Category Health/Medical

The N3A receptor, as modeled here by the UB researchers, may be silent under normal conditions, but can be reactivated through the unique site (in red) under acidic conditions, such as after a stroke or seizure.

Strokes, seizures, traumatic brain injury and schizophrenia: these conditions can cause persistent, widespread acidity around neurons in the brain. But exactly how that acidity affects brain function isn’t well understood. University at Buffalo researchers have begun to unravel some of the puzzle. They found that an elusive brain receptor may play an important role in the death of neurons from neurological diseases.

The UB researchers study a family of brain receptors that are critical to learning and memory, called NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors...

People who regularly consume yogurt or buttermilk have a greater diversity of gut bacteria. Credit: © BillionPhotos.com / Fotolia

A large-scale study into the effect of food and medicine on the bacterial diversity in the human gut was led by RUG/UMCG geneticist Cisca Wijmenga. Researchers collected stool samples from more than 1100 people taking part in the LifeLines programme, which is monitoring the health of 165,000 residents of the Northern Netherlands. The samples were used to analyze the DNA of the bacteria and other organisms that live in the gut. In addition to stools, the study collected information on the participants’ diet, medicine-use and health.

This study is unique in that it focused on a group of normal people whereas previous research was frequently focused on patients wi...

A human heart cell that was chemically reprogrammed from a human skin cell. Credit: Nan Cao, PhD, Gladstone Institutes

Breakthrough 1st purely chemical cellular reprogramming, changing a cell’s identity without adding external genes. The research lays the groundwork for one day being able to regenerate lost or damaged cells with pharmaceutical drugs.

This discovery offers a more efficient and reliable method to reprogram cells and avoids medical concerns surrounding genetic engineering. “This method brings us closer to being able to generate new cells at the site of injury in patients,” said Sheng Ding, PhD. “Our hope is to one day treat diseases like heart failure or Parkinson’s disease with drugs that help the heart and brain regenerate damaged areas from their own existing tissue cells...

Nicotinamide Riboside (NR)

Nicotinamide riboside rejuvenates stem cells, allowing better regeneration processes in aged mice. As mice, like all mammals, age, the regenerative capacity of certain organs (eg liver and kidneys) and muscles (including the heart) diminishes. Their ability to repair them following an injury is also affected. This leads to many of the disorders typical of aging.

Hongbo Zhang wanted to understand how the regeneration process deteriorated with age. To do so, he teamed up with colleagues from ETH Zurich, the Uni of Zurich and universities in Canada and Brazil. Through several markers, he was able to identify the molecular chain that regulates how mitochondria function and how they change with age...