Boston – An international team of clinical collaborators, led by physician scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, performed a first-ever clinical test of the targeted therapy avapritinib in pediatric and young patients with a form of high-grade glioma. They found that the drug, already FDA-approved for certain adult cancers, was generally safe and resulted in tumor reduction visible on brain scans, as well as clinical improvement, in 3 out of 7 patients. The study was published in Cancer Cell. Pediatric-type high-grade gliomas are currently incurable brain tumors with median survival times less than 18 months after initial diagnosis. Avapritinib ...

POMs are a class of inorganic metal-oxygen cluster compounds with broad-spectrum antitumor potential. However, their strong hydrophilicity and poor lipophilicity result in insufficient cell membrane permeability, and high doses are required to achieve therapeutic effects, which severely limits their clinical application. To address this challenge, the research team proposes a covalent modification strategy: the construction of an amphipathic drug molecule PPT-POM-PPT by linking the hydrophobic anti-tumor drug Podophyllotoxin (PPT) with hydrophilic POMs. This molecule ...

Circadian rhythms are endogenous time-keeping mechanisms that regulate physiological processes in response to external light-dark cycles. These rhythms are orchestrated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus and involve a network of genes, including CLOCK and BMAL1, that influence metabolism, immune responses, and cell proliferation. Recent research has highlighted the crucial role of circadian rhythms in tumor biology, demonstrating that their dysregulation contributes to tumorigenesis, progression, and metastasis. Additionally, circadian rhythms influence the tumor immune microenvironment and the ...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder with a rapidly increasing global prevalence. It is primarily characterized by insulin resistance, β-cell dysfunction, and impaired glucose homeostasis. Emerging research suggests that flavonoids, a diverse group of plant-derived polyphenols, may offer therapeutic potential in managing T2DM. These compounds exert antidiabetic effects through multiple mechanisms, including improving insulin sensitivity, enhancing β-cell function, modulating ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A large scale study by researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine has found that patient pain upon arrival to the Emergency Department (ED) as well as the use of hallway beds and radiology studies in the ED are associated with patient experience, although not in the same ways. The study’s tens of thousands of observations including clinical and operational data revealed that regardless of how promptly or successfully pain was treated in the ED, the amount of pain the patient was in when they arrived was associated with patient experience ...

Giving a second life to construction materials after demolition, engineers at the University of São Paulo and Princeton have developed an approach for recycling cement waste into a sustainable, low-carbon alternative that is comparable in performance to the industry standard. In addition to lowering the carbon intensity of the cement and concrete industry, the process could enable new uses for construction and demolition waste, of which concrete is a significant component. In 2018 in the United States, the total ...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a major global health burden, affecting millions worldwide and contributing significantly to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. The introduction of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has revolutionized HCV treatment, achieving high rates of sustained virologic response (SVR) and reducing HCV-associated morbidity and mortality. Despite these advancements, the risk of HCC persists in certain populations, particularly those with pre-treatment cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis (F3). This review examines the ...

The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) is proud to announce the inaugural recipients of the new Targeted Research Program on Engineered Cell Therapies for Lupus (TRP-ECT) to support the development and mechanistic understanding of safe and accessible next-generation engineered cell therapies for people with lupus. Engineered cell therapies, such as CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, involve reengineering a patient’s own T cells to recognize and attack cells that cause disease. The LRA established this program to build upon the promise already shown for engineered cell therapies in treating and potentially curing lupus, including ...

Washington, D.C.—Researchers have discovered that an enzyme can serve as an ideal target for developing new therapeutics against Lyme disease, and most likely other tick-borne diseases as well. The finding was reported in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Lyme disease is the most commonly reported tick-borne illness in the United States and Europe. Its causative pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, has evolved unique metabolic pathways to cope with its enzootic life cycle, ...

Two different teams of astronomers have detected oxygen in the most distant known galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0. The discovery, reported in two separate studies, was made possible thanks to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner. This record-breaking detection is making astronomers rethink how quickly galaxies formed in the early Universe. Discovered last year, JADES-GS-z14-0 is the most distant confirmed galaxy ever found: it is so far away, its light took 13.4 billion years to reach us, meaning we see it as it was when the Universe was less than 300 million years old, about 2% of its present age. ...

Media Contact: John Dudley (814) 490-3290 (cell) jjdudley@usf.edu Images and a PDF of the journal article are available here The study is the first to identify viruses associated with Karenia brevis, the single-celled organism that causes red tide The findings are an initial step toward exploring viruses as biocontrol agents for red tide TAMPA, Fla. (March 18, 2025) – A new study led by researchers at the University of South Florida shines light on the environmental drivers of red tide blooms. Published in the American Society for Microbiology’s journal mSphere, ...

Professor Im Joo Rhyu, director of the Korea University Graduate Program for Convergence & Translational Biomedicine and faculty member in the Department of Anatomy, recently led a study investigating the medical and artistic significance of the red, blood cell-like forms in Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. Collaborating with Professors Hyunmi Park, Dae Hyun Kim, and Hwamin Lee from Korea University College of Medicine (KUCM) and Sungkyunkwan University Master's student Daeun Kwak, the research team delved into medical literature ...

