Category Health/Medical

A family of economical silver-based complexes show very promising results against a number of human cancers in laboratory tests, with very low toxicity in rat studies and minimal effects on healthy cells. One of these, UJ3, is as effective as the industry-standard drug Cisplatin in killing cancer cells in laboratory tests done on human esophageal cancer, breast cancer and melanoma. This matrix of light microscope images show a comparison of human esophageal cancer cells treated with UJ3 and Cisplatin. Credit: Dr Zelinda Engelbrecht, University of Johannesburg

A new family of potential silver-based anti-cancer drugs has been discovered by researchers in South Africa...

This graphical abstract depicts the effects of a 2-year calorie restriction (CR) trial in healthy, non-obese humans, which found evidence that prolonged CR enhances resting energy efficiency, resulting in decreased oxidative damage to tissues and organs. Credit: Redman et al./Cell Metabolism

One of the first studies to explore the effects of calorie restriction on humans showed that cutting caloric intake by 15% for 2 years slowed aging and metabolism and protected against age-related disease. The study, which will appear March 22 in the journal Cell Metabolism, found that calorie restriction decreased systemic oxidative stress, which has been tied to age-related neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as cancer, diabetes, and others.

“Restricting calo...

An MIT-led research team reversed age-related endurance loss in mice by treating them with a compound that promotes new blood vessel growth.

Activating proteins linked to longevity may help to increase endurance and combat frailty in the elderly. As we get older, our endurance declines, in part because our blood vessels lose some of their capacity to deliver oxygen and nutrients to muscle tissue. An MIT-led research team has now found that it can reverse this age-related endurance loss in mice by treating them with a compound that promotes new blood vessel growth. The compound, which re-activates longevity-linked proteins called sirtuins, promotes the growth of blood vessels and muscle, boosting the endurance of elderly mice by up to 80%.

If the findings translate to humans, this restorati...

A tissue section 14 days post-wounding shows hair follicles regenerating at center of the wound. Regrowing hair follicles is one of the biggest challenges in the field of wound healing. Image courtesy of the Disease Biophysics Group/Harvard University

Nanofiber dressings heal wounds, promote regeneration. Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed new wound dressings that dramatically accelerate healing and improve tissue regeneration. The two different types of nanofiber dressings, described in separate papers, use naturally-occurring proteins in plants and animals to promote healing and regrow tissue.

“Our fiber manufacturing system was developed specifically fo...