Saint Louis University study suggests protein can´t cross blood brain barrier
ST. LOUIS — Alzheimer´s disease may be caused by a problem transporting a certain protein across the blood brain barrier and out of the brain, according to new Saint Louis University research published in the October issue of Neuroscience.
The findings are important, says William A. Banks, M.D., a Saint Louis University professor and the lead author of the article, because they give us a new approach for treat
An expert at the University of Sheffield has published a paper that dispels the popular belief that Louis Pasteur was the first person to demonstrate the connection between infective agents and disease in the 1860s.
Dr. Milton Wainwright’s research, published in Advances in Applied Microbiology, has uncovered various references that suggest that Greek and Italian physicians had made the link between bacteria and disease before the birth of Christ. He also found that Louis Pasteur wasn’t eve
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics launches a consultation about research involving animals. Can we justify research on animals? How much do animals actually suffer? Does a mouse have a different moral status than a monkey? Who should fund research into alternatives?
Many people are concerned about the use of animals in research. There is also widespread recognition of the need for more medical research. Since much of this currently involves animals, these two views are not easily reconciled
Electrical signals from nerves in the brain cause weak magnetic fields which can be measured by means of magnetoencephalography (MEG). A project supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) has investigated the extent to which direct measurement of neural electrical activity can be coupled with MEG to diagnose and treat epilepsy. The findings are important in view of today’s spiralling health care costs, as the apparatus used to detect magnetic fields in the brain is 30 times as expensive as that us
Many women are concerned that hysterectomy may affect their sexual attractiveness, but a study in this week’s BMJ finds that sexual pleasure improves after hysterectomy.
Researchers in the Netherlands compared the effects of three types of hysterectomy (vaginal, subtotal abdominal, and total abdominal hysterectomy) on the sexual wellbeing of 413 women.
All women completed a questionnaire before and six months after surgery about their sexuality, frequency of sexual activity, and problems
More than a third of children who die from a particularly deadly form of leukemia would be saved if doctors used three existing drugs more aggressively – administering them at much higher doses and over a longer period of time. That is one of several important conclusions drawn from a long-term study, published in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, that tested a high-dose drug regimen in 125 young leukemia patients and tracked their outcomes for an average of nine years.
Affymetrix Announces Commercial Launch of Single Array for Human Genome Expression Analysis
— More than 1 million probes analyze expression level of nearly 50,000 RNA transcripts and variants on a single array the size of a dime —
Affymetrix, Inc., (NASDAQ: AFFX) today launched its new GeneChip® brand Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 Array, offering researchers the transcribed human genome on a single commercially available catalog microarray. The HG-U133 Plus 2.0 Array analyzes
Immune responses in the skin are mediated by effector T cells migrating to the inflamed and injured area. Inhibition of this migration has long been an attractive, though challenging, basis for anti-inflammatory treatment strategies. The migration is regulated, in part, by the proteins E-selectin and P-selectin present within endothelial cells of the skin. In a new study, Charles Dimitroff and colleagues from Harvard Medical School introduce a new strategy for the inhibition of selectin ligand produc
Airway scarring can be disrupted by targeting eosinophils
Researchers in London and Montreal report today that they have discovered an important link in the development of the body’s response to allergic asthma.
They have found that one type of white blood cell, an eosinophil, which was known to cause inflammation of lung airways, is also responsible for driving the process which leads to an excessive ’repair response’ by the body.
The response, which is
Researchers at McMaster University have turned a corner in the race to develop a vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
A breakthrough has come with the work by professor Jim Mahony who cloned the gene that marks an important nuclear protein of the SARS virus. A research team at McMaster then inserted the nuclear protein gene into an engineered common cold virus, or adenovirus vector, and will shortly test this in animals for the protective effects.
The team, headed
New studies, ASTEROID and ORION, combine CRESTOR™ with cutting-edge imaging techniques, to be at the forefront of the fight against atherosclerosis
Details of two new studies announced by AstraZeneca at the XIIIth International Symposium on Atherosclerosis (ISA) could provide the clearest picture yet of the effects of statins on atherosclerosis, the main cause of coronary artery disease.
Each study is combining the highly effective statin CRESTOR (rosuvastatin) with cutting-
Research reveals thriving oceanographic system
When the U.S. Dept. of Interior contracted with Florida Tech Oceanographer John Trefry to study the impact of recent offshore oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, the Florida Academy of Sciences gold medallist had some concerns about what he might discover. Instead of finding significant impacts, however, Trefry and his team of Florida Tech scientists were amazed by the discovery of a remarkable, thriving oceanographic system.
Du
Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have found a novel way to boost the paltry survival rate of cloned mammals: When two genetically identical cloned mouse embryos are combined, the aggregate embryo is considerably more likely to survive to birth.
A team from Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine reports the results in the Oct. 1 issue of the European Molecular Biology Organization Journal.
“At the blastocyst stage, an early embryonic stage just prior to implantation,
PENN researchers find how heme harms – And how to prevent the damage
Heme, the iron-bearing, oxygen-carrying core of hemoglobin, makes it possible for blood to carry oxygen, but researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have determined how free-floating heme can also make traumatic events worse by damaging tissue. The Penn researchers present their findings in the October 2nd issue of the journal Nature. Fortunately, the researchers also identified a chemical
Clemson University researchers have developed an injectable tissue implant that could be used to repair damage caused by breast cancer surgeries.
The work is headed by Karen Burg, a Clemson bioengineer just named to MIT’s Technology Review 100 top innovators list. Burg’s work with injectable transplants could one day provide breast-cancer patients a viable reconstructive surgical solution for damage left by lumpectomies and other invasive procedures. The implant, made of do
NASA satellites observed the calving, or breaking off, of one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, named “C-19.”
C-19 separated from the western face of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica in May 2002, splashed into the Ross Sea, and virtually eliminated a valuable food source for marine life. The event was unusual, because it was the second-largest iceberg to calve in the region in 26 months.
Over the last year, the path of C-19 inhibited the growth of minute, free-floating aquati
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