Category Health/Medical

Associate Professor Bryan Fry with a Komodo dragon

Various types of lizard venom are being studied as possible treatments for blood clotting diseases that lead to millions of cases of stroke, heart attack, and DVT annually. University of Queensland School of Biological Sciences expert Associate Professor Bryan Fry said, while snake venom research has been extensive, lizard venom research was still in its infancy.

His latest research – partly titled Enter the Dragon – shines the light on lizards that can serve as potential sources of life-saving medication. “We now know that far more lizards are venomous than previously thought, including the iconic Komodo dragon – the world’s largest lizard,” Dr Fry said...

Blue large-amplitude pulsators as a new class of variable stars. Nature Astronomy, 2017; 1 (8): 0166 DOI: 10.1038/s41550-017-0166 Image: Paweł Pietrukowicz

Discovery of new class of variable dwarf star. In the middle of the large Chilean Atacama desert, a team of Polish astronomers are patiently monitoring millions of celestial bodies night after night with the help of a modern robotic telescope. In 2013, the team was surprised when they discovered, stars that pulsated much faster than expected. In the following years, the team that included Dr. Marilyn Latour, an astronomer from the Dr...

MIT researchers have demonstrated a new way to reverse memory loss by blocking an enzyme known as HDAC2. Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT

Study suggests a new approach to developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. In the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, many of the genes required to form new memories are shut down by a genetic blockade, contributing to the cognitive decline seen in those patients. MIT researchers have now shown that they can reverse memory loss in mice by interfering with the enzyme that forms the blockade. The enzyme HDAC2, turns genes off by condensing them so tightly that they can’t be expressed.

For several years, scientists and pharmaceutical companies have been trying to develop drugs that block this enzyme, but most of these drugs also block other HDAC family membe...

This illustration shows how klotho treatment in mice rapidly improved learning and memory of a hidden platform in a water maze. Credit: Leon et al.

Mice treated with klotho do better on tests of memory and motor skills. In a study that augurs well for the therapeutic potential of klotho – a life-extending protein hormone that a minority of people naturally produce at high levels – scientists at UC San Francisco have found that administering a fragment of the klotho protein to young, aging or impaired mice rapidly improves their cognitive and physical performance.

While previous studies had revealed associations between elevated klotho levels and better cognition, that research had been done with mice genetically engineered to continuously produce high klotho levels and in people carrying g...