Category Health/Medical

Brain region significantly associated with the subjective happiness score. (Left) A statistical parametric map (p < 0.001, peak-level uncorrected for display purposes). The area is overlaid on the spatially normalized gray matter tissue probability map. The blue cross indicates the location of the peak voxel. The red-white color scale indicates the T-value. (Right) A scatter plot of the adjusted gray matter volume as a function of the subjective happiness score at the peak voxel.

The study paves the way for measuring happiness objectively – and also provides insights on a neurologically based way of being happy. Exercising, meditating, scouring self-help books… we go out of our way to be happy, but do we really know what happiness is?

Wataru Sato and his team at Kyoto University have f...

Researcher using a slit lamp. Credit: Courtesy of the National Eye Institute

Lucentis (ranibizumab) has been found to be highly effective for treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that can occur as a complication of diabetes. The researchers, part of the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network, say this is the first major advance in therapy in 40 years.

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness among working-age Americans. An advanced stage, called proliferative diabetic retinopathy, occurs when abnormal blood vessels grow near the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. These new vessels can leak blood, which can obscure vision and damage the retina...

Sophie Lerouge and Réjean Lapointe examine the cancer fighting biogel they have developed. Credit: CRCHUM

This biogel technology, developed at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), has already been successfully tested in the laboratory. If it works in patients, the therapy could one day revolutionize treatment for many forms of cancer.

“The strength of this biogel is that it is compatible with anti-cancer immune cells. It is used to encapsulate these cells and eventually administer them using a syringe or catheter into the tumour or directly beside it. Instead of injecting these cells or anti-cancer drugs throughout the entire body via the bloodstream, we can treat the cancer locally...

Serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) and median raphe nucleus (MRN) of the brainstem differentially modulate emotional behavior. Credit: Columbia University Department of Psychiatry

More nuanced view of brainstem neurons could lead to better drugs for depression, anxiety. Low levels of serotonin in the brain are known to play a role in depression and anxiety, and it is customary to treat these disorders with medications that increase the amount of this neurotransmitter. However, a new study suggests that this approach may be too simple. It appears that neighboring serotonin-producing brainstem regions exert different and sometimes opposing effects on behavior.

“Our study breaks with the simplistic view that ‘more is good and less is bad,’ when it comes to serotonin for mo...