Researchers urge doctors to perform sleep studies on children before, during treatment

Growth hormone helps hundreds of children with a rare disorder that causes them to gorge on food, but for some, starting treatment can worsen a dangerous nighttime breathing problem, University of Florida researchers have found.

Sleep apnea disrupts breathing during sleep and is common among morbidly obese children, including those with Prader-Willi syndrome, a disease that compel

Concepción Lecároz, a researcher from the University of Navarra, has developed a new therapy against brucellosis. This zoonosis —a disease or infection of animals which can be transmitted to humans under natural conditions— annually affects 500,000 people worldwide. This research project forms part of her doctoral thesis, defended at the University’s School of Pharmacy.

This study has permitted the development of a new treatment which significantly reduces infections in mice, a

In the world of genetic engineering one often talks about ‘transgenic organisms’. These are organisms that have been modified by the insertion of an alien gene into their genome. Now it turns out that there are naturally occurring transgenic plants. One such instance was found by Dr Lena Ghatnekar from the research team for evolutionary genetics at Lund University in Sweden. Her findings have just been published in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society in London.

Sheep’s fescu

The absence of a key protein may lead to infertility.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report that experiments involving mice — to be detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — indicate that the transcription factor protein C/EBPb must be present in the uterus for pregnancy to occur. The study appears online this week at the PNAS Web site.

Without it, they say, an embryo cannot survive in uterine tissue or attach to

New insight into related disorders

An international research collaboration led by Mayo Clinic has identified a new gene involved in causing the inherited kidney disorder, Meckel-Gruber syndrome (MKS). Children with MKS have central nervous system deformities as well as abnormal cysts in their kidneys, and usually die shortly after birth. The findings appear in the current edition of Nature Genetics (http://www.nature.com/ng/index.html). In addition to Mayo Clinic, the collaborati

Researchers identify a compound in cocoa responsible for improving blood flow

While a growing number of studies has shown a link between flavanol-rich cocoa and cardiovascular health, scientists have now substantiated a causal relationship between specific compounds present in cocoa and cardiovascular health. Published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) , this new study identifies the flavanol, (-)epicatechin, as o

Scientists have developed a novel mouse model for leukemia that reveals critical information about the mechanisms involved in leukemia progression and provides a model system for evaluation of new drugs for treatment of leukemia. The research, published in the January issue of Cancer Cell, utilizes a technique that allows induction and study of a key oncoprotein in adult mice. Previously, it was difficult to investigate this oncoprotein in the mouse, as the expression of this gene is associated w

Overactive growth controller could become drug target

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a molecular interaction that triggers a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, and suggest that attacking this target with selective drugs might improve treatment.

In the January issue of Cancer Cell, a team led by Qunyan Yu, MD, and Peter Sicinski, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber report that the interaction of a certain mutated oncogene and the newly describe

People who lack a cell surface protein called CCR5 are highly resistant to infection by HIV but may be at increased risk of developing West Nile virus (WNV) illness when exposed to the mosquito-borne virus, report researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study, by Philip M. Murphy, M.D., and colleagues, appears online today in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. The findings may have cautionary implica

Max Planck researchers in Jena, Germany have identified a gene which produces a chemical ’cry for help’ that attracts beneficial insects to damaged plants

Corn plants emit a cocktail of scents when they are attacked by certain pests, such as a caterpillar known as the Egyptian cotton leaf worm. Parasitic wasps use these plant scents to localize the caterpillar and deposit their eggs on it, so that their offspring can feed on the caterpillar. Soon after, the caterpillar di

By deleting a single gene in a small portion of the brains of mice, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center found that the animals were affected in a way resembling schizophrenia in humans.

After the gene was removed, the animals, which had been trained to use external cues to look for chocolate treats buried in sand, couldn’t learn a similar task, the researchers report in a paper appearing in today’s issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

The resear

Two variations in the gene for insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1) are linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, according to research performed by scientists from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and the University of Hawaii.

“Our results suggest that inherited variation in IGF1 may play a role in prostate cancer risk,” write the researchers in a paper published in the January 18, 2006, issue

While there are clear guidelines about the best way to treat cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the first large scale global study on cardiac care has revealed that there is a gap between what is recommended and what is practiced worldwide.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)(1), analyzes information collected by the Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (REACH) Registry, th

Sulfonylurea drugs, used in the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus to lower blood sugar levels, have been suspected since the 1970s of increasing cardiovascular mortality as well.

In this careful study, some 5800 patients treated with pills for their diabetes were monitored for an average of about 5 years. Patients who were prescribed a sulfonylurea drug (chlorpropamide, tolbutamide or glyburide) experienced higher mortality rates than those who received metformin. Mortality f

Older adults who exercised at least three times a week were much less likely to develop dementia than those who were less active, according to a new study. The study did not demonstrate directly that exercise reduces risk of dementia, but it joins a growing body of observational research pointing to an association between exercise and cognitive decline, say scientists at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human

Results available in physician’s office

A simple urine test that can be interpreted in a doctor’s office can help detect nearly all recurrences of bladder cancers with a higher accuracy rate than conventional laboratory analysis of urine tests. The BladderChek test, used in conjunction with a diagnostic scope, detected 99 percent of recurring bladder cancers, according to a study in the Jan. 18 issue of JAMA.

“This is good news for patients. If you have been treated for b