Researchers at New York University School of Medicine and Wayne State University have found a molecule that reveals the early stages of pleural mesothelioma, a chest cancer caused by asbestos. The finding opens the way to a blood test for the disease, according to a new study published in the Oct. 13 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
An estimated 7.5 million workers in the United States have been exposed to asbestos and, according to government statistics, it remains a hazard
Research by an EU-supported international team of scientists has shown that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)[1] – synthetic organic chemicals found widely in the environment and absorbed in the diet – may damage sperm.
But, lead author Dr Marcello Spanò, of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA), stressed that the study had found no dramatic effects on human fertility and had not revealed any serious public health threat. However, the
Artificial microgravity causes suppression of 99 key immune genes, leading to T-cell suppression
Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center have identified a set of key immune-response genes that do not turn on in a weightless environment. The discovery is another clue in the effort to solve an almost 40-year-old mystery: why the human immune system does not function well in the weightlessness of space.
The researchers, led by SFVAMC biochemist and former astronau
Study in Oct. 1 ’Development’ shows when, where Alzheimer’s, some cancers and genetic ills begin
Biologists at Florida State University have uncovered the pivotal role of a gene called “Cut” that acts as a sort of middleman in cell-to-cell communication.
A DNA-binding protein, Cut interprets and transcribes the developmental signals sent through the “Notch” gene, which regulates a layer of epithelial cells as they replicate and divide. But when Cut garbles
Duke engineers have added a new construction tool to their bio-nanofabrication toolbox. Using an enzyme called TdTase, engineers can vertically extend short DNA chains attached to nanometer-sized gold plates. This advance adds new capability to the field of bio-nanomanufacturing.
“The process works like stacking Legos to make a tower and is an important step toward creating functional nanostructures out of biological materials,” said Ashutosh Chilkoti, associate professor of biom
The gene encoding an enzyme that hinders muscle from burning fat manufactures three times more enzyme in the muscle of obese people than lean people, researchers from Duke University Medical Center and Louisiana State University have found. This causes the obese muscle tissue to both store more fat and burn less fat, the researchers said.
“Obesity is a very complex disease, and this metabolic pathway does not fully explain obesity, but it is a likely contributor,” said Debor
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that the small intestine communicates with the liver to control the production of bile acids – a finding that has great medical implications in treating people at risk for certain types of liver disease.
“We’ve discovered a new hormone, and new hormones are always exciting,” said Dr. Steven Kliewer, professor of molecular biology and pharmacology and senior author of a study available online and appearing in t
Understanding how voltage-gated ion channels operate is requisite for improving disease treatment
One of the biggest mysteries in molecular biology is exactly how ion channels – tiny protein pores through which molecules such as calcium and potassium flow in and out of cells – operate. Such channels can be extremely important; members of the voltage-gated ion channel family are crucial to generating electrical pulses in the brain and heart, carrying signals in nerves and muscles.
For the first time, stem cell researchers at the University of Minnesota have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to create cancer-killing cells in the laboratory, paving the way for future treatments for various types of cancers (or tumors). The research will be published in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology.
Researchers generated “natural killer” cells from the human embryonic stem cells. As part of the immune system, natural killer cells normally are present in t
A potential new treatment for stroke has taken a major step forward following promising results from the first clinical trial.
Researchers at The University of Manchester have shown in laboratory studies that a naturally occurring protein called IL-1ra protects brain cells from injury and death.
The team, led by Professor Nancy Rothwell and Dr Pippa Tyrrell, have now reported the results of the first small trial of IL-1ra in patients, which are published in the Journa
A gradual optimization of mitochondria–the cells’ powerhouses–may have occurred in the human lineage, which could be associated with the evolution of human longevity and intelligence. The study is reported in the latest issue of the Journal of Molecular Evolution and was conducted by Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, a Portuguese researcher working at Harvard Medical School.
By comparing the mitochondrial genome of multiple primates, the researcher found several mitochondrial genes in
By directly manipulating mating performance in a tropical sea slug, Chelidonura hirundinina, researchers of the University of Tübingen have now shed light on the bizarre reproductive conflicts encountered by hermaphroditic animals. In some hermaphroditic species, such as C. hirundinina, mating partners may insist on copulating as a “male,” “female,” or both, resulting in unique biological conflicts over gender.
Sexual interactions in so-called cross-fertilizing simultaneous hermaphrodit
Vision, like other biological attributes, is shaped by evolution through environmental pressures and demands, and even closely-related species that are in other ways very similar might respond to their particular environments by interpreting the visual world slightly differently, using photoreceptors that are attuned to particular wavelengths of light. By studying a special group of closely-related fish species inhabiting the Great Lakes of Africa, researchers have uncovered clues to understan
By investigating the interplay between pheromone signaling and behavior in fruit flies, researchers have begun to understand how an adult fly’s earlier experience as a young individual can influence its behavior towards other flies as an adult. In particular, the researchers found that pheromone signals in the context of experience with adult flies can influence how young flies will behave once they reach maturity. The work is reported by Jean-Francois Ferveur and colleagues at the Universite de
From snail to man, one of the hallmarks of the brain is the ease with which behavioral variants are generated–for example, humans can easily walk with different stride lengths or different speeds. By studying how a relatively simple motor network of the marine snail Aplysia produces variants of a particular feeding behavior, researchers have found that the ability to generate a large number of behavioral variants stems from the elegant hierarchical architecture of the brain’s motor network.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers cured PKU in mice with new gene therapy technique
Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers developed a technique for inserting genes into specific sites on the genome in liver cells. The genes are inserted into non-coding regions of the genome so there is no danger of interfering with the functioning of other genes. Once inserted, the gene remains a permanent part of the cell’s genome. In a study published in this week’s PNAS,
Feedback
