Category Health/Medical

Natural killer cells could help young patients with few treatment options. An immunotherapy harnessing the immune system’s “natural killer” cells has proven effective in treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in some adults whose cancers return...

A combination of organic materials and electronics could open up new possibilities for unconventional future computing systems. The processor is the brain of a computer — an often-quoted phrase. But processors work fundamentally differently than the human brain. Transistors perform logic operations by means of electronic signals. In contrast, the brain works with neurons, which are connected via biological conductive paths, synapses. At a higher level, this signaling is used by the brain to control the body and perceive the surrounding environment. The reaction of the body/brain system when certain stimuli are perceived — for example, via the eyes, ears or sense of touch — is triggered through a learning process...

A chemical isolated from grape seed extract prolongs the lifespans of old mice by 9 per cent by clearing out their old, worn-out cells. The treatment also seems to make the mice physically fitter and reduces the size of tumours when used alongside chemotherapy to treat cancer.

The finding strengthens the case for future anti-ageing therapies that target senescent cells – aged cells that lose their ability to replicate and instead churn out substances that cause inflammation.

Senescent cells increase in number as we get older, and have been linked to various age-related conditions, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.

To find a substance that might destroy these cells, Qixia Xu at the...

Now a European research team consisting of scientists from France, Germany and Denmark has shown the different ways that common medicines apparently affect gut bacteria. The work is published in the journal Nature.

“It has already been substantiated in various clinical trials that different kinds of food can both positively and negatively regulate the gut’s ‘chemical factory’...