A new way to create proteins that can sneak through HIV’s protective coating may be a step toward understanding the key components needed for developing a vaccine for the virus, according to a team of researchers led by Penn State.
Medical marijuana has gained attention in recent years for its potential to relieve pain and short-term anxiety and depression. Now, Penn State College of Medicine researchers say some cannabinoid compounds may actually inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells in the lab.
Combining low doses of a toxic herbicide with sugar-binding proteins called lectins may trigger Parkinsonism — symptoms typical of Parkinson’s disease like body tremors and slowing of body motions — after the toxin travels from the stomach to the brain.
It may be tempting for parents or coaches to urge young children to specialize in one sport early on to help maximize their chance at making it to the big leagues, but that might not be the best path to success.
A new grant will help Penn State researchers develop an innovative foam that helps seal wounds quickly — whether on the battlefield, in rural areas, or in other isolated locations far from hospitals.
In an upcoming project, a team of Penn State researchers will use mice as a model for creating high-resolution, 3D maps of the blood vessels in both young and aging brains. The researchers hope learning more about healthy brains will help them learn more about how problems — like strokes or Alzheimer’s Disease — develop over time.
New insights have been gained into how an important process within the cell traps and seals off waste -- much like a trash bag -- before carting it off to be recycled, according to a new study.
An intervention designed to promote healthy growth, which taught first-time moms how to respond with age-appropriate responses to their babies’ needs, resulted in children having lower body mass indexes (BMIs) when they were 3 years old.
A new approach to killing C. difficile that silences key bacterial genes while sparing other bacteria may provide a new way to treat the most common hospital-acquired bacterial infection in the United States, according to researchers.
A team of Penn State researchers is planning to create a new map of the brain that will establish a neural circuit diagram of oxytocin, a compound often associated with affection and emotional behavior. Researchers hope the map will give them insight into how oxytocin in the brain drives social behavior.
Prescription cough and cold medicines containing the opioid hydrocodone are more likely to cause serious side effects in children than those containing codeine, according to a new study from Penn State College of Medicine. The research supports recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restrictions on prescription hydrocodone- and codeine-containing cough medicines for children and suggests that opioids in general should not be prescribed for coughs and colds in pediatric populations.
Mutations in genes that help repair damage to DNA may aid in predicting the prognosis of patients with bladder and other related cancers, according to researchers, who found that bladder cancer patients who had mutations in their ATM or RB1 genes — proteins that help repair DNA damage when they’re functioning normally — tended not to live as long as patients without the mutations.
Different flavors of e-cigarettes produce different levels of free radicals, toxins often associated with cancer and other diseases, according to Penn State researchers. Many of the chemicals used to flavor e-cigarettes increased the production of free radicals, while a few actually lowered it.
Family medicine doctors and pediatricians are less confident than psychiatrists in their abilities to tell the difference between normal irritability and possibly bigger issues in children and adolescents, according to Penn State researchers. Primary care providers and pediatricians were also more likely to prescribe medications when they thought there was a problem, while psychiatrists were more likely to start with behavioral therapy.
Most of Pennsylvania’s high school and middle school students are tobacco-free, but the use of cigarettes, and their digital counterpart, e-cigarettes, is still a cause for concern, according to Penn State researchers.
