A series of digital tests carried out via a smartphone app could enhance the detection of disease progression in Huntington’s disease and improve the efficiency of clinical trials, finds research led by scientists at University College London (UCL) and Roche.

Patients with womb cancer are not being tested for a genetic condition that increases their chance of developing further cancers, a study has found. The work is published in the journal BMJ Oncology.

Approximately 10% of the human population is left-handed. Among them, one in five exhibits a peculiar brain phenomenon known as atypical language lateralization. While most people attribute their language capability to their left hemisphere, this atypical group of left-handers utilizes their right hemisphere to speak. One of the oldest questions in neuroscience is how this phenomenon impacts brain organization and human behavior.

Cocaine, a drug of abuse, activates just a portion—10% to 20%—of the neurons in the brain’s nucleus accumbens, a critical region linked to motivation and addiction. Though small in numbers, this activated neuronal population strongly controls drug-related behavior through downstream changes in gene expression, nerve synapses, neural circuitry and neural function that lead to behavioral change, including addiction.

In a study estimating the incidence rates of appendiceal adenocarcinoma (AA), or appendix cancer, across birth cohorts in the United States, researchers observed a sharp increase in AA incidence rates for those born after 1945, particularly for Generation X and Millennials. These patterns suggest a timely need for etiologic research and increased AA awareness among physicians and the public.