When it comes to their survival, cancer cells have a host of backup plans.

This is especially true of the nutrients that cancers use to grow and spread. In addition to relying on sugars like glucose to power their proliferation, some cancer cells also use ketones - metabolites produced from fats when the body is fasting or on a low carb diet - as an alternate fuel source.

Glioblastomas are the deadliest form of malignant brain tumor, and most patients diagnosed with the disease live only one or two years.

In these tumors, normal cells in the brain become aggressive, growing rapidly and invading the surrounding tissue.

Tumours have developed many strategies and tricks to gain advantages in the body. Led by cell biology professor Sabine Werner, researchers at ETH Zurich have now discovered another surprising trick that certain tumours resort to in ensuring their survival and growth.

In a new study published in the journal Nature Cancer, the biologists show that skin cancer cells are able to transfer their mitochondria to healthy connective tissue cells (fibroblasts) in their immediate vicinity.

Young children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder often receive medication just after being diagnosed, which contravenes treatment guidelines endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, a Stanford Medicine-led study has found.

The finding, which will be published in JAMA Network Open, highlights a gap in medical care for 4- and 5-year-olds with ADHD.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health issue worldwide. Many patients end up requiring regular dialysis to avoid kidney failure and stay alive. Despite the severity of the condition, there are currently no drugs available that improve kidney function. A research group led by Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine’s Professor Takaaki Abe has found a remarkable solution to treat patients with CKD by co-opting a drug typically used for constipation.

Like bees breathing life into gardens, providing pollen and making flowers blossom, little cellular machines called mitochondria breathe life into our bodies, buzzing with energy as they produce the fuel that powers each of our cells. Maintaining mitochondrial metabolism requires input from many molecules and proteins - some of which have yet to be discovered.

A study conducted by researchers from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC, United States), Proteimax Biotechnology (Israel), and the University of São Paulo’s Biomedical Sciences Institute (ICB-USP, Brazil) showed that ingesting Pep19 helps reduce visceral fat and improve sleep in obese adults. The molecule is a synthetic version of a peptide (a very small piece of protein) naturally found in human cells.