Electrical exercise system gives paralysis sufferers power to recover strength

People affected by paralysis could enjoy more independence, better health and a higher quality of life thanks to an innovative system designed to improve fitness and increase arm strength.

It uses electrical signals to stimulate movement in arm muscles where function has been lost, making it possible to work an arm-exercise machine (similar to an exercise bike but worked by the arms).

Visceral leishmaniasis, which is the most severe form of that group of diseases, affects 500 000 people in the world each year. It is caused by a protozoan, Leishmania infantum, transmitted by sand fly bites. There is no vaccine for this disease, which can rapidly lead to death if no treatment is given. In the most heavily affected areas, the dog population is hit heavily by infection. It acts as parasite reservoir for humans.

Development of a vaccine for dogs could help brake transmission

Researchers investigating anecdotal evidence that cannabis relieves some of the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have discovered a potential new target for cannabis-derived drugs for treatment of the disease.

This finding, published in the journal Gastroenterology today (Monday 1 August), could bring new hope for the UK’s 90,000 – 180,000 sufferers of diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis* with the possibility that cannabis-derived drugs may help to heal th

While “navigation” systems in automobiles are a fairly new (and still costly) innovation, monarch butterflies have managed for millennia to navigate their way for a distance of some 3000 miles (4800 kilometers) each fall from Canada to Mexico (and vice-versa in the spring) without losing their way.

The phenomenon of long-range bird migration is a well-known one, but not in the insect world. Also, among birds their migration route is a round-trip one, which they make more than once

Microarray scans DNA regions in neuroblastoma tumors to forecast outcomes, guide treatments

Genetics researchers have developed a customized gene chip to rapidly scan tumor samples for specific DNA changes that offer clues to prognosis in cases of neuroblastoma, a common form of children’s cancer. Rather than covering the entire genome, the microarray focuses on suspect regions of chromosomes for signs of deleted genetic material known to play a role in the cancer.

’Aging profile’ of the human brain also differs greatly from that seen in chimpanzees

Researchers have found that the two primary areas of the human brain appear to age in radically different ways: The cortex used in higher-level thought undergoes more extensive changes with age than the cerebellum, which regulates basic processes such as heartbeat, breathing and balance. Their work, based on an analysis of gene expression in various areas of human and chimpanzee brains,

Amphetamines, including the drug popularly known as Ecstasy, can reverse the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in mice with an acute form of the condition, according to new research at Duke University Medical Center.

The researchers caution that the findings in animals do not suggest Parkinson’s disease patients should find relief by taking amphetamines, which are drugs of abuse with many dangerous side effects. The findings rather indicate that drugs with similar chemical

In a recent study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists report on the discovery of a new molecule that is essential for degradation of the biopolymer chitin. This new molecule could eventually aid in the engineering of fungi-resistant plants and could also lead to the discovery of similar molecules that can be used in cellulose-based biofuel production.

The research appears as the “Paper of the Week” in the August 5 issue of the Journal of Biological Ch

An international group of researchers has characterized the proteome of the human cornea. In doing so, they have identified 141 distinct proteins, 99 of which had not been previously recognized in mammalian corneas. The details of their findings appear in the August/September issue of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal.

The cornea is the transparent, dome-shaped window that covers the front of the eye. Although i

Inhibitors of cellular enzymes could be developed for SARS treatment

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that inhibitors of an enzyme called cathepsin L prevent the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus from entering target cells. SARS is caused by an emergent coronavirus. There is no effective treatment at this time.

This study also demonstrates a new mechanism for how viral proteins are activated within host cells, sta

Dr. Norbert Perrimon and colleagues at Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA) have used a genome-wide RNAi screen in cultured Drosophila cells to identify novel regulators of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway.

In a stunning example of the utility of cell-based RNAi analysis in a genetically tractable system, like fruit flies, the researchers identified 121 genes involved in the JAK/STAT pathway, including a key, and previously unidentified, negative regulator of the pathway. PTP61F emerged fr

Discovery may lead to new therapies for leukemia, other blood disorders

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that a protein called NF-Ya activates several genes known to regulate the development of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), or blood-producing stem cells, in bone marrow. Knowing the details of this pathway may one day lead to new treatments for such blood diseases as leukemia, as well as a better understanding of how HSCs work in the context

The designers of heart disease trials should ensure that they recruit enough women to reveal reliably whether they are responding to the drugs in a different way from men, according to research published on line today (Tuesday, 2 August) in Europe’s leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal[1].

Women are under represented in most clinical studies, so the data and the results are less well documented for them, according to Dr Verena Stangl, senior author of the

What caused leprosy – a widely dreaded disease in medieval Europe – to fade from the scene? By the 16th century, the scourge had practically disappeared there.

The reason seems to be, say researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in London, that tuberculosis, a far more deadly disease, overtook leprosy, killing millions throughout Europe.

Their conclusion is based upon the examination of DNA from human remains from the ancient and medieval periods in Israel a

Discovery that oxidative stress from pollen is as important as antigen exposure could lead to new therapies

For a person with allergies or asthma, breathing in pollen can be a very bad thing. Within minutes of inhalation by someone sensitive to their effects, these tiny particles can trigger severe inflammation of the respiratory passages, producing uncontrollable sneezing, coughing, or extreme shortness of breath — symptoms agonizingly familiar to those who suffer from allergy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), an abnormal thickening of the heart, affects more than 500,000 Americans, making it more common than better-known conditions such as Crohn’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Anorexia Nervosa. HCM involves a thickening of the heart muscle walls, particularly the wall (septum) that separates the two main pumping chambers. That thickening can affect blood flow into and out of the heart, which may lead to symptoms including shortness of breath, chest pain, dizz