Bananas and avocados - foods that are rich in potassium - may help protect against pathogenic vascular calcification, also known as hardening of the arteries. University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have shown, for the first time, that reduced dietary potassium promotes elevated aortic stiffness in a mouse model, as compared with normal-potassium-fed mice.

A technology that can print pure, ultra-precise doses of drugs onto a wide variety of surfaces could one day enable on-site printing of custom-dosed medications at pharmacies, hospitals and other locations. The technique, which was developed at the University of Michigan, can print multiple medications into a single dose on a dissolvable strip, microneedle patch or other dosing device.

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed and demonstrated a promising new strategy for the discovery of novel anti-cancer therapies. The TSRI scientists, collaborating with scientists at Pfizer, used their new approach to find small-molecule inhibitors of a protein that is important for the growth of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). These cancers represent about 85 percent of lung cancers and are relatively insensitive to drug treatment.

More than 600,000 Danes are being treated with cholesterol lowering medicine. 98 per cent of them are treated with statins, which curb the body's own production of cholesterol so that the level of cholesterol falls. However, statins also give rise to the body forming more of a harmful protein - known as PCSK9 - which counters the effect of the statins.

There's good fat and bad fat in our bodies. The good fat helps burn calories, while the bad fat hoards calories, contributing to weight gain and obesity. Now, new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified a way to convert bad, white fat into good, brown fat, at least in mice.

A new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds beta blockers are not needed after a heart attack if heart-attack survivors are taking ACE inhibitors and statins. The study is the first to challenge the current clinical guideline that heart-attack survivors should take all three drugs - beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and statins - for the rest of their lives.

Cells can be programmed like a computer to fight cancer, influenza, and other serious conditions - thanks to a breakthrough in synthetic biology by the University of Warwick. Led by Professor Alfonso Jaramillo in the School of Life Sciences, new research has discovered that a common molecule - ribonucleic acid (RNA), which is produced abundantly by humans, plants and animals - can be genetically engineered to allow scientists to program the actions of a cell.