(Karolinska Institutet) The normal aging process has long been linked to problems with cell respiration, the process through which the cells extract energy from nutrients. Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now shown how certain proteins that are synthesized in the cellular mitochondria -- popularly known as the cells' power plants -- become unstable and disintegrate, which in turn can impair cell respiration and cause premature aging.

(Wiley-Blackwell) Hepatitis C virus is a blood-borne disease that causes inflammation of the liver and to which there is currently no vaccine available. The World Health Organization estimates that 3 percent of the world's population, approximately 170 million people, are infected with HCV and it is a leading cause of liver cirrhosis, end stage liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma and liver transplantation.

(American Society of Plastic Surgeons) Migraine headaches are a drain -- not only on the estimated 30 million Americans who suffer from them, but on the economy, too. But according to a new study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, there is hope for severe and frequent migraine sufferers who can't find relief in conventional remedies.

(University of Bristol) Researchers have discovered that the enzyme, endothelin converting enzyme-2 (ECE-2), may cause the decrease in blood flow in the brain seen in Alzheimer's disease and contribute to progression of the disease.

(Thomas Jefferson University) Smoking has once again been implicated in the development of advanced cancer. Exposure to nicotine by way of cigarette smoking may increase the likelihood that pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma will become metastatic, according to researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson. Their study was published in the August edition of the journal Surgery.