Researchers at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have found that Lafora disease, an inherited form of epilepsy that results in death by the age of 30, can be caused by mutations in a gene that regulates the concentration of the protein laforin. These findings are reported in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Lafora disease is characterized by normal development for the first decade of life, followed by an initial seizure in
Despite the efforts of governments and the World Health Organization to combine prevention measures and efforts to eradicate malaria-carrying mosquitoes, the disease kills more than a million people each year. Much is known about the microbes that cause the disease, tiny parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which have a complex life cycle involving several distinct phases and habitats. But, many details of the organism’s life cycle, including a critical stage in the parasite’s life cycle – in
Neurobiologists have discovered a specialized night-vision brain area in night-migratory songbirds. They believe the area might enable the birds to navigate by the stars, and to visually detect the earth’s magnetic field through photoreceptor molecules, whose light-sensitivity is modulated by the field.
The researchers published their findings May 23, 2005, in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The collaboration was led by Henr
Naturally replaced neurons may hold the key to understanding processes of neurodegeneration
In certain parts of the brain, cells called neurons go through a cycle of death and replenishment. New research from Rockefeller University’s Fernando Nottebohm, Ph.D., shows that these replaceable neurons share something in common with the neurons that die in people with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s: both have unusually low levels of a protein called UCHL
No increase found in hepatitis C recurrence
Researchers seeking to enhance transplant patient care with less toxic drug regimens presented early findings of a steroid-free treatment regimen in liver transplant recipients with hepatitis C. One-year data from an open label study reported Sunday at the American Transplant Congress (ATC) suggests that a steroid-free treatment regimen including CellCept® (mycophenolate mofetil) provided comparable efficacy and safety to a standard st
Study appears in the online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Using the human genome sequence annotation, high-throughput cloning methodologies, and automation, a group at the Harvard Institute of Proteomics lead by Leonardo Brizuela (Harvard Medical School lecturer on biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology) mined public databases to collect the sequence information of all identified human kinase genes and have built a gene repository for t
Penn State College of Medicine study shows for the first time in an animal model that ceramide, a naturally occurring substance that prevents the growth of cells, can be administered through the blood stream to target and kill cancer cells.
“Ceramide is the substance that accumulates in cancer tissues and helps to kill cancer cells when patients undergo chemotherapy and radiation,” said Mark Kester, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Mil
From the June 2005 issue of Biology of Reproduction
The June 2005 issue of Biology of Reproduction includes a special paper by a team of Spanish scientists indicating that delayed motherhood in mice results in shorter life expectancy and reduced body weight in their offspring.
Negative effects of late maternal age in women, such as abnormal numbers of chromosomes in their children, are well known. However, other potential negative effects on offspring from delayed mot
University of Pittsburgh researchers have isolated two biomarkers for interstitial cystitis (IC), a chronic and painful pelvic disease for which there currently is no test. The discovery of these biomarkers could lead to a definitive test for IC and have the potential to lead to new therapies. Results of two studies are being presented today at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) in San Antonio, and are published in abstracts 69 and 80 of the AUA proceedings.
A commonly prescribed incontinence drug may help patients in more than one way, according to research completed by the University of Pittsburgh. When taken orally, trospium chloride not only helps control symptoms of overactive bladder systemically, but according to this study, it also may help control symptoms in the bladder itself when it comes into contact with the bladder walls. Results of this study are being presented today at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association
The anti-inflammatory protein annexin 1 may protect patients from the detrimental effects of severe inflammatory response syndrome, as reported by researchers at Barts and the London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry. The paper by Damazo et al., “Critical protective role for annexin 1 gene expression in the endotoxemic murine microcirculation,” appears in the June issue of The American Journal of Pathology and is accompanied by a commentary.
Severe inflammator
Findings have implications for tracking disease, drugs at the molecular level
Researchers in the laboratory of Boston College Chemistry Professor John T. Fourkas have demonstrated that gold particles comparable in size to a molecule can be induced to emit light so strongly that it is readily possible to observe a single nanoparticle. Fourkas, in collaboration with postdoctoral researcher Richard Farrer and BC undergraduates Francis Butterfield and Vincent Chen, coaxed the particles
A gene commonly mutated in Crohn’s disease sufferers is responsible for allowing the body’s immune system to ‘chat’ to microbes in the gut. Researchers at Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust and Imperial College London who have uncovered the role of this gene say that it will now be possible to develop better tests for this debilitating disease, and will help researchers to uncover the genetic basis of Crohn’s and similar inflammatory bowel diseases.
Writing in the journal The Lancet
Hormone affects females, males differently
University of Minnesota researchers have demonstrated for the first time how estrogen affects learning and memory. They found that estrogen can activate particular glutamate receptors within the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for many aspects of learning and memory. Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, allowing for fast communication between neurons. By examining hippocampal neurons from rats, re
Improved techniques and supportive care have resulted in a growing number of long-term survivors of stem cell transplants, though little is known about the impact transplants have on patients’ lives long after treatment. To find the answers, researchers from the City of Hope Cancer Center and the University of Minnesota assessed 854 cancer patients that had undergone stem cell transplants, taking a detailed look at the aftereffects of the procedure in the years following the transplant. Their re
Embryonic stem cells with identical genomes grow into distinctive tissues, such as heart, bone, and brain. At one time, scientists believed the differences among cell types arose from various sets of genes switched on inside developing cells. Then, studies showed that adult neurons uniquely lack a protein that permanently turns off neuronal genes in the rest of the body’s cells.
Now, it turns out that precursor nerve cells contain that same repressive protein after all. In
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