Medical research

Researchers from the University of Illinois have identified a key process coordinating liver maturation and polyploidization, a state in which cells carry more than two sets of chromosomes. Their findings, published in Genes and Development, provide insight into hepatocyte specialization that will aid efforts in regenerative medicine.

Graying hair is a hallmark of aging, often considered an inevitable part of growing older. However, recent research from Nagoya University in Japan led by Masashi Kato and Takumi Kagawa suggests that an antioxidant might suppress this process. The researchers identified luteolin, an antioxidant found in vegetables including celery, broccoli, carrots, onions, and peppers, as being a potential anti-graying agent. Their findings pave the way for potential applications in human hair care.

New research from the University of Minnesota shows that death rates for early adults, or adults aged 25–44, rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and remain higher than expected post-pandemic.

A recent study carried out by a research team from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut investigated the immunomodulating properties of β-glucans. These are natural sugar compounds found in bacteria, fungi and grains. The results indicate that β-glucans can target the immune system and modulate pro-inflammatory responses. Their potential to suppress allergic reactions and offer new approaches to allergy treatment is particularly promising. The research was published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

In the early days of the second Trump administration, a directive to pause all public communication from the Department of Health and Human Services created uncertainty and anxiety among biomedical researchers in the U.S. This directive halted key operations of numerous federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health, including those critical to advancing science and medicine.

The only natural host of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is humans. Model organisms for laboratory studies, especially mice, cannot be infected, which makes the search for a vaccine against HCV extremely difficult because the protective effect cannot be tested directly.

Basal cell carcinomas, the most common form of skin cancer, occur in chronically sun-exposed areas such as the face. Locally advanced tumors in particular can be difficult to treat surgically. A research team from MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna has now investigated the effectiveness of a new type of therapy and achieved promising results.

Bones are the living tissue on which the human skeleton is constructed and play a key role in enabling physical movements. The structural integrity of bones has been attributed to bone remodeling—a highly regulated process of bone formation and bone resorption (dissolving old and damaged bones), driven by osteoblast and osteoclast bone cells, respectively.

Elon Musk said a third person has received an implant from his brain-computer interface company Neuralink, one of many groups working to connect the nervous system to machines.

By conducting tests under an experimental scenario, a team of medical researchers and AI specialists at NYU Langone Health has demonstrated how easy it is to taint the data pool used to train LLMs.