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Health - Life Sciences - 18.01.2023
Scientists developing early Alzheimer’s disease detection sensor
By Melissa Shaw Researchers with the SFU Nanodevice Fabrication Group are developing a new biosensor that can be used to screen for Alzheimer's disease and other diseases. An overview of their work has been recently published in the journal Nature Communications. Their sensor works by detecting a particular type of small protein, in this case a cytokine known as Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF alpha), which is involved with inflammation in the body.

Life Sciences - Health - 17.01.2023
Technologically assisted communication may impair brain development
Technologically assisted communication may impair brain development
According to an international study, the use of videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom and FaceTime has a negative effect on social cognition and its development. Videoconferencing services are proliferating-there's Zoom, Teams, Messenger, FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp-and since the COVID-19 pandemic they have been seeing heavier use than ever before.

Life Sciences - Health - 12.01.2023
Researchers uncover molecular vulnerability in childhood brain cancer, identify treatment
Researchers uncover molecular vulnerability in childhood brain cancer, identify treatment
A team of researchers from the University of Toronto's Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research and McMaster University have made a potential breakthrough in medulloblastoma, a form of brain cancer that predominantly affects children and infants - a finding that could lead to new, targeted treatments that are less harmful to developing brains.

Health - Life Sciences - 10.01.2023
Western research leads to new understanding of how HIV hides itself in the body 
Western research leads to new understanding of how HIV hides itself in the body 
When the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects a person's body, it permanently inserts its genetic material into the genome where it often remains dormant and barely detectable for years. A major obstacle in finding a cure for HIV has been solving the mystery of how this dormant pool of HIV-infected cells, also called HIV latency, is established.

Life Sciences - 05.01.2023
A new understanding of brain functionality may help treat those with memory impairment
A new understanding of brain functionality may help treat those with memory impairment
New research from the University of Toronto is providing valuable insight into how the brain works to retain memory - and it could help treat patients with memory impairment. Alexander Barnett , an assistant professor in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and a team of researchers have found that a vital part of the brain that helps retain memory - the hippocampus - may have more dynamic interactions with the rest of the brain than previously thought.

Environment - Life Sciences - 02.01.2023
Most species evolve by adapting to similar, large-scale environmental pressures
Most species evolve by adapting to similar, large-scale environmental pressures
Since the days of Charles Darwin, evolutionary biologists have widely believed that most new species form because they've adapted to different environments - but a new University of Toronto study suggests otherwise. The study, published in the journal  Science ,  sheds light on what researchers have dubbed a "blind spot" in our understanding of why new species form.

Life Sciences - Health - 20.12.2022
Cannabis use in adolescents linked with anxiety, memory loss 
Cannabis use in adolescents linked with anxiety, memory loss 
Research finds chronic adolescent cannabis exposure may harm emotional and cognitive brain development through impact on separate brain regions   Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry researchers have shown that chronic exposure during adolescence to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis, may induce long-lasting memory impairments and increased anxiety levels.

Life Sciences - Health - 20.12.2022
Found: a protective probiotic for ALS
Scientists at the CRCHUM find that a bacterium called Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus HA-114 prevents neurodegeneration in the C. elegans worm used to study amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. CONTENU - A probiotic bacterium called Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus HA-114 prevents neurodegeneration in the C. elegans worm , an animal model used to study amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Health - Life Sciences - 16.12.2022
A ’muscular’ response to regeneration
Therapies to target neuromuscular disorders affecting million of people worldwide are on the horizon thanks to research at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute of Montreal. CONTENU - Neuromuscular disorders affect millions of people worldwide. Now a discovery made at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM) opens the door to the development of targeted therapies.

Life Sciences - Health - 15.12.2022
Frequent genetic cause of late-onset ataxia uncovered by a Quebec-led international collaboration
Frequent genetic cause of late-onset ataxia uncovered by a Quebec-led international collaboration
Discovery will improve diagnosis and open treatment possibilities for thousands of people with this debilitating neurodegenerative condition worldwide New England Journal of Medicine reports the identification of a previously unknown genetic cause of a late-onset cerebellar ataxia, a discovery that will improve diagnosis and open new treatment avenues for this progressive condition.

Health - Life Sciences - 14.12.2022
From COVID-19 to the common cold: UBC scientists identify broadly effective, infection-halting compound
From COVID-19 to the common cold: UBC scientists identify broadly effective, infection-halting compound
Science, Health & Technology Brett Goldhawk Researchers at UBC's Life Sciences Institute have identified a compound that shows early promise at halting infections from a range of coronaviruses, including all variants of SARS-CoV-2 and the common cold. The findings, published this week in Molecular Biomedicine , reveal a potential path toward antiviral treatments that could be used against many different pathogens.

