Scientists have identified a handful of microRNAs (miRNAs) that appear to play a significant role in the development of platelets – blood cells critical to the body’s ability to form clots following an injury. They also say some of these same miRNAs, when acting abnormally, may contribute to certain forms of leukemia.

“Basically, we found that a specific set of miRNA genes are turned off in normal platelet development, but turned on in certain platelet-related leukemia cells,” says lead au

What stops people with cancer from joining research trials, and ways to increase participation are the subjects of the latest publication from CRD.

Clinical trials are an essential tool for the evaluation of medical technologies. It is crucial that enough participants are recruited to a trial to ensure that the trial can proceed and for the results to be valid. Without sufficient numbers of people taking part, the introduction of new treatments or detailed evaluation of existing ones

Everybody who underwent a cardiogram at least once knows that the procedure is not quick in all respects. First, the patient has to undress, lie down and wait till a number of sensors are attached to him/her. But this is half the trouble. The obtained ECG is to be interpreted, that is to be determined how the heart works according to the waves recorded on the cardiograph tape. This is not done by the nurse who recorded the ECG, but by the medical specialist and probably within several days only.

Body piercing is popular today in the United States and other western societies. One common type of body piercing is tongue piercing, which involves placing a “barbell”-type stud through the tongue. But wearing a tongue stud puts people at risk for chipped teeth, recessed gums, and nerve damage, warns the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).

However, most people don’t realize that getting an oral piercing also places them at risk for developing a fatal infection or, in some cases, a min

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University Medical Center are reporting compelling new evidence that the cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin could prove an effective therapy for preventing the progression of, and reversing the severity of, multiple sclerosis (MS).

In the March 16 on-line edition of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, they report the results of a study that looked at the use of the drug (marketed as Lipitor) in combin

Findings could increase popular compound’s therapeutic use and effectiveness

According to the study, these activators bind to specific sites on the neurotoxin protein, increasing protease activity and enhancing the toxin’s effect. In some cases, the study noted, the activation power of the new molecules was as much as fourteen-fold, the greatest increase in activation ever reported for a protease; before this study, a two-fold activation of a protease was referred to

Using a chain of molecules as an infinitesimal lanyard to tug on a chemical bond about to break, Duke University chemists have found they can speed a complex chemical reaction.

Their unusual manipulative technique can reveal previously unknown details about the evolution of such two-step bond reactions, said assistant Duke chemistry professor Stephen Craig. It might ultimately aid efforts to develop new kinds of polymers that can “heal” themselves after tearing, he said.

Craig, c

The insulating myelin sheath enwrapping the cable-like axons of nerve cells is the major target of attack of the immune system in multiple sclerosis. Such attack causes neural short-circuits that give rise to the muscle weakness, loss of coordination, and speech and visual loss in the disease.

Now, Douglas Fields of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and his colleagues have reported in the March 16, 2006, issue of Neuron that supporting cells called a

May open new approach to understanding memory impairments in Alzheimer’s disease

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have discovered a new cell type in the part of the brain that processes our sense of smell. This new cell type, the Blanes cell, is a member of a group of previously unstudied brain cells described by the Spanish neuroanatomist Blanes (pronounced blon – es) in the late 1800s. Blanes cells have unusual properties which may hel

Researchers have used computational methods to predict what could be a prokaryotic RNA-silencing mechanism similar to the eukaryotic RNA- interference system. A study published today in the open access journal with a novel system of peer review, Biology Direct, provides the first strong evidence that a type of tandem repeats found in archaea and bacteria, the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindrome Repeats (CRISPR), might act in conjunction with the CRISPR-associated (cas) family of gen

FINDINGS:

A team led by NIH Director’s Pioneer Award recipient X. Sunney Xie, Ph.D., of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., has developed new imaging methods to track gene expression and the production of individual protein molecules in single, living cells. This technical tour de force, published in papers in this week’s issues of Science and Nature, opens the way to studying the expression of many important proteins, including those that exist in low numbers in the cell a

In a group of high-risk patients, a test that examined DNA from cells expelled in sputum for evidence of “silenced” genes correctly identified the majority of patients who were later diagnosed with lung cancer, say researchers in a study published in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research.

As such, the sputum test potentially represents a unique, non-invasive, and cost-effective screening method that could lead to earlier treatment of lung cancer.

“Short of repeatedly

First came word that a rare frog (Amolops tormotus) in China sings like a bird, then that the species produces very high-pitch ultrasonic sounds. Now scientists say that these concave-eared torrent frogs also hear and respond to the sounds.

The findings, to appear in the March 16 issue of Nature, represent the first documented case of an amphibian being able to communicate like bats, whales and dolphins, said corresponding author Albert S. Feng, a professor of molecular and inte

First ’movie’ of gene expression in live cells shows proteins being made in small bursts

Chemists at Harvard University have developed the first technique providing a real-time, molecule-by-molecule “movie” of protein production in live cells. Their direct observation of fluorescently tagged molecules in single cells — providing striking real-time footage of the birth of individual new protein molecules inside — greatly increases scientists’ precision in probing

A man-made chemical compound called ARC causes tumor cells to die but leaves normal cells unharmed, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago report in a study highlighted in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research. ARC also proved to have strong anti-angiogenic properties, showing promise as an inhibitor of new blood vessel formation in tumors.

ARC, an acronym for its long chemical name, resembles one of the bases that are the building blocks of DNA. Researchers found

Found with genes that control human immune response, discovery could lead to safer and more effective psoriasis treatments

University of Michigan scientists have found a common genetic variation in an immune system gene that makes people much more likely to develop psoriasis – a disfiguring inflammatory skin disease.

Named PSORS1 (SORE-ESS-1), for psoriasis susceptibility 1, the gene is the first genetic determinant of psoriasis to be definitively identified in a large c