Researchers develop ‘smart’ nanotherapeutics New technology delivers drugs directly to cells of pancreas New research, led by Wyss Institute founding director Donald Ingber (pictured), uses nanoparticles that can be programmed to deliver drug or stem cell therapies to specific disease sites. This is considered an excellent alternative to systemic treatments because improved responses can be […]

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Reaping benefits of exercise minus the sweat. Researchers isolate messenger protein linking exercise to health benefits “There has been a feeling in the field that exercise ‘talks to’ various tissues in the body,” said Bruce Spiegelman (right), a professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School. “But the question has been, how?”/ File photo by […]

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Good news for marathoners Underlying heart disease blamed for increased reports of cardiac events “The general consensus — based on intense media coverage of cardiac arrests that happen during these races — has been that the risk was very high. But we found that the risk of cardiac arrest for marathon and half-marathon runners is […]

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Living to 100 and beyond: the right genes plus a healthy lifestyle What is it that lets some people live to age 100 and beyond? A new study from the ongoing New England Centenarian Study suggests that protective genes may make a big contribution. In what the researchers describe as the first study of its kind, they […]

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Limiting antibiotic use in farm animals will help reduce antibiotic resistance Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the use of cephalosporin antibiotics in cattle, pigs, chickens, and turkeys posed “a serious health threat” to humans. That’s because the widespread use of these drugs in farming may be contributing to the growing […]

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Is it Alzheimer’s, or just a memory slip? A few months ago, I hung up the phone after a conversation with my 85-year-old father wondering, “Should I be worried about Alzheimer’s?” That’s because I noticed my dad struggling to express himself, faltering over the right words, and forgetting names. We live 1,500 miles apart, so […]

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Nicotine letdown. No boost from patches, gum in study of quitting success. Nicotine Replacement Therapies May Not Be Effective in Helping People Quit Smoking “This study shows that using NRT [nicotine replacement therapies] is no more effective in helping people stop smoking cigarettes in the long term than trying to quit on one’s own,” said […]

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Molecular Motor Struts Like Drunken Sailor To understand how molecular motors work, some researchers are creating animations. Here, each “leg” of a molecular motor called dynein moves as it progresses along a cellular structure called a microtubule. New data suggest that dynein’s walk is even stranger than the one modeled. View its movement in action […]

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Multitasking – a medical and mental hazard “During a recent check-up, my doctor snuck a look at her phone a couple times. I don’t think it had anything to do with my health or care, so it was mildly annoying—but I didn’t say anything. After reading a report about a man who almost died because […]

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Age-related effects of MS may prove reversible Study provides hope of stimulating myelin sheaths around nerves In a study, researchers report that defects in the regeneration of the myelin sheaths surrounding nerves, which are lost in diseases such as MS, may be at least partially corrected after exposing an old animal to the circulatory system […]

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