The same receptors in the brain that are activated when a person smokes cigarettes also play a critical role in the effectiveness of antidepressants, according to a study by Yale researchers in the November issue of Biological Psychiatry.
What this means, particularly for patients who are suicidal, is that finding a way to activate these receptors will make anti-depressants work more quickly. Most anti-depressants now take up to three weeks to bring emotional relief. “Just the
A potent antioxidant abundant in apples and some other fruits and vegetables appears to protect brain cells against oxidative stress, a tissue-damaging process associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders, according to a new study in rat brain cells conducted by researchers at Cornell University in New York.
The study adds strength to the theory — bolstered by recent animal studies — that the risk of developing Alzheimer’s and similar diseases may be reduced
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have identified a Lyme disease receptor called TROSPA that is used by disease agents to invade ticks.
Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne disease in the United States, is caused by spirochete bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which also cause arthritis in humans. The purpose of the study, published November 12 in the journal Cell, was to identify how Lyme disease pathogens survive inside ticks.
“We identified a receptor inside t
A new approach to outwit resistance to antibiotics has been discovered by a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
By inserting a naturally occurring molecule into an antibiotic-resistant bacterium, the team was able to gradually destroy the machinery responsible for the resistance. “Multidrug-resistant bacteria are now ubiquitous in both hospital settings and the larger community,” wrote Paul J. Hergenrother, a professor of chemistry, in a pape
While nosing around the Quaternary mammal collection at the Provincial Museum of Alberta two years ago, Paul Matheus, a paleontologist with the Alaska Quaternary Center, came across a brown bear fossil that seemed out of place. The fossil had been collected by Jim Burns, curator of Quaternary mammals at the PMA a few years earlier near Edmonton, Alberta, in gravels that date to before the last ice age (older than 24,000 years). If this was true, Matheus thought, it could be a very important f
A team of Stanford University researchers led by Richard Myers, Ph.D., in collaboration with Chris Amemiya, Ph.D., of the Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle, campaign in the December issue of Genome Research for deciphering the genetic code of a “living fossil” fish, the coelacanth.
The genomic sequence of this large “hollow-spined” fish, which populates deep-sea volcanic caves, could hold valuable clues for biologists studying the evolution of vertebrate species. Coelacanth
Mast cells are immune cells known mostly for their unwanted effects: they cause the wheezing of asthma, the itching of eczema, the sneezing and runny nose of hay fever and, in extreme cases, the life-threatening shock of anaphylaxis. But researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that these cells also have some very beneficial effects.
Stephen Galli, MD, the Mary Hewitt Loveless, MD, Professor and chair of pathology, and his colleagues have shown for th
Protein may help immune system fend off virus
UCLA scientists have shown that a protein called telomerase prevents the premature aging of the immune cells that fight HIV, enabling the cells to divide indefinitely and prolong their defense against infection. Published Nov. 15 in the Journal of Immunology, the research suggests a future therapy for boosting the weakened immune systems of HIV-positive people.
Every cell contains a tiny cellular clock called a telomere, wh
Marine invertebrate called sea cucumber resembles vegetable cucumber by not only shape, but also by some metabolites. The substances produced by the animal can affect the growth of the plant. This study was conducted by Russian biochemists and supported by the RFBR.
Sea cucumbers are cucumber-shaped echinoderms of the genus Cucumaria (Latin designation for vegetable cucumber sounds similar – Cucumis) having a flexible body with tentacles surrounding the mouth. Very recently, the Ru
Defeating high blood pressure may be a matter of a little molecular manipulation.
Some drugs for hypertension, such as so-called ACE inhibitors, block specific receptor proteins on the cell. But researchers at Jefferson Medical College instead have looked to a certain molecular pathway called the Gq signaling pathway, showing that it plays an important role in developing various models of hypertension. The work might lead to new insights into the roots of hypertension, and eventu
A research team based at the University of Chicago may have found a way to manipulate cell suicide, also known as programmed cell death, a normal process that regulates cell number but that goes awry in chronic inflammatory disorders, cancer and other diseases.
In the 12 Nov. 2004 issue of the journal Cell, the scientists show that a key step in the process of preventing cell suicide is the induction of ferritin heavy chain (FHC), a protein that collects and hoards iron. By seque
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have discovered a protein that controls an early and significant step in the exquisitely timed process of bone formation.
Dr. Eric Olson, chairman of molecular biology, and colleagues have shown the protein HDAC4 to be essential for proper bone development, or osteogenesis. Their findings, reported in the November issue of the journal Cell and available online, may have widespread implications for understanding and preven
’Cytological profiling’ could streamline early phases of drug discovery
Bringing an unprecedented level of automation to microscopy, scientists at Harvard University have developed a powerful new method of visualizing drugs’ multifaceted impact on cells. The technique, which could eventually become a standard tool for drug discovery, is described this week in the journal Science.
Steven J. Altschuler and Lani F. Wu, mathematicians skilled in developing models to find me
A Japanese brewery, an Okinawan sea sponge and some clever detective work have enabled an international research team based at the University of Chicago to solve a biological mystery, and the solution suggests a novel way to boost the body’s defenses against cancer.
In Science Express, the online early-publication version of the journal Science, the researchers provide evidence that a sugary lipid known as iGb3 plays a key role in regulating the response of natural killer T
Discovery may one day lead to new ways to treat degenerative diseases
Scientists at Stanford University and Joslin Diabetes Center are providing new insights into how muscle cells regenerate — leading to powerful tools to help scientists better understand diseases such as muscular dystrophy. Skeletal muscle contains a complex array of cell types. Among its principal components are multi-nucleated muscle fibers and muscle satellite cells — cells located in close association with
Recent experimental results threatened to overturn 100 years of scientific research into the mysterious nature of liquid water, but new experimental results say … not so fast! A team of scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, has shown that the energy required to “measurably distort” the molecular structure of liquid water is the same as the energy required to melt ice. This could explain why a study la
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