Analysis of synovial tissue indicates changes in inflammatory and immune cells correlating with patient response to anti-TNFá therapy

Clinical trials are essential to the development of effective treatments for chronic autoimmune arthritis. For ethical, practical, and financial reasons, researchers increasingly face the challenge of achieving proof-of-concept in early-phase clinical trials of limited size, limited duration, and minimal patient risk. Analysis of tissue from the

A recent Finnish study identifies a low-penetrance gene defect which predisposes carriers to intracranial tumors called pituitary adenomas. In particular individuals carrying the gene defect are susceptible to such tumors which secrete growth hormone. Excess of growth hormone results in conditions called acromegaly and gigantism. Identification of this gene defect using DNA-chip technologies is an example how genetic research can tackle more and more demanding tasks, such as identification of predis

Research Highlights Possibility of Halting Dental Caries Epidemic

Researchers at The Forsyth Institute have made significant advances in research to develop a vaccine against cavities. The research team of Martin Taubman, DDS, PhD and Daniel J. Smith PhD, has discovered key molecules that can stimulate a human immune response and has successfully conducted immunization trials in animal models. The global epidemic of dental caries (cavities) highlights the growing imperative to

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed an improved method for measuring basic properties of complex fuel mixtures like gasoline or jet fuel. The new apparatus for measuring distillation properties produces significantly more detailed and accurate data needed to better understand each fuel and its sample-to-sample variation. The data are valuable in tailoring fuels for high-performance and low emissions, and in designing new fuels, engines and emi

Ability to feed on waste DNA can mean difference between life and death

The ubiquitous bacteria E. coli rank among nature’s most successful species for lots of reasons, to which biologists at the University of Southern California have added another: in a pinch, E. coli can feast on the DNA of their dead competitors.

A research team led by Steven Finkel, assistant professor of molecular and computational biology in the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, had a

Two wildly different pathogens – one that infects vegetables, the other infecting humans – essentially use the same protein code to get their disease-causing proteins into the cells of their respective hosts.

That’s what researchers from Ohio State and Northwestern universities report in a study published in the current issue of the journal PLoS Pathogens. The scientists were surprised to learn that the pathogen that causes malaria in humans and the microbe that caused the Ir

A new technology to enable pharmaceutical companies to determine more effectively, and earlier on in clinical trials, whether an experimental drug is toxic to the heart has taken an important step toward the marketplace.

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and iCardiac Technologies, Inc. have signed an exclusive agreement to commercialize software developed by biomedical engineer Jean-Philippe Couderc, Ph.D., that provides a more accurate and reliable method to an

A recent Finnish study identifies a low-penetrance gene defect which predisposes carriers to intracranial tumors called pituitary adenomas. In particular individuals carrying the gene defect are susceptible to such tumors which secrete growth hormone. Excess of growth hormone results in conditions called acromegaly and gigantism.

Identification of this gene defect using DNA-chip technologies is an example how genetic research can tackle more and more demanding tasks, such as identificati

Scientists at Keele University in Staffordshire have found that drinking a well-known mineral water regularly could reduce the levels of aluminium in the bodies of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Ten individuals with Alzheimer’s were asked to drink up to 1.5L per day of the mineral water, Volvic, for five days as part of their everyday diets. For eight out of ten it resulted in a reduction in their body burden of aluminium.

There is a link between human exposure to alu

EUREKA project E! 2314 O’SCREEN reverses the traditional screening process used to discover potentially active new pharmaceutical compounds. Testing single, targeted molecules rather than tens of thousands it promises vastly increased efficiency in drug discovery.

Until now, new molecules with the potential to be developed as drugs have been discovered by screening thousands of candidate new molecules and developing those showing potential activity in some therapeutic area. But the pr

Doctor Harry Holthöfer, M.D., Ph.D, at the University of Helsinki, Finland, coordinates a new EU-funded project, which aims to develop new diagnostic approaches for early identification of patients at high risk of rapid loss of kidney function. The project links together researchers from Finland, the Netherlands and Switzerland and four SMEs from Finland, the Netherlands and Italy. The EU has granted 4.4 million euro funding for this project.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an increasing

Researchers at the University of Dundee have made a major breakthrough in observing how our genes function, a development which could offer powerful new methods for understanding how genes misbehave in human diseases such as cancer and Alzheimers.

Dr Jonathan Chubb, Principal Investigator in the Division of Cell and Developmental Biology in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee, in collaboration with researchers in New York, has made a major advance in our unders

When ancient whales finally parted company with the last remnants of their legs about 35 million years ago, a relatively sudden genetic event may have crowned an eons-long shrinking process.

An international group of scientists led by Hans Thewissen, Ph.D., a professor of anatomy at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, has used developmental data from contemporary spotted dolphins and fossils of ancient whales to try to pinpoint the genetic changes that coul

Research conducted at Oregon Health & Science University suggests that contrary to popular belief, the body has more than one “body clock.” The previously known master body clock resides in a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).

Researchers at OHSU’s Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) have now revealed the existence of a secondary clock-like mechanism associated with the adrenal gland. The research also suggests a high likelihood that additional c

Scientists explore newly discovered reefs for pharmaceutical potential, ecological impacts

Last December, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science researchers using advanced sonar techniques discovered new deepwater reef sites in the Straits of Florida between Miami and Bimini. Today through May 30, the Rosenstiel School scientists will work with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution colleagues to explore these areas for the first time. The expediti

Findings help solve mystery of whales’ missing legs

Researchers from the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine have revealed the genetic basis behind one of the best-documented examples of evolutionary change in the fossil record: how whales lost their hind limbs.

Writing in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Hans Thewissen and his colleagues report that ancient whales–four-footed land animals not unlike large modern