Category Archives: Research
When the immune system is away, biliary cancer cells may come back to play
Tumours of the biliary tract (BTC) develop from the epithelium of bile ducts located inside and outside the liver and in the gallbladder. Surgery is the only curative treatment available. However, tumours often come back after surgery
Does body mass index affect how well patients do after meniscus surgery?
Obesity is present in about 38% of adults in the United States, and as many as 67% of patients with knee injuries (including meniscus tears). Some research has shown that obese patients have worse function and more
Angiotensin II actions on distal regulatory elements promote vascular dysfunction and hypertension
Cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and atherosclerosis (blocked blood vessels) lead to heart attacks and strokes, and are highly prevalent worldwide. Furthermore, these complications are significantly accelerated in patients with diabetes. Angiotensin II (AngII)
New approach for CO2 reduction
Research converting carbon oxide (CO2) into low-molecular-weight organic compounds is extremely important because this research can not only reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere but can also convert CO2 into useful organic compounds. And, no
A new drug to improve drug-eluting stents in coronary artery disease
Patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease often receive stent treatment in obstructed coronary arteries of the heart. Even though current generation drug-eluting stents perform very well in the short-term, concerns still exist about their long-term efficacy due
Fasting blood glucose and prostate cancer: A meta-analysis of dose-response
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer, and third leading cause of cancer deaths, in American men. So far, only a few well-established risk factors, including ageing and being racially black, are thought to be associated
Spontaneous neonatal renal vein thromboses. Which ones should be treated?
Neonatal renal vein thrombosis (RVT) is a well-known condition, the treatment of which suffers from the lack of codified protocols as consequence of absent consensual guidelines. With an incidence rate between 1.3 to 2.2 cases per 100.000
Global erosivity map shows differences between climatic regions
The underlying JRC research, published in the Nature Group’s Scientific Reports, highlights differences between climatic regions and calls for global action to protect our soils. Soil is our most important source of food. And yet, much of
Providing the evidence necessary to make informed decisions for contaminated land
The last 40 years of ‘environmental revolution’ in Europe and beyond has helped to establish comprehensive frameworks built around preventing pollution and risk-based management. After various lessons learnt, several countries, namely the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, the
Risk of malaria reemergence in Bulgaria
Malaria is a disease of high medical and social importance. Notwithstanding the efforts of WHO and national systems of public health, it is still widespread over large areas around the globe and it is a cause for
Cellular assay: bottleneck of the drug discovery process
Finding a needle in the haystack is not that difficult after all: Just use a strong magnet, and you have a good chance to get it. Picking up, among millions of different compounds, the right ones that
Designer antibody therapeutics
We inhabit a hostile environment and are susceptible to infection by current and future pathogenic organisms (foreign bodies; antigens) resulting from mutation and selection forces. Personal integrity is assured by the humoral and cellular immune system (IS)
New gibberellin signaling pathway via Ca2+ signaling
Gibberellins (GAs) are plant hormones that regulate many aspects of plant development including seed germination, stem elongation, flower induction, and anther development. Ca2+ is a ubiquitous second messenger involved in signal transduction of various environmental and developmental
Functional gene analysis to understand complex biological mechanisms in schizophrenia
Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a chronic debilitating psychiatric disorder affecting approximately 7 in 1000 people in their lifetime and ranked as one of the top 15 leading causes of disability worldwide. The symptoms of SCZ can be divided
Assessing the evidence on weight loss strategies
Weight loss and weight management is of upmost importance in our current climate of increasing rates of overweight and obesity and of associated diseases like type 2 diabetes. Here the evidence on weight loss strategies, in people
Delay of GABA switch due to early – life stress leads to developmental disorder
Early-life stress, such as child neglect and abuse, is referred as one of the most prominent risk factor causing lasting social problems, which influence later development of psychopathologies. One specific sensitive period in neural development occurs during
Old school wins: outbreak investigation of foodborne salmonellosis
Salmonellosis is one of the most common foodborne diseases in humans posing a major public health concern worldwide. It is caused by ingestion of contaminated food with non-typhoidal Salmonella. The most common foods that have been linked
Analysis of school traumatic brain injury policy content
Millions of children and teens are affected by sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries (TBI) annually. To help reduce the effects of TBIs in youth sports, between 2009 and 2014, all 50 states and the District of
Gamma-tubules — novel filaments in the fight against cancer
The word skeleton sounds very significant, and indeed humans could not exist without a skeleton! Similarly, a cellular skeleton or cytoskeleton is crucial for the functions of a cell. Several different types of cytoskeleton have been identified
Threading bromoplumbate nanochannels with polycationic chains
To obtain precise structural information of polymers in the solid state is of importance in chemistry, physics and materials science because such information not only provides fundamental understanding of the nature of polymers, but can also allow
