Disability May Be on the Rise Again After 20-Year Decline

Disability rates among non-institutionalized older Americans increased between 2000 and 2005, a trend that could seriously impact the quality of life of seniors in the coming decades if it continues, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of California, Berkeley. The findings are troubling, said...

Brain Controls Formation Of Bone, Researchers Find

The brain acts as a profound regulatory centre, controlling myriad processes throughout the body in ways we are only just beginning to understand. In new findings, Australian scientists have shown surprising connections between the brain and regulation of bone mass. One of the key functions of our skeletons is to provide mechanical...

New Insights Into Mushroom-Derived Drug Promising for Cancer Treatment

A promising cancer drug, first discovered in a mushroom commonly used in Chinese medicine, could be made more effective thanks to researchers who have discovered how the drug works. The research is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and was carried out at...

Role For Immune Cells Known As Mast Cells In Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (Afib) is the most common type of abnormal heart beat. It is characterized by scarring of the atrial region of the heart (a hallmark known as atrial fibrosis). Although atrial fibrosis is thought to perpetuate Afib, exactly how it develops has not been determined. Some research has suggested...

Calorie Intake Linked to Cell Lifespan, Cancer Development

Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have discovered that restricting consumption of glucose, the most common dietary sugar, can extend the life of healthy human-lung cells and speed the death of precancerous human-lung cells, reducing cancer's spread and...

Not So Sweet: Over-Consumption Of Sugar Linked To Aging

We know that lifespan can be extended in animals by restricting calories such as sugar intake. Now, according to a study published in the journal PLoS Genetics, Université de Montréal scientists have discovered that it's not sugar itself that is important in this process but the ability of...

Glucose-To-Glycerol Conversion In Long-Lived Yeast Provides Anti-Aging Effects

Cell biologists have found a more filling substitute for caloric restriction in extending the life span of simple organisms. In a study published May 8 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, researchers from the University of Southern California Andrus Gerontology Center show that yeast cells maintained on...

New Weapon in Battle of the Bulge: Food Releases Anti-Hunger Aromas...

A real possibility does exist for developing a new generation of foods that make people feel full by releasing anti-hunger aromas during chewing, scientists in the Netherlands are reporting after a review of research on that topic. Such foods would fight the global epidemic of obesity with aromas that quench hunger and...

Chewing Gum Can Reduce Calorie Intake, Increase Energy Expenditure, Nutritionist Finds

A nutrition professor at the University of Rhode Island studying the effects of chewing sugar-free gum on weight management has found that it can help to reduce calorie intake and increase energy expenditure.

New Technique Detects Proteins That Make Us Age

Chemists and biologists from the University of Bath have developed a new technique that could be used to diagnose and develop treatments for age-related conditions like Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and cancer. In these diseases, proteins in the body react with sugars in a process...