A drug commonly used to control high blood pressure may also help prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes in up to 60 percent of those at risk for the disease, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the University of Florida in Gainesville. The study was published online this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

A diet rich in saturated fat and sugar not only leads to obesity, it creates inflammation in the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain that controls mood and reward. And this inflammation leads to depressive, anxious and compulsive behaviours associated with metabolic dysfunction and obesity, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM).

Future cancer drugs that are activated by light and don’t cause the toxic side-effects of current chemotherapy treatments are closer to becoming a reality, thanks to new research made possible by the Monash Warwick Alliance, an intercontinental collaboration between the University of Warwick (UK) and Monash University (Australia).

Because they can be programmed to travel the body and selectively target cancer and other sites of disease, nanometer-scale vehicles called nanocarriers can deliver higher concentrations of drugs to bombard specific areas of the body while minimizing systemic side effects. Nanocarriers can also deliver drugs and diagnostic agents that are typically not soluble in water or blood as well as significantly decrease the effective dosage.

A research team from Tongji University in China have made a breakthrough in human lung regeneration technology. For the first time, researchers have regenerated patients' damaged lungs using autologous lung stem cell transplantation in a pilot clinical trial. The study can be found in the open access journal Protein & Cell which is published by Springer Nature.

As the fight against drug-resistant infections continues, University of Leeds scientists are looking back at previously discarded chemical compounds, to see if any could be developed for new antibiotics. In the heyday of antibiotic development in the mid-20th century many different chemical compounds with antibacterial properties were examined, but only a small proportion were selected for development into drugs.

Researchers have recommended changes to international guidelines used in the development of clinical trials in an effort to gain information about the impact of the treatment on participating patients and their quality of life. Protocols describe how a clinical trial will be conducted, including its objectives, design, methodology, statistical considerations and organisation, and ensures the safety of participating patients as well as the integrity of the data collected.