The leech has recently confirmed its biomedical interest for scientists by showing that it contains an extensive list of new potential molecules that may become useful tools in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The details of this research appear in the October issue of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal.
Scientists have increasingly turned to blood-feeding invertebrates as a source for drugs and lead c
UCSD scientists have gained a better understanding of how repetitive stretching of endothelial cells that line arteries can make them healthy and resistant to vascular diseases.
UCSD researchers stretched cells in a workout chamber the size of a credit card to gain a better understanding of how repetitive stretching of endothelial cells that line arteries can make them healthy and resistant to vascular diseases.
Bioengineering researchers at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineer
Due to the 2005 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine received by Robin Warren and Barry Marshall, the name of the Helicobacter pylori bacterium is now a buzz word. According to contemporary overview, the bacterium gets into the stomach with food and water. In adverse conditions (stress, malnutrition, genetic factors, etc.), the bacterium invades the wall of the stomach or the duodenum under the mucous membrane and produces toxins destroying the walls. This is how gastritis originates, turnin
Both nanotubes and airborne particles cause platelets to clump together
Carbon nanoparticles – both those unleashed in the air by engine exhaust and the engineered structures thought to have great potential in medical applications – promote blood-clotting, scientists report in an upcoming edition of the British Journal of Pharmacology.
Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Ohio University examined the impact of various forms of ca
A team of researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center has discovered an entirely new mechanism of action for a novel pharmacological agent currently in clinical trials in patients – the kinase inhibitor BAY 43-9006 – which was designed to disrupt the survival pathways of tumor cells.
“This agent was originally designed to inhibit the Raf-1 pathway, which is frequently mutated in many types of cancers, including leukemia,” said Steven Grant, M.D., Mas
Scientists find structure relevant to cell growth and cancer
Researchers discovered a special type of molecular structure that helps keep genes properly turned off until the structure is ejected from those genes in a regulated manner to help turn the genes on. The discovery is reported in the Oct. 21 issue of the journal Cell by scientists from the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.
In all organisms, the genome is split into chromosomes (compressed long
Inhaling a small dose of nitric oxide gas may one day help sickle cell patients avoid pain crises and live healthier lives, researchers say.
Nitric oxide may help normalize a sickle cell patient’s hemoglobin by restoring the natural charge and shape to the oxygen-carrying component of red blood cells, Medical College of Georgia researchers have found.
“Hemoglobin S plus nitric oxide behaves much like normal adult hemoglobin, which does not sickle,” says Dr. C. Alvin
Ten genes that may make patients more or less susceptible to a common anesthetic agent have been identified by researchers using tiny worms and sophisticated technology that eliminates the activity of individual genes.
“We are anesthetizing 25 million patients a year in the United States alone; we put them to sleep and wake them up and we still don’t know a lot about why it happens,” said Dr. Steffen E. Meiler, vice chair of research for the Medical College of Georgia Departmen
Messenger RNA ’cut and run’ scheme provides rapid stress response
Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have discovered a new kind of messenger RNA molecule that is converted from non-protein coding status to protein coding status in response to cellular stress such as viral infection. The discovery reveals a “cut and run” mechanism that is likely to control the expression of many genes in humans and a variety of other organisms. A deeper understanding of this m
Tumor-suppressor proteins work to inhibit tumor growth in our bodies and when they win, they spare us a battle with cancer. But one such protein, menin, appears to have a split personality. Though menin is well-known for its ability to suppress endocrine tumors, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that it is also a key player in the development of some forms of acute leukemia.
The researchers, who made the discovery in working with mouse cells, s
Long-standing scientific question resolved
The discovery in 1977 that the coding regions of a gene could appear in separate segments along the DNA won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for Richard J. Roberts and Phillip A. Sharp. The active segments of a gene were termed exons, separated from each other within the gene by inactive introns.
The research suggested the necessary existence of a number of biological processes and active entities, many of which h
Study shows cystic fibrosis gene mutation a risk factor for young-onset disease
Mayo Clinic researchers have found the risk of developing pancreatic cancer at a young age (under 60) to be twice as high for people who carry a mutation of the gene that causes cystic fibrosis, compared to noncarriers. Results of a pilot and follow-up study were reported Oct. 14, 2005, online in the journal Gut.
Pancreatic cancer kills over 32,000 people in the United States each year Twenty p
An unusual device that uses trained wasps, rather than trained dogs, to detect specific chemical odors could one day be used to find hidden explosives, plant diseases, illegal drugs, cancer and even buried bodies, according to a joint study by researchers at the University of Georgia and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The trained wasps are contained in a cup-sized device, called a “Wasp Hound,” that is capable of sounding an alarm or triggering a visual signal, such as a flashin
Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables could be a good defense against prostate cancer, according to a Case Western Reserve University study published in the October online issue of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal.
Previous studies have suggested that increased intake of flavonoids which are common in fruits and vegetables may be associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer, according to Sanjay Gupta, Ph.D., an assistant professor in t
One of the first things we learn in chemistry class is that solids conduct heat better than liquids. But a new study suggests that in nanoscale materials, this is not necessarily the case.
Using computer simulations, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that heat may actually move better across interfaces between liquids than it does between solids. The findings, which were published online Oct. 11 in the journal Nano Letters, provide insights that could p
Researchers from Johns Hopkins have discovered the presence of functional ion channels in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). These ion channels act like electrical wires and permit ESCs, versatile cells that possess the unique ability to become all cell types of the body, to conduct and pass along electric currents.
If researchers could selectively block some of these channels in implanted cells, derived from stem cells, they may be able to prevent potential tumor development.
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