Science News
This Week's Awesome Stories From Around the Web (Through June 4th)
Singularity Hub - 4 Jun 2016 19:00
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: I Let a Robot Take Over My Social Media for 48 Hours Harvey Wilks | Motherboard "Imagine your own personal intern who knows you better than you know yourself, performing all the minutiae you're l...
Diabetes drug metformin holds promise for cancer treatment and prevention
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:10
Use of Metformin -- commonly used as the front-line treatment for type 2 diabetes -- improves survival for some breast cancer patients, and shows promise as a treatment for patients diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia...
What Are Algae?
Live Science - 4 Jun 2016 12:17
Algae are a diverse group of aquatic organisms that have the ability to conduct photosynthesis. There exists a vast and varied world of algae that are not only helpful to us, but are critical to our existence.
Up to one-quarter of lung cancer patients ineligible for immunotherapy
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 21:19
A significant proportion of lung cancer patients also have autoimmune disease, which may make them unsuitable for increasingly popular immunotherapy treatments, a team of researchers has found.
Rucaparib shows clinical benefit in pancreatic cancer patients with BRCA mutation
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 21:19
The targeted therapy rucaparib, which has demonstrated robust clinical activity in ovarian cancer patients with a BRCA mutation, also showed promise in previously treated pancreatic cancer patients with the mutation.
Wnt stem cell signaling pathway implicated in colorectal cancer in patients under 50
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 21:19
A study of 4,699 tumor samples finds Wnt pathway genes CTNNB1 and FAM123B specifically upregulated in colorectal cancer of patients under age 50.
On target
The Economist - 4 Jun 2016 15:30
"CURE" is not a word much used by oncologists. The best they normally talk of is "remission". But the past five years have begun to change that. More than 70 new drugs have come to market, and describing the consequences...
Study reveals insights into protein linked to cancer, Alzheimer's disease
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:31
Cancer and Alzheimer's disease drugs target specific proteins, blocking or inhibiting their natural interactions, which may be in overdrive. The traditional drug design process typically assumes the protein shapes are st...
Clinicians implant world's smallest pacemaker
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:31
The Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) -- the world's smallest pacemaker -- has now been gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
Better animal model to improve HIV vaccine development
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:24
Vaccines are usually medicine's best defense against the world's deadliest microbes. However, HIV is so mutable that it has so far effectively evaded both the human immune system and scientists' attempts to make an effec...
Improved progression-free survival for lutathera over octreotide
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:21
Researchers will present results of the phase 3 NETTER-1 study, showing clinically meaningful and significant results for Lutathera (77Lu-DOTA0-Tyr3-Octreotate) in patients with metastatic midgut neuroendocrine tumors (N...
Counseling patients at risk for cancer over the phone reduces costs and access burdens
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:21
Delivering genetic test results to patients at risk for cancer-causing genetic mutations over the phone helps to ease cost and transportation burdens and, compared to receiving results in person, does not cause patients ...
Bacteria found in female upper reproductive tract, once thought sterile
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:21
They're inside our gut, on the skin, and in the mouth. Thousands of different types of micro-organisms live in and on the body, playing helpful roles in digestion or in aiding the body's natural defense system. Now, scie...
Personalized cell therapies studies define optimal doses
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:10
More precise dosing methods and cellular engineering techniques show promise in the effort to improve treatment of aggressive cancers with personalized cellular therapies, according to new studies.
Finding connections to nature in cities is key to healthy urban living
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:10
The authors of a new article discuss the growing tension between an arguably necessary role urban areas play in society and the numbing, even debilitating, aspects of cities that disconnect humans from the natural world.
Chemotherapy and exercise: The right dose of workout helps side effects
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:10
Researchers discovered something simple and inexpensive to reduce neuropathy in hands and feet due to chemotherapy -- exercise.
Scientists offer first look at how our cells can 'swallow up and quarantine' zika
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:10
Eight weeks after receiving their first samples of Zika virus, scientists have shown that a very small protein we all have in our bodies, interferon-induced protein 3 (IFITM3), can dramatically reduce the ability of Zika...
Zika virus directly infects brain cells and evades immune system detection, study shows
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:09
The mosquito-borne Zika virus linked to microcephaly and other neurological problems in newborns of affected mothers directly infects the brain progenitor cells destined to become neurons, researchers report in a new stu...
Crowds of crows spread C. jejuni: Are humans vulnerable?
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:09
Large, highly concentrated populations of crows can easily spread disease -- not only among their own species, but quite possibly to humans, either via livestock, or directly. During winter, approximately half of the 6,0...
Finally, targeted therapies for triple-negative breast cancer
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:06
Researchers present results of three clinical trials using new targeted therapies against triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Each therapy uses a distinct strategy influenced by the immune system and all three have rea...
Study reveals how interaction between neural networks changes during working memory
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:06
Dopamine signaling within the cerebral cortex can predict changes in the extent of communication between key brain networks during working memory, report scientists.
Obesity continues to increase in Sweden, even in the last few years
Science Daily - 4 Jun 2016 13:06
Sweden has always been associated with good health indicators. However new research presented at the summit shows that obesity has continued to increase across mid-Sweden since the start of the new millennium.