Category Health/Medical

Schematic of mice with dysfunctional and functional Wnt signaling Source: Alzheimer’s Research UK

Memory loss in mice has been reversed following the discovery of new information about a key mechanism underlying the loss of nerve connectivity in the brain. The team found Wnt proteins play a key role in the maintenance of nerve connectivity in the adult brain and could become targets for new treatments that prevent and restore brain function in neurodegenerative diseases.

Professor Salinas said: “Synapses are absolutely critical to everything that our brains do. When these important communication points are lost, nerve cells cannot exchange information and this leads to symptoms like memory and thinking problems...

Model of a Sclerostin-fragment (green) bound to the antibody AbD09097 (heavy and light chain in cyan and red, respectively; surface representation in grey). Credit: Thomas Mueller

Osteoporosis particularly affects elderly women and the risk of suffering fractures rises. As prophylaxis patients are advised to have a healthy diet and perform physical exercises; when the risk of bone fractures is high, medicine preventing further bone loss is prescribed in addition. Inhibiting protein sclerostin could probably help treating the bone-loss disease osteoporosis. Bone resorption diminishes and bone re-growth is stimulated...

The novel mitochondria-targeted hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donors AP123 and AP39 protect against hyperglycemic injury in microvascular endothelial cells in vitro

A gas known for its noxious qualities could help people with diabetes recover from common heart and blood vessel complications, concludes research led by the University of Exeter Medical School. The research could help pave the way to new treatments for some of the most common complications association with diabetes. Heart problems are a common cause of disability and death in people with diabetes, and are expected to rise still further with increasing rates of obesity. Currently, 79% of the £14 billion spent on treating diabetes in the NHS is spent on treating complications.

People with diabetes have hyperglycaemia which leads to th...

In the spinal cord, chronic pain can dramatically increase PACAP neurotransmitter levels (top panel, green fluorescent signal with arrows) on the affected side compared to the normal control side. The neurotransmitter signal travels in a neurocircuit that reaches the amygdala in the brain which controls stress-related behaviors (bottom panel, green area in cartoon denotes amygdala region).

New studies show increased expression of PACAP – a peptide neurotransmitter the body releases in response to stress – is also increased in response to neuropathic pain and contributes to these symptoms...