People diagnosed with colorectal cancer are significantly more likely to die of cardiovascular causes than the general population, especially in the first two years after their cancer diagnosis and in people younger than 50, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25). With colorectal cancer on the rise in the United States, the study is the first to track rates of cardiovascular mortality and assess how risk changes over time. While the reasons for the linkage are not yet known, researchers say ...

Women of childbearing age who had both ovaries removed, in a procedure called bilateral oophorectomy, were more likely to develop heart failure later in life, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25). Bilateral oophorectomy is often recommended to treat and, in some cases, prevent certain health issues, including endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, heavy bleeding and ovarian cancer. The new study sheds light on the potential and unique role that this procedure might play in heightening cardiovascular risk given that it abruptly stops ...

The answer to your heart health may be on your wrist, a new study suggests. Researchers have developed a new way to assess cardiovascular health based on information routinely collected by smartwatches, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25). According to the findings, dividing the average daily heart rate by the number of steps taken per day provides a more reliable indicator of a person’s cardiovascular fitness compared with either heart rate or step count alone. “The metric we developed looks at how the heart responds to exercise, rather than exercise itself,” said Zhanlin Chen, ...

Mammograms, with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) models, may reveal much more than cancer, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25). The findings highlight how these important cancer screening tools can also be used to assess the amount of calcium buildup in the arteries within breast tissue—an indicator of cardiovascular health.   The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that middle-aged and older women get a mammogram—an X-ray of the breast—to screen for breast cancer every one or two ...

DALLAS, March 20, 2025 — Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in India and the fifth leading cause of disability.[1] To establish a coordinated system of care for stroke in the country, Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad, Telangana, and Aster Hospital in Calicut, Kerala, are the first in India to be certified as Comprehensive Stroke Centers by the American Stroke Association.  Launched in India last year, certifications from American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association, devoted to a world ...

Nearly 3 out of every 4 older Americans have experienced at least one extreme weather event in the last two years, a new University of Michigan poll finds. And living through such an event appears to make a big difference in how they view the potential impact of climate change on their health. The new findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging show that 59% of people aged 50 and over are concerned about how climate change could affect their health. The percentage expressing concern was even higher among those who had recently lived through a weather ...

Complex materials such as organic semiconductors or the microporous metal-organic frameworks known as MOFs are already being used for numerous applications such as OLED displays, solar cells, gas storage and water extraction. Nevertheless, they still harbour a few secrets. One of these has so far been a detailed understanding of how they transport thermal energy. Egbert Zojer’s research team at the Institute of Solid State Physics at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), in collaboration with colleagues from TU Vienna and the University of Cambridge, has now cracked this ...

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) find it harder to get pregnant, have more frequent miscarriages and have a higher risk of developing endometrial cancer. Now, in a new study published in Nature Medicine, Swedish researchers have shown that the uterine lining of these women differs in terms of both the composition of individual cells and gene expression. The results open the door to new drug treatments. PCOS is the most common hormonal disorder affecting 11-13% of women of reproductive age. Women with the syndrome have difficulty getting pregnant and are at increased ...

As animals experience new things, the connections between neurons, called synapses, strengthen or weaken in response to events and the activity they cause in the brain. Neuroscientists believe that synaptic plasticity, as these changes are called, plays an important role in storing memories. However, the rules governing when and how much synapses change are not well understood. The traditional view is that the more two neurons fire together, the stronger their connection becomes; when they fire separately, their connection weakens. New research ...

Scientists from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) and collaborators have discovered a groundbreaking way to control superconductivity—an essential phenomenon for developing more energy-efficient technologies and quantum computing—by simply twisting atomically thin layers within a layered device. By adjusting the twist angle, they were able to finely tune the “superconducting gap,” which plays a key role in the behavior of these materials. The research was published in Nature Physics. The superconducting gap is the energy threshold required to break apart Cooper pairs—bound electron pairs that enable superconductivity at low temperatures. ...

New Haven, Conn. — Advances in the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 over the past 15 years have yielded important new insights into the roles that specific genes play in many diseases. But to date this technology — which allows scientists to use a “guide” RNA to modify DNA sequences and evaluate the effects — is able to target, delete, replace, or modify only single gene sequences with a single guide RNA and has limited ability to assess multiple genetic changes simultaneously. Now, however, Yale scientists have developed a series of sophisticated mouse models using CRISPR (“clustered regularly ...

The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) released a new clinical guideline making no recommendation — for or against — the use of computer-aided detection systems (CADe) in colonoscopy. A rigorous review of evidence showed that artificial intelligence-assisted technology helps identify colorectal polyps. However, its impact on preventing colorectal cancer — the third most common cancer worldwide — remains unclear.  Colonoscopy, performed more than 15 million times annually in the U.S., is an effective tool for detecting and preventing colorectal cancer. CADe systems have been shown to improve polyp detection ...

For the first time scientists have identified promising drug candidates that bind irreversibly with a notoriously “undruggable” cancer protein target, permanently blocking it. Transcription factors are proteins that act as ‘master switches’ of gene activity and play a key role in cancer development. Attempts over the years to design “small molecule” drugs that block them have been largely unsuccessful, so in recent years scientists have explored using peptides – small protein fragments – to block these “undruggable” targets. Now researchers from the University of Bath have for ...