Elusive smad dephosphorylase identified

In the March 15th issue of G&D, Dr. Lan Xu and colleagues (UMASS Medical School) identify the long sought-after phosphatase for Smad in the BMP signal transduction pathway.

In organisms as diverse as worms, fruit flies and humans, the Smad family of intracellular messenger proteins are activated upon phosphorylation by TGFbeta and BMP signaling pathways. Dr. Xu’s new paper now reveals the elusive Smad phosphatase in the BMP path

The failure of programming that sparks the death of dendritic cells – those that activate the immune system – can initiate autoimmune disease, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Science.

The problem begins with a process called programmed cell death or apoptosis, said Dr. Jin Wang, assistant professor of immunology at Baylor College of Medicine. Mice bred to have a defect in apoptosis of their dendritic cells we

The Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) has taken a lead role in addressing the threat of declining numbers of graduates entering the food industry. Over recent years there has been a drop in student interest in food-related science-based subjects with a marked reduction in students studying food-related degrees. The resultant decline in graduates in this area is a threat to the requirements of the food industry to meet the needs for growth in this essential sector.

As a re

The Institute of Food Science & Technology, through its Public Affairs and Technical & Legislative Committees, has authorised the following Information Statement prepared by its Professional Food Microbiology Group, dated February 2006.

SUMMARY

Mycotoxins occur widely in nature. There are several different types of these substances; all of them are produced by filamentous fungi. Organisms producing them can develop in foods at any stage in the food chain from the field t

Mystery of why women die more often than men after bypass operations may be rooted in preventable or treatable causes

For years, experts have puzzled over the fact that women who have heart bypass surgery are far more likely than their male counterparts to die within days or weeks of their operation. This gender gap means many “extra” female deaths among the 270,000 Americans who have bypass surgery each year.

Now, a new University of Michigan study suggests that the an

Einstein researchers report findings in March issue of Diabetes

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have documented a dramatic upsurge in diabetes-related deaths and illnesses in New York City–including a sharp increase in diabetic patients hospitalized with heart attacks. They warn that this upsurge in diabetic complications may end the long-term trend of progressively fewer heart attacks and heart-attack deaths in the U.S.

A study of elderly Dutch men indicates that eating or drinking cocoa is associated with lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death, according to an article in the February 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Cocoa has been linked to cardiovascular health benefits since at least the 18th century, but researchers are just beginning to collect scientific evidence for these claims, according to background information in the article. Cocoa is

Mayo Clinic researchers working in concert with other North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) investigators have found that administering epoetin alfa for anemia once every three weeks to patients with anemia and cancer, instead of the traditional weekly epoetin treatments, maintains similar levels of red blood cells. Results of the study are available online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Anemia is a common complication of cancer and can significantly impair a patient’s

UT Southwestern Medical Center ophthalmologists will be the first in the area to insert a new type of implanted lens to fix nearsightedness.

“Think of it as a contact lens inside your eye,” said Dr. Wayne Bowman, who is inserting the new implantable collamer lens, or ICL, today for the first time at UT Southwestern University Hospitals.

The ICL can replace or reduce the need for glasses by permanently placing the specially fitted artificial lens in front of the eye’s n

Recent research on the genetics of smoking has focused on genes that are thought to be related to nicotine metabolism, personality traits, and regulation of emotions. According to a genetic study just published in “Nicotine and Tobacco Research,” genes responsible for taste also may yield important information about who smokes and why they smoke.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Utah wanted to determine if a “bitterness” gene-phenylthiocarbamide (PT

UCSF and Cleveland Clinic scientists have discovered a new virus in human prostate tumors. The type of virus, closely related to viruses typically found in mice, has never been detected in humans. The virus’s link to human disease is still unclear, and more study is needed to determine the relationship between the virus and cancer, if any, the scientists say.

The discovery was made with the same DNA-hunting “virus chip” used to confirm the identity of the SARS virus three y

The southern house mosquito, found everywhere in the tropics and subtropics, is actually composed of genetically different strains, according to a team of researchers led by a scientist from The Academy of Natural Sciences.

This research helps medical entomologists and doctors understand why certain infectious diseases occur in parts of the world but not in others depending on the presence of the disease-transmitting mosquito strains.

In a paper published in the Febru

A team of researchers from the University of Alberta, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University and the Emory Transplant Center has successfully transplanted insulin-producing neonatal porcine islet cells into monkeys, a procedure the researchers say represents a promising intermediate solution to the critical supply problem in clinical islet cell transplantation.

“Our work at the U of A and Emory, along with recent work at the University of Minnesota, is very exciti

Gold compounds have been used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases for more than 75 years, but until now, how the metals work has been a mystery. Harvard Medical School researchers report in the Feb. 27 issue of Nature Chemical Biology that special forms of gold, platinum, and other classes of medicinal metals work by stripping bacteria and virus particles from the grasp of a key immune system protein.

“We were searching for a new drug to treat autoimmun

Researchers in Argentina have determined that night blindness is a new clinical symptom of Chagas disease. A team led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar Mariano Jorge Levin and Cristina Paveto of the Institute for Genetic Engineering and Molecular Biology (INGEBI), National Research Council, National Council of Scientific Research and Technology in Buenos Aires, found that the immune system of individuals with the tropical disease can shut down a key reaction

Though some species of fish around the world’s are likely to be contaminated with mercury, PCBs and other toxins, the benefits of eating seafood continue to outweigh the risks, a panel of scientists recently said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“The best science coming out over the last two years has overwhelmingly been in favor of the benefits of seafood consumption,” said Michael T. Morrissey, director of Oregon State University&#14