In the United States, women make up nearly two-thirds of all diagnosed cases of Alzheimer’s disease. On average, women live about 5 years longer than men, but that life expectancy discrepancy doesn’t likely account for such a large, sex-skewed prevalence … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recent, timely papers selected by Academy member labs
Category Archives: Physiology
Study finds clues to Alzheimer’s disease onset in the aging female brain
Smaller salamander species associated with smaller genomes
The world’s tiniest salamanders are so small that some body parts appear to get short shrift. Those in the genus Thorius, for example, have heads that are “mind bogglingly small, maybe half the size of a pencil eraser,” says herpetologist … Continue reading
Journal Club: Timed treatment fends off hardening of arteries in mice
Timing is everything—including, possibly, when treating cardiovascular disease. By administering a drug-like compound in mice at a certain point during the circadian cycle, researchers were able to slow atherosclerosis while minimizing side effects, according to a recent study in Cell … Continue reading
Journal Club: Phosphorylation has surprisingly big role in control of circadian clocks
The network of molecules that makes up the circadian clock, which governs the timing of cellular processes in most living things, has been well studied. But thus far, technological limitations have prevented researchers from elucidating exactly how the clocks orchestrate … Continue reading
Modified hormone release patterns improve egg production
Without changing overall levels of hormones, altering how hormones are packaged and shipped out from cells in the body can affect how they act. For women undergoing fertility treatments, delivering reproductive hormones in a new way could be key to … Continue reading
Happiness is in your genes (partly)
Feeling happy? Enjoying life? Our quality of life rides upon more than objective social or economic measures–our state of health, employment, or nourishment. Much of our satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) comes from how we feel about our lives, and this depends, … Continue reading