Life Sciences - 14.12.2022
Brain stimulation improves reading ability in macular degeneration patients
A new study is the first to show brain stimulation improves reading in patients with macular degeneration. Drug treatments only slow down the progression of the disease, but Waterloo scientists discovered they could train the brain to use the information it receives more efficiently. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive, painless brain stimulation treatment that uses direct electrical currents to stimulate specific parts of the brain.

Agronomy / Food Science - Life Sciences - 13.12.2022
Intensive agriculture turned a wild plant into a pervasive weed
Intensive agriculture turned a wild plant into a pervasive weed
New research published in Science shows how the rise of modern agriculture turned a North American native plant, common waterhemp, into a problematic agricultural weed. An international team led by researchers at the University of British Columbia with colleagues at the University of Toronto, compared 187 waterhemp samples from modern farms and neighbouring wetlands with more than 100 historical samples dating as far back as 1820 that had been stored in museums across North America.

Life Sciences - Health - 09.12.2022
Life and death of an 'altruistic' bacterium
Life and death of an ’altruistic’ bacterium
A new study led by Yves Brun shows how some bacteria living in a biofilm sacrifice themselves to ensure the survival of the community. CONTENU - Biofilms, complex communities of bacteria, abound around us: on the surface of cheese where they give off flavors and aromas, in streams where they form the slimy substance on rocks, on our teeth where they form plaque.

Life Sciences - Health - 07.12.2022
New branch on tree of life includes 'lions of the microbial world'
New branch on tree of life includes ’lions of the microbial world’
Science, Health & Technology Alex Walls There's a new branch on the tree of life and it's made up of predators that nibble their prey to death. These microbial predators fall into two groups, one of which researchers have dubbed "nibblerids” because they, well, nibble chunks off their prey using tooth-like structures.

Life Sciences - Earth Sciences - 07.12.2022
The three dimensions of a flower
The three dimensions of a flower
Montreal biologists publish a study demonstrating that photogrammetry allows rapid and precise three-dimensional reconstruction of flowers from two-dimensional images. CONTENU - To better understand the evolution of flowers, a research team in biology from Université de Montréal, the Montreal Botanical Garden and McGill University have succeeded in using photogrammetry to quickly and precisely build, in three dimensions, a model of a flower from two-dimensional images.

Life Sciences - Psychology - 01.12.2022
Researchers test promising tech treatment for youth depression
New research shows promising results using neurotechnological approaches to treat depression in youth. The research, led by Simon Fraser University (SFU) professor Faranak Farzan, is published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports. Researchers investigated the clinical and neurophysiological effects of using brain stimulation followed by cognitive exercise for treating Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in 26 youth (aged 16 - 24 years old).

Environment - Life Sciences - 29.11.2022
An ecological rule breaker shows the effects of climate change on body size evolution
An ecological rule breaker shows the effects of climate change on body size evolution
Does evolution follow certain rules? Can these rules be predicted? Southeast Asia's tree shrews break multiple rules when it comes to body size variation - with an unexpected twist - according to researchers from McGill University, University of Cambridge, and Yale University. The findings shed new light on the effects of climate change on the evolution of body size in animals.

Health - Life Sciences - 17.11.2022
Tick-borne pathogens increasingly widespread in Central Canada
Tick-borne pathogens increasingly widespread in Central Canada
Tick-borne pathogens, known for causing illnesses such as Lyme disease, are on the rise in Central Canada - presenting new risks in areas where they were never previously detected. The findings from researchers at McGill University and the University of Ottawa demonstrate the need for more comprehensive testing and tracking to detect the spread and potential risk of tick-borne pathogens to human and wildlife populations throughout Canada.

Health - Life Sciences - 14.11.2022
Researchers identify SARS-CoV-2 variant in white-tailed deer, evidence of deer-to-human transmission
Researchers identify SARS-CoV-2 variant in white-tailed deer, evidence of deer-to-human transmission
In the summer of 2020, months after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic,  Samira Mubareka  and her colleagues began testing wildlife in Ontario and Quebec for the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. "Pretty early in the pandemic, we knew that there was spillover from humans to animals," said Mubareka, who is a clinician scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute and an associate professor in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.