 UC cases, as well as a nested case-control design within the Golestan Cohort Study (50,045 participants followed for up to 12 years).

The researchers found that the UC screening model was trained to a sensitiv...

Read More