Preclinical findings presented at Society for Neuroscience meeting
An experimental treatment that spares disability from acute stroke may be delivered much later than the current three-hour treatment standard – a potential advance needed to benefit more stroke victims.
Researchers at the University of South Florida found that human umbilical cord blood cells administered to rats two days following a stroke greatly curbed the brain’s inflammatory response, reduc
A research team headed by Dr. Scott Bultman (University of North Carolina) has identified an essential role for the mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex in red blood cell formation. The authors generated a partial loss-of-function mutations in the ATPase domain of the SWI/SNF catalytic subunit, Brg1, effectively uncoupling its ATPase and chromatin remodeling activities.
Brg1-mutant mice die at mid-gestation due to defective erythropoiesis. Commenting on the relevance to human dis
Duke University Medical Center researchers have found that patients with six specific variants of genes involved in the body’s immune response are significantly more likely to suffer damage of heart tissue after cardiac surgery.
These findings are important because current analytical methods cannot reliably predict who will be likely to suffer from myocardial infarction (MI), or heart tissue death after cardiac surgery. It is estimated that between 7 and 15 percent of patien
Provides new strategy for designing better treatments
Mayo Clinic researchers, working with colleagues at the University of Minnesota and University of Pittsburgh, are the first to describe a new role for a specialized cell of the immune system in children suffering from a rare muscle-damaging disease known as juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM). The specialized cells, called dendritic cells, have never before been found inside muscle tissue of JDM patients — a discovery that sugg
The biologist Alejandro Toledo Arana has identified two new genes that operate as regulators in the formation process of the biofilm of Staphylococcus aureus, one of the bacteria most frequently involved in infections following medical implants, and has explained the functioning of a structural protein involved in this process. His research was the subject of a PhD thesis recently defended at the Institute of Agribiotechnology, a joint CSIC and Public University of Navarra centre, and is an a
At the Institut Curie, two CNRS teams have just reported crucial information on the orientation of cells as they divide. The cell division axis determines not only the position of the daughter cells but also their contents and hence their fate. The researchers have shown that the orientation of division depends on focal adhesions of the cell with its surroundings. They have also identified a new molecule that controls the localization of cellular determinants of so-called asymmetric cell div
Scientists from Wageningen University in the Netherlands have discovered that a factor released from body fat, which they call Fasting-Induced Adipose Factor or FIAF, has a major impact on blood levels of HDL and triglycerides in mice. The factor might be a promising drug candidate, team leader dr. Sander Kersten says. “Our study demonstrates that small changes in the production of FIAF in mice elevate blood HDL and triglycerides.”
Obesity is known to negatively influence the leve
A diagnostic approach will allow to quickly and precisely identify the enemy – tuberculosis culture pathogene, the approach being based on the so-called subtraction hybridization. How it can help to identify ‘personality’ of a dangerous bacterium was discussed by researchers from Moscow with their colleagues at the II International Conference “Molecular Medicine and Biosafety” in late October this year.
For smatterers the notion of tuberculosis – is necessary and sufficient for d
When the appetite-enhancing hormone ghrelin was discovered a few years ago, researchers thought they had found the last of the major genes that regulate weight. They were wrong.
Introducing: obestatin, a newly discovered hormone that suppresses appetite.
The finding, to be published in the Nov. 11 issue of Science, offers a key to researchers developing treatments for obesity. In a nation that desperately needs to slim down – the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and P
Scientists might have identified one of the reasons why the bird flu virus H5N1 is so deadly to humans. A study published today in the open access journal Respiratory Research reveals that, in human cells, the virus can trigger levels of inflammatory proteins more than 10 times higher than the common human flu virus H1N1. This might contribute to the unusual severity of the disease caused by H5N1 in humans, which can escalate into life-threatening pneumonia and acute respiratory distress.
New research indicates mouse nose detects most pheromones governing reproduction
Scientists at Harvard University have found strong signs that the pheromones driving reproduction and fertility in mice are detected primarily by the nose — not by the specialized vomeronasal system that many researchers had suspected of receiving and processing the bodily chemicals that govern mating behavior. The unexpected finding may settle an ongoing scientific debate by providing evidence that ke
Heredity helps determine why some adults are persistently lonely, research co-authored by psychologists at the University of Chicago shows.
Working with colleagues in The Netherlands, the scholars found about 50 percent of identical twins and 25 percent of fraternal twins shared similar characteristics of loneliness. Research on twins is a powerful method to study the impact of heredity because twins raised together share many of the same environmental influences as well as
Researchers have discovered evidence of an ancient sea creature that would have made Tyrannosaurus rex, think twice before stepping into the ocean.
At the southern tip of South America , they found fossils of an entirely new species of ancient crocodile – one whose massive jaws and jagged teeth would have made it the most fearsome predator in the sea.
Unlike the crocodiles we know today, Dakosaurus andiniensis lived entirely in the water, and had fins instead of legs. But
A University of Queensland study mapping the evolution of genes has shed light on the role of gene transfer in bacterial diseases.
The study, published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, was conducted by three scientists at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience.
Dr Robert Beiko, Professor Mark Ragan and Mr Timothy Harlow examined the genomes of 144 species of bacteria, in an effort to map how genes are shared between bacteria.
A gigantic ape, measuring about 10 feet tall and weighing up to 1,200 pounds, co-existed alongside humans, a geochronologist at McMaster University has discovered.
Using a high-precision absolute-dating method (techniques involving electron spin resonance and uranium series), Jack Rink, associate professor of geography and earth sciences at McMaster, has determined that Gigantopithecus blackii, the largest primate that ever lived, roamed southeast Asia for nearly a million years b
Researchers uncover genetic foundation of fish jaws
In a study illustrating the apparent linkages between the evolutionary development and embryonic development of species, researchers have uncovered the genetic elements that determine the structure and function of a simple biomechanical system, the lower jaw of the cichlid fish. In addition, they’ve shown that increasing expression of a particular gene in an embryo can lead to physical changes in the adult fish. The results appear
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