Greg Laden's Blog

Immune system can drive cancers into dormant state from PhysOrg.com

A multinational team of researchers has shown for the first time that the immune system can stop the growth of a cancerous tumor without actually killing it.

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A novel way found to prevent protein plaques implicated in Alzheimer's from PhysOrg.com

For unknown reasons a protein called amyloid beta aggregates into toxic plaques in the brain, killing neurons. These plaques are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Now two new animal studies show for the first time that the deadly transformation of amyloid beta into plaques can be prevented through an interaction between amyloid beta and another protein called cystatin C.

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'Micro' livers could aid drug screening from PhysOrg.com
MIT researchers have devised a novel way to create tiny colonies of living human liver cells that model the full-sized organ. The work could allow better screening of new drugs that are potentially harmful to the liver and reduce the costs associated with their development.

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Bird flu culling round over in Britain from PhysOrg.com

Officials have completed a cull aimed at stopping a bird flu outbreak in eastern England from spreading, Britain's environment ministry said Sunday.

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Forgetting long-time bonds, Alzheimer's patients fall in love from PhysOrg.com

When her husband of 55 years began seeing another woman, former US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor did not begin high-profile divorce proceedings or condemn his infidelity.

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Study Finds That Sitting May Increase Risk of Disease from PhysOrg.com
Most people spend most of their day sitting with relatively idle muscles. Health professionals advise that at least 30 minutes of activity at least 5 days a week will counteract health concerns, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity that may result from inactivity. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia say a new model regarding physical activity recommendations is emerging. New research shows that what people do in the other 15 and a half hours of their waking day is just as important, or more so, than the time they spend actively exercising.

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Menstruation proves more than a curse from PhysOrg.com
The cells which thicken the womb wall during a woman's menstrual cycle contain a newly discovered type of stem cell, and could be used in the treatment of damaged and/or old tissue, according to research published today in the online open access publication, Journal of Translational Medicine.

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