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Hyperactivity of certain brain regions is considered to be pivotal in symptoms of depression. Using post-mortem brain tissue collected by the Netherlands Brain Bank, a Chinese-Dutch research group has, for the first time, isolated these regions from the brains of depressed patients and controls using a laser dissection microscope. Molecular changes were found that may explain the hyperactivity of these brain areas and may thus be potential targets for new therapeutic strategies.

Survival of all animals depends on their ability to withstand microbial infections and adapt to fluctuations in oxygen concentrations. These abilities depend on two ancient, evolutionary gene expression responses called the innate immune response and the hypoxic response. In a new study scientists reveal that a single protein is essential to both responses. This understanding may lead to new therapies to boost the body's immune function or to limit inflammatory damage in tissues deprived of oxygen.

The influence of genetics increases as young women transition from their first drink to alcohol dependence. Researchers found that although environment is most influential in determining when drinking begins, genes play a larger role in advancing to problem drinking and alcohol dependence.

It has been reported for the first time in Germany that healthy ovarian tissue has been taken from a nonpregnant woman with cancer and then reimplanted after cancer therapy. The patient is now 32-years-old, and could become pregnant as a result.

Scientists have explained how contaminated batches of the blood-thinner heparin were able to slip past traditional safety screens and kill dozens of patients recently in the United States and Germany.

Scientists have discovered what appears to be the primary driver of tumor development in the stomach. Inhibiting the signaling cascade initiated by the IL-11 protein prevented the development of inflammation, hyperplasia (an abnormal increase in the number of cells) and tumor formation in pre-clinical models of gastric cancer.

Researchers suggest that stromal cells derived from menstrual blood may represent a potentially unlimited, ethically unencumbered, easily collectable and inexpensive source of stem cells for use in regenerative medicine. The study found that MenSCs are easily expandable to clinical relevance and express multipotent markers at both the molecular and cellular level. The abundance and plasticity of MenSCs suggest a potential role for MenSCs in regenerative transplantation therapies for many different organs and tissues.

It may not be an ideal topic for polite conversation, but human beings are swarming with bacteria: Even the average healthy adult plays host to about 100 trillion microscopic organisms. Infection takes place when the bacteria get out of hand. Now, a new history of the struggle between man and bacteria -- and warns that humankind someday may lose its advantage.

For the first time, researchers have peered deeply at the atomic level into the protein that causes hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy -- a disease thought to cause stroke and dementia. The study pinpointed a tiny portion of the protein molecule that is key to the formation of plaques in blood vessels in the brain.

Researchers have discovered new targets for cancer treatment aimed at blocking a key step in tumor progression. This step -- the creation of new blood vessels -- enables tumors to grow out of control and ultimately spread cancer to other parts of the body.