Transplanting a pair of kidneys with limited function into one patient can be just as successful as the standard procedure in which a patient receives a single kidney, according to new research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

“Performing double transplants using kidneys that would otherwise be discarded may be one viable solution to the growing shortage of organs for transplantation,” said Robert Stratta, M.D., co-author of a study being presented today at a meetin

Researchers at the University at Buffalo have identified two components of saliva that may serve as the basis for novel tests to determine the risk for future loss of the bone that holds teeth in place.

By comparing dental X-rays of 100 patients with analyses of their saliva, the researchers found that higher-than-normal levels of a salivary protein called IL-1-beta were associated with increased bone loss.

The level of another protein, osteonectin, was inversely pro

It’s one of those unavoidable facts of life — kids get sick and have fevers. Usually, those elevated internal temperatures cause only temporary discomfort, but in some small children they spark convulsions called “febrile seizures.”

These convulsions are “scary and very upsetting to parents,” said Robert L. Macdonald, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of Neurology.

They’ve also been something of an enigma, he said. The epilepsy research community has struggle

This new understanding could lead to potential advances in pain therapy, the researchers said. Moreover, the scientists envision that their method may be potentially useful in studying the activation mechanism of other drugs and proteins.

“Because our ability to sense temperature is closely linked to our ability to sense pain, it is not surprising that the misregulation of temperature-activated ion channels can result in chronic pain syndromes,” said Ardem Patapoutian, associ

Complete description of pneumococcal vaccine targets

New tools in the fight against pneumococci – the bugs targeted by vaccines recently announced by the Department of Health – are described by a team led by scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. They have put together a complete description of the targets of the vaccine that will help monitor the disease and provide new tools for rapid diagnosis.

Pneumococci (formal name Streptococcus pneumoniae) are wides

Researchers at New York University’s Center for Comparative Functional Genomics and the University of California, Berkeley have used computational analyses to predict a genome-wide map of microRNA (miRNA) targets in the animal model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). MicroRNAs bind to messenger RNA (mRNA) in a specific section, called 3’UTR, and are known to regulate them. Parts of the predicted map were confirmed through the development of a novel in vivo method that asked

Researchers create new tool against transmission of virus

Researchers have successfully created a genetically engineered mosquito that shows a high level of resistance against the most prevalent type of dengue fever virus, providing a powerful weapon against a disease that infects 50 million people each year.

Anthony James, a UC Irvine vector biologist, is one of a team of researchers who injected DNA into mosquito embryos, creating the first stable transgenic mosquito resi

In a fascinating new study forthcoming from The Quarterly Review of Biology, biologists from the University of Oxford explore a rare tactic employed by females badgers to maximize their reproductive success. The authors argue that conception during pregnancy, known as superfetation, benefits female reproductive fitness by reducing the risk of infanticide, extending the female’s window of opportunity for conception, and increasing the genetic diversity of the litter.

“Natural selec

European researchers aim to map out a course of action to secure and sustain European food production.

The European Science Foundation has recently accepted a proposal for a new Forward Look that aims to create a broad research agenda focusing on all aspects of food systems. The objective is to address vital health and environmental issues, such as food security and sustainable development, primarily at a European level but also from a global perspective.

The leadin

Neuroscientists from the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota have found that the first area in the cortex of the human brain that receives information from the eyes processes the perceived size, rather than the actual size, of an object.

“Our eyes only tell us part of what we need to be able to see. The other part is done by the brain, taking the input from the eyes and making guesses or inferences about what’s out there in the enviro You can’t alw

A noninvasive approach for assessing lung inflammation should accelerate efforts to develop drugs for inflammatory lung conditions like cystic fibrosis and pneumonia, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report.

Researchers have used positron emission tomography (PET) scans to monitor artificially induced inflammation in the lungs of healthy volunteers. The new imaging process may help doctors monitor the conditions of patients with inflammatory l

More help for patients already taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs

A pill containing plant substances called sterols can help lower cholesterol, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The researchers studied patients who already were eating a heart-healthy diet and taking statin drugs to control cholesterol. The addition of plant sterols helped further lower total cholesterol and contributed to a nearly 10 percent reductio

New research by the University of Warwick’s Warwick Medical School shows that the biggest health threat to fat and obese people isn’t the fat itself but the fact that the fat fuels a killer inflammation response in people.

The research published in the International Journal of Obesity on Tuesday 7th March shows that inflammation is a crucial and dangerous step in the development of obesity.

Warwick Medical School researchers Professor F P Cappuccio and Dr M A Miller hav

Finding has potential to limit toxic molecules

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a previously unrecognized role played by the gene HIF-1 as it helps cell survive when a lack of oxygen decreases production of an energy-rich molecule called ATP and increases production of toxic molecules. ATP supplies energy the cell needs to perform each of its many chemical reactions and tasks, and in this way acts as the “currency” for the cell’s energy economy.

A report

Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a molecular mechanism that may play a crucial role in cancer’s ability to resist chemotherapy and radiation treatment and that also may be involved in Alzheimer’s and heart disease.

The scientists, using an innovative imaging technique invented at Purdue, have learned that a protein previously believed to be confined to the nucleus of healthy cells actually shuttles between the nucleus and cytoplasm, the region of the cell surr

For the first time, Johns Hopkins researchers were able to easily jumpstart the activity of a well-known cancer protein in live cells with a small molecule, a strategy that pinpointed key players in the cancer process and can be used to determine new therapeutic targets. What’s more, the scientists’ study, published in the March 3 issue of Science, identifies a simple method to further understand the complex mechanisms that underlie cancer as well as other diseases and may provide an ea