Category Health/Medical

Schlemm’s canal (green) plays a fundamental role in draining the aqueous humor (white arrows) from the anterior chamber of the eye to blood circulation. If the aqueous humor is not able to flow out freely, elevated intraocular pressure damages the optical nerve causing glaucoma and eventually blindness. Credit: IBS

Biologists have found an explanation for the increase in intraocular pressure in glaucoma and a promising therapeutic option to rejuvenate the eye. Researchers at the Center for Vascular Research, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), have identified a new mechanism involved in the development and progression of glaucoma, and found a potential therapeutic option to treat it. Glaucoma is the second cause of irreversible blindness, after cataracts. It affects about 3...

Higher activity in the ventral striatum, the brain’s reward center, may buffer some individuals against the negative mental health effects of poor sleep. Credit: Annchen R. Knodt, Duke University

Brain’s reward center activity may protect against negative mental health effects. Poor sleep is both a risk factor, and a common symptom, of depression. But not everyone who tosses and turns at night becomes depressed. Individuals whose brains are more attuned to rewards may be protected from the negative mental health effects of poor sleep, says a new study by Duke University neuroscientists.

The researchers found that college students with poor quality sleep were less likely to have symptoms of depression if they also had higher activity in a reward-sensitive region of the brain...

This is a figure showing RNA sequence of command. Credit: Professor Jaramillo/University of Warwick

New research has discovered that RNA can be genetically engineered to allow scientists to program the actions of a cell. As well as fighting disease and injury in humans, scientists could harness this technique to control plant cells and reverse environmental and agricultural issues, making plants more resilient to disease and pests.

RNAs carry information between protein and DNA in cells, and Professor Jaramillo has proved that these molecules can be produced and organised into tailor-made sequences of commands – similar to codes for computer software – which feed specific instructions into cells, programming them to do what we want.

Much like a classic Turing computer system, cells have th...

The efficacy of ( )-Naltrexone on alcohol preference and seeking behaviour is dependent on light-cycle. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2017; DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2017.08.021

Researchers from the University of Adelaide have found a new link between the brain’s immune system and the desire to drink alcohol in the evening. In laboratory studies using mice, researchers have been able to switch off the impulse to drink alcohol by giving mice a drug that blocks a specific response from the immune system in the brain. Now published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, this research is one of the first of its kind to show a link between the brain’s immunity and the motivation to drink alcohol at night.

“Alcohol is the world’s most commonly consumed drug, and there is a greater need than ever...