Normal pancreatic function depends on the precise flow of calcium within and into the acinar cells of the organ. When food is eaten, low concentrations of the pancreas-stimulating hormone cholecystokinin or of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine cause
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Not all inflammation leads to pain. Despite widespread infection followed by fever, colds rarely cause pain. But when some cytokines and certain immune cells are active near pain-sensing nerves, they trigger receptors that convey pain sensations to t
In fewer than 15 years, nanomedicine has gone from fantasy to reality.
Early on, researchers had learned that the hippocampus was the structure in the brain where long-term memories were created and stored, but it was not known whether the different cell types within this structure might be more or less susceptible to t
The initiating cause of Alzheimer’s disease is still unknown. However, from our studies it’s clear that many types of neuronal damage—from traumatic brain injury, to epilepsy, infection, or genetic predisposition—can activate brain immune cells—
While gut microbiota appear to have both positive and negative impacts on our health, in the guts of healthy, lean individuals, the good outweighs the bad. Gut bacteria, most of which reside in the large intestine, process many otherwise indigest
Gut bacteria that feed on healthy food appear to amplify the nutritional benefits of those foods. However, they also appear to amplify the undesirable effects of unhealthy food. Here are a few examples. Read the full story.
The optogenetic toolset is composed of genetically encoded molecules that, when targeted to specific neurons in the brain, enable the electrical activity of those neurons to be driven or silenced by light. When these opsins are expressed in the lipid
Like other enveloped viruses, HIV exits its host cell enshrouded in the cell’s membrane, which contains membrane molecules such as the human leukocyte antigens (HLA). The HLA proteins act as a set of cell identification marks: every person expresses
Stress and inflammation Cardiovascular disease, including coronary artery disease and stroke, is the single greatest cause of death worldwide and is a major burden on health services and society. Most resources are currently directed towards surg
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