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Cancer cells in neuroblastoma rob body’s immune cells of energy


Cancer cells in neuroblastoma contain a molecule that breaks down a key energy source for the body’s immune cells, leaving them too physically drained to fight the disease, according to new research published in the journal Cancer Research today (Saturday). Cancer Research UK-funded scientists have discovered that the cells in neuroblastoma – a rare type…

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Hepatitis: Time for action on one of the big four infectious diseases


According to Hepatitis Australia almost half a million Australians live with hepatitis B or hepatitis C and up to 1,000 Australians die each year as a result of these infections. Across the world, viral hepatitis causes 1·44 million deaths every year – a figure comparable to deaths from conditions such as HIV/AIDS (1·46 million), tuberculosis…

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Big Tobacco’s gift to the gun lobby


In the late 1970s, the US tobacco industry was faced with a problem: it was no longer able to convincingly propagate the idea that cigarettes were good for you. It rightly supposed that this might lead to calls for anti-smoking legislation and, in anticipation, created an explicit doctrine: where a debate is unwinnable, change it….

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Fear-based health information causes new mothers anxiety


Doctors, nurses and public health practitioners give health advice with the best intentions. They want pregnant women and their babies to be physically and mentally healthy. They want to support women and protect families. They want new mothers to have the best available evidence at their fingertips, but also to “trust their intuition”. Problem is,…

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When people know it’s a placebo, they still work


The oft-studied placebo effect and the confounding powers of the human brain show why there is real medicine and the alternative kind or, even worse, homeopathy, that are not real. A sugar pill, or magic water, can sometimes make people feel better. What if you know it’s a placebo? CU-Boulder graduate student Scott Schafer has…

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Independent researchers find no glyphosate in breast milk


An accredited, outside organization has verified a study which found that glyphosate, the main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, does not accumulate in mother’s breast milk, disputing the claims of a ground funded by political activists called Moms Across America, which claimed they had found it to be both present and dangerous. Michelle McGuire, an associate…

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Fractal globule: DNA pack themselves into the cell nucleus like spaghetti


A group of researchers from the Lomonosov Moscow State University tried to address one of the least understood issues in the modern molecular biology, namely, how do strands of DNA pack themselves into the cell nucleus. Scientists concluded that packing of the genome in a special state called “fractal globule”, apart from other known advantages…

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Teens with medical marijuana cards much likelier to claim addiction


A new University of Michigan study finds that teens using marijuana for medical reasons are 10 times more likely to say they are hooked on marijuana than youth who get marijuana illegally. The study is the first to report on a nationally representative sample of 4,394 high school seniors and their legal or illegal medical…

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Are invisibility cloaks possible?


Have you ever wished you could hide under an invisibility cloak like Harry Potter or conceal your car with a Klingon cloaking device like in Star Trek? In a special Thursday bonus episode of Reactions, we celebrate the International Year of Light by exploring the science behind light, sight and invisibility. Though we can’t make…

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BPA risk to infants smaller than claimed


Though a majority of newborns are exposed in their earliest days to bisphenol A (BPA), a much-studied chemical used in plastics and in food and soda can linings, they rid their bodies of it, according to a study in The Journal of Pediatrics which challenges claims on BPA toxicology promoted in corporate media and on…

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