Category Health/Medical

Scientists have mapped out the genes that keep our cells alive, creating a long-awaited foothold for understanding how our genome works and which genes are crucial in disease like cancer. A team of Toronto researchers have switched off, one by one, almost 18,000 genes – 90% of the entire human genome – to find the genes that are essential for cell survival. The data revealed a “core” set of more than 1,500 essential genes. This lays the foundation for reaching the long-standing goal in biomedical research of pinpointing a role for every single gene in the genome.

By turning genes off in 5 different cancer cell lines, including brain, retinal, ovarian, and 2 kinds of colorectal cancer cells, the team uncovered that each tumour relies on a unique set of genes t...

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It takes a lot of brain power – and many parts of the brain – to fully give thanks.

In a past study, NIH researchers examined blood flow in various brain regions while subjects summoned up feelings of gratitude (Zahn et al, 2009). They found that subjects who showed more gratitude overall had higher levels of activity in the hypothalamus. This is important because the hypothalamus controls a huge array of essential bodily functions, including eating, drinking and sleeping. It also has a huge influence on your metabolism and stress levels. From this evidence on brain activity it starts to become clear how improvements in gratitude could have such wide-ranging effects from increased exercise, and improved sleep to decreased depression and fewer aches and pains.

Furthermore, feelings of...

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Tethering enzymes to nanoparticles makes measuring tiny quantities possible. Besides early stroke detection, the method can be expanded to diagnose concussion, some forms of dementia, and some types of cancer and heart disease. Minutes count when treating stroke, but current diagnostics take as long as 3hrs, lab work, and skilled technicians to arrive at a conclusive diagnosis. Scientists at Cornell University’s Baker Institute for Animal Health have developed a device that helps diagnose stroke in <10min using a drop of blood.

“3/4 of stroke patients suffer from ischemic stroke…time is of the essence, because...

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Mildly elevated levels of a bile pigment bilirubin may provide natural protection from heart attacks and help to stave off cardiovascular disease. The study shows that when hearts are infused with bilirubin following a heart attack, the pigment reduces damage and improves heart function during recovery.

“This is a very important finding as very few drugs are able to be administered following a heart attack to improve heart function,” says Dr Bulmer. “Generally, if it is a small heart attack people can survive. However there is a 20% mortality rate from heart attack, with approximately 50,000 heart attack sufferers each year in Australia.

“Generally, bilirubin was just associated with people having jaundice; however we have now shown that mildly elevated bilirubin is a...

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