News by Subject Biology

A group of clinical neurologists, molecular biologists and computer scientists have worked together to solve the mystery of why motor neurons die in patients with motor neuron disease, published in Nature Communications this week.

A new University of Iowa-led study reports educational opportunities and higher incomes may be key to closing the health gap between most black and white Americans. Researchers say socioeconomic factors, mainly wealth and education, influenced the differences in health behaviors between the groups more than other variables.

A new technique to study fat stores in the body could aid efforts to find treatments to tackle obesity, research from the University of Edinburgh suggests. The approach focuses on energy-burning tissues found deep inside the body -- called brown fat -- that help to keep us warm when temperatures drop.

Zika virus (ZIKV) has affected roughly half a million people in the Western hemisphere in recent years, including US veterans. Older veterans and those with comorbidities are at an increased risk of hospitalizations and neurological complications after a ZIKV infection, researchers now report in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

When George Brooks at UC Berkeley first began investigating lactate, or lactic acid, sports physiologists saw it as a muscle poison that lowered performance. His research over decades has reversed that picture, showing that it is the body's way of revving up for exercise or to fight disease. Clinicians are now planning clinical trials to use lactate to treat traumatic brain injury and a host of illnesses, including heart attacks, inflammation and swelling.

Addressing a critical issue for people with a genetic disorder called tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), doctors at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) reported that a skin cream containing rapamycin significantly reduced the disfiguring facial tumors affecting more than 90 percent of people with the condition.

A new Tel Aviv University study identifies a previously unknown mechanism involved in the development of Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The findings could serve as the foundation for the treatment of ALS in the future.