Category Health/Medical

A population of liver cells has been found that are better at regenerating liver tissue than hepatocytes. The study is the first to identify these so-called ‘hybrid hepatocytes,’ and show that they are able to regenerate liver tissue without giving rise to cancer.

Of all major organs, the liver has the highest capacity to regenerate – that’s why many liver diseases, including cirrhosis and hepatitis, can often be cured by transplanting a piece of liver from a healthy donor. The liver’s regenerative properties were previously credited to a population of adult stem cells known as oval cells. But recent studies concluded that oval cells don’t give rise to hepatocytes; instead, they develop into bile duct cells...

This is Drosophila intestine associated with lactobacilli bacteria, seen in red. The green GFP-positive tissue on the edges is a measure of the upregulation of Nrf2-responsive cytoprotection genes. Credit: Rheinallt Jones

A helpful subset of the intestinal microbiome, lactobacilli, stimulates the cytoprotective Nrf2 pathway in both flies and mice. The findings could potentially lead to advances in the use of bacteria to treat intestinal diseases or mitigate the effects of radiation therapy for cancer. “The body’s response to bacteria is often seen through the lens of the immune system,” says Prof. Andrew Neish, MD. “The pathway we’ve identified is not inflammatory or immunoregulatory; rather, it’s cytoprotective.”

While many types of bacteria that live in our intestines are inert or even h...

Researchers looking at blood samples identified two biological markers for the condition, hypersomnia.

Aerobic exercise can help alleviate excessive daytime sleepiness among depressed individuals. Researchers looking at blood samples identified two biological markers for the condition, called hypersomnia, which is characterized by sleeping too much at night as well as excessive daytime sleepiness, in those with Major Depressive Disorder.

“Hypersomnia, as well as insomnia, have been linked in the development, treatment, and recurrence of depression. Sleep disturbances are also some of the most persistent symptoms in depression...

Mice lacking a set of receptors in one type of neuron in the brain developed compulsive, anti-social behaviors. Parvalbumin-positive interneurons, thought to be important in general cognition and generating certain types of oscillatory wave patterns in the brain. “We found that without this receptor in the parvalbumin cells, mice have many serious behavioral deficits,” says Terrence Sejnowski, head of Salk’s Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, “And a lot of them really mimic closely what we see in schizophrenia.”

Scientists had previously discovered that when molecular signaling was disrupted in these cells during development, the brain’s networks didn’t form correctly...