Pain researchers have dug 100 years into the past to work toward a better future for people with diabetic neuropathy. Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have shown a signature pattern in the death of human nerve cells that could be the source of the now-unsolvable pain suffered by more than 10 million Americans. Diabetic neuropathy is the sharp, shooting pain in the extremities that the CDC estimates affects nearly one-third of the 38 million diabetics in the United States. The discovery could provide a uniquely effective target for medications for the condition. Pain researchers have dug 100 years into the past to work toward a better future for people with diabetic neuropathy. Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have shown a signature pattern in the death of human nerve cells that could be the source of the now-unsolvable pain suffered by more than 10 million Americans. Diabetic neuropathy is the sharp, shooting pain in the extremities that the CDC estimates affects nearly one-third of the 38 million diabetics in the United States. The discovery could provide a uniquely effective target for medications for the condition.

Study followed tracked over 1,500 older adults for a decade using three rounds of data from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project. Led by Lissette Piedra, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; and James Iveniuk, a senior research scientist at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center; the team identified three types of social networks — enriched, focused and restricted — that reflected how socially connected people were as they aged and how their self-rated health was affected.

The single-celled parasite Entamoeba histolytica usually causes nothing worse than diarrhea, but sometimes it triggers severe, even fatal disease by chewing ulcers in the colon, liquefying parts of the liver and invading the brain and lungs. In a new paper, UC Davis researchers lay out a plan for tackling it, using genetic tools to tease apart the function of its proteins and genes.

An MIT study in Cell Reports finds that an easily measurable brain wave shift of phase may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under general anesthesia