Category Health/Medical

The neurotransmitters GABA and glutamate have complementary roles—GABA inhibits neurons, while glutamate makes them more active. Published 22nd July in PLOS Biology, researchers led by Roi Cohen Kadosh and George Zacharopoulos from the University of Oxford show that levels of these two neurotransmitters in the intraparietal sulcus of the brain can predict mathematics ability. The study also found that the relationships between the two neurotransmitters and arithmetic fluency switched as children developed into adults.

Levels of brain excitement...

In a new University of California, Irvine-led study, researchers found that a certain protein prevented regulatory T cells (Tregs) from effectively doing their job in controlling the damaging effects of inflammation in a model of multiple sclerosis (MS), a devastating autoimmune disease of the nervous system.

Published this month in Science Advances, the new study illuminates the important role of Piezo1, a specialized p...

A Spartan-led team is developing an inexpensive biopolymer dressing to heal injuries like diabetic foot ulcers that affect millions of patients all over the world.

Tens of millions of patients around the world suffer from persistent and potentially life-threatening wounds. These chronic wounds, which are also a leading cause of amputation, have treatments, but the cost of existing wound dressings can prevent them from reaching people in need.

Now, a Michigan State University researcher is leading an international team of scientists to develop a low-cost, practical biopolymer dressing that helps heal these wounds.

“The existing efficient technologies are far too expensive for most health care systems, greatly limiting their use in a timely manner,” said Morteza Mahmoudi, an as...

Most of the tests that doctors use to diagnose cancer—such as mammography, colonoscopy, and CT scans—are based on imaging. More recently, researchers have also developed molecular diagnostics that can detect specific cancer-associated molecules that circulate in bodily fluids like blood or urine.

MIT engineers have now created a new diagnostic nanoparticle that combines both of these features: It can reveal the presence of cancerous proteins through a urine test, and it fu...