Category Health/Medical

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...

Amyloid plaque reduction with aducanumab: example amyloid PET images at baseline and week 54. Axial slice shows anatomical regions in posterior brain putatively related to Alzheimer’s disease pathology

The researchers furthermore demonstrated in an early stage clinical study that, after 1 year of treatment with Aducanumab, cognitive decline could be significantly slowed in antibody-treated patients as opposed to the placebo group. Although the causes of Alzheimer’s disease are still unknown, it is clear that the disease commences with progressive amyloid deposition in the brains of affected persons between 10 to 15 years before the emergence of initial clinical symptoms such as memory loss...

Highlights •atRA deficiency in colon cancer is driven by microbiota-induced inflammation •Treatment with atRA reduces tumorigenesis by enhancing a CD8+ T cell response •The enhanced CD8+ T cell response is due to upregulation of MHCI on tumor cells •CD8+ T cell cytotoxicity in human colon cancer correlates with local atRA metabolism

Mice with the cancer have lower-than-normal levels of the metabolite in their gut. Furthermore, colorectal cancer patients whose intestinal tissues express high levels of a protein that degrades retinoic acid tend to fare more poorly than their peers. The research is the first to unravel a complicated dance between retinoic acid levels, immune-related inflammation and gut microorganisms...

The source of alcohol craving may be a pea-sized structure deep inside the right side of the brain. The brain scans showed that the beer flavor induced more activity in both frontal lobes and in the right ventral striatum of the subjects’ brains than did the sports drink. Credit: B. Oberlin and D. Kareken, Indiana University School of Medicine

If you really want a drink right now, the source of your craving may be a pea-sized structure deep inside the right side of your brain, according to scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Using PET and fMRI, the researchers compared the results of giving beer drinkers a taste of their favorite beer versus a sports drink...