Queen's University Belfast leads study to transform prostate cancer treatment
Queen's University Belfast has led the world's largest research study using a diagnostic test developed by Almac Diagnostics, to better understand the biology of prostate cancer tumours, which could lead to a transformation in how prostate cancer is diagnosed and treated. Whether a prostate cancer patient has a slow-growing or aggressive tumour will affect the type of treatment required.
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Heart failure therapy hope as drug blocks deadly muscle scarring
A potential treatment to prevent deadly muscle scarring that contributes to chronic heart failure has been uncovered by scientists. The therapy could also prevent scarring of the skeletal muscles we use to move our arms and legs, a cause of long-term disabilities. The treatment works by targeting molecules on the surface of scar-forming cells, called alpha V integrins.
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Gallbladder cancer: Pharmacist finds protein that drives tumor growth
Patients with gallbladder cancer often show few or no symptoms for long periods of time. As a result, the tumours are only detected at a late stage of the disease when treatment is often no longer possible. Working in collaboration with pathologists at the University of Magdeburg, Sonja M. Kessler, a research pharmacist in the group led by Professor Alexandra K. Kiemer at Saarland University, has identified a new pathway that may allow improved prognosis and treatment of the disease.
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Novel therapies for multidrug-resistant bacteria
Scientists at the University of Surrey in collaboration with research partners at the University of Sheffield and University of Würzburg, Germany, have developed novel antimicrobials, which could be used to treat infections, caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria. During this innovative study published in PLOS One, researchers found that novel classes of compounds,
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Scientists discover novel mechanism that protects mitochondrial DNA
Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have discovered a novel mechanism safeguarding mitochondrial DNA. The study, published in PNAS earlier this week, was carried out in close collaboration with research groups from CBMSO in Madrid, Spain, and Umeå University in Sweden. A central part of the protective mechanism is an unusual enzyme, PrimPol, which can re-initiate mitochondrial DNA replication after damage.
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Magic mushrooms may 'reset' the brains of depressed patients
Patients taking psilocybin to treat depression show reduced symptoms weeks after treatment following a 'reset' of their brain activity. The findings come from a study in which researchers from Imperial College London used psilocybin - the psychoactive compound that occurs naturally in magic mushrooms - to treat a small number of patients with depression in whom conventional treatment had failed.
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New drug hope for rare bone cancer patients
Patients with a rare bone cancer of the skull and spine - chordoma - could be helped by existing drugs, suggest scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, University College London Cancer Institute and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust. In the largest genomics study of chordoma to date, published today in Nature Communications, scientists show that a group of chordoma patients have mutations in genes that are the target of existing drugs, known as PI3K inhibitors.
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