Orthodontics takes first step toward biological control of tooth movement

In the first study of its kind, University of Florida researchers are testing the power of a natural human hormone to biochemically move teeth faster and less painfully during orthodontic treatment.

“Most of orthodontics has traditionally dealt with physics, the biomechanics of applying a force against a tooth to move it,” said study investigator Timothy Wheeler, D.M.D., Ph.D., a professor and cha

Using newly available biological technology, researchers have developed the first molecular portrait of multiple gene activity in diseased heart tissue taken from dogs near death from a devastating disease. The discovery sheds new light on the heart’s response to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a disease of large-breed dogs.

New microscopic technology allows researchers to place tens of thousands of genes on 1.5-inch-square slides known as a microarray. In this case, researchers

Findings offer therapeutic potential for human asthma treatment

Disruption of a single gene, Nrf2, plays a critical role in determining the susceptibility to asthma. A research team led by Shyam Biswal, PhD, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found the absence of Nrf2 exacerbated allergen-mediated asthma in mice models. The study’s findings, published in the July 4, 2005, edition of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, may hold therapeutic potential for the treat

Lab synthesizes ammonia using nitrogen and hydrogen in solution

University of Oregon chemists have produced ammonia from nitrogen at room temperature under normal atmospheric pressure, marking a significant step toward achieving one of chemistry’s coveted goals.

A scientific article describing the method, which uses a simple compound of iron and hydrogen as the electron source in the “fixing” reaction, is available online and will be published in the July 27 issue of

Gastro-Intestinal Stroma Tumor (GIST) is a rare form of cancer of the stomach or small intestine. Up to now, only one effective treatment has existed for GIST: the use of Glivec. However, over time, this remedy becomes ineffective for a large percentage of the patients. Along with colleagues in Leuven, the research group of Peter Marynen of the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), connected to the Catholic University of Leuven, has uncovered the process underlying the freq

Clinical trials have already shown that an MIT robotic arm can help stroke patients regain movement faster. Now MIT pioneers in the field of robotic therapy are hoping a robotic gym full of machines targeted at different parts of the body will significantly improve stroke patients’ movement in arms, wrists, hands, legs and ankles.

To that end the researchers have created a new Anklebot, and on July 1, MIT and the Baltimore Veterans Administration Medical Center established a

ADULT lifestyle has more influence on your chances of developing diabetes than childhood experience, according to new research whose findings contradict previously-held beliefs.

A team from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, studied 412 men and women and found that fatter adults were more likely to have increased insulin resistance, a risk marker for Type 2 diabetes.

Childhood factors, such as birth weight and nutrition, were found to have limited impact, whereas

Resulting in a plan to promote cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention measures across Europe, the European Commission’s (EC) Heart Health Conference convened representatives of health ministries, national cardiac societies, and heart foundations, and was organised by the EC’s Directorate General Health and Consumer Protection, and the Luxembourg Presidency in partnership with the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

While the conference’s strategy was to reiterate the importance of conc

Gene scanning techniques developed by Professor Ian Day and colleagues at the University of Southampton are set to have a major impact on healthcare in the future.

One of two gene mutation scanning techniques devised by Professor Day and his team in the Human Genetics Division of the University’s School of Medicine has been successfully applied to search for rare genetic mutations in the population at large.

Their method, called meltMADGE, which combines thermal ramp el

Doctors have become increasingly concerned by the problem of “super-bugs”—bacteria that have become resistant to standard antibiotics. It is well known that a high rate of antibiotic prescribing in hospitals contributes to the emergence of drug resistant bacteria. But for some antibiotics, an even more important factor contributing to such emergence, argues a team of researchers in the open access international medical journal PLoS Medicine, is the use of antibiotics in agriculture.

“Ev

Obesity and diabetes seen as accelerated aging; research has broad implications in treating disease and new drug discovery

During the last decade researchers have made a number of important discoveries about the molecular mechanisms regulating aging. This research has suggested the exciting prospect that the rate of aging can be manipulated and slowed, leading to longer human lifespan. A major peer-reviewed article in the current issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery describes the

How do you study a pathogen that can’t survive outside its host’s cells? In a new study published in the open access journal PLoS Biology, Hiroyuki Ogata and colleagues show that sequencing and analyzing the genome of the bacteria Rickettsia felis provide valuable insights into the biology and behavior of this intracellular pathogen. The researchers discovered that the parasitic bacterium has the standard large circular chromosome plus two unexpected plasmids, small circular pieces of

What do you get when you mix RNA chips and zebrafish? A new two-stage method for studying human gene expression differs in human stem cells and progenitor cells, according to a new article in the open access journal PLoS Biology. In the paper, Catherine Verfaillie and colleagues identify 277 human genes with different gene expression profiles in stem and progenitor cells involved in blood cell development, or hematopoiesis. The paper also suggests that a developmental regulator called fibroblast

Nerves talk to each other using chemicals called neurotransmitters. One of those “communication chemicals,” aptly named GABA (gamma amino butyric acid), shows up in unusually high amounts in some aggressive tumors, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The researchers investigated metastatic neuroendocrine tumors, which include aggressive types of lung, thyroid, and prostate cancers that spread to other parts of the body. Their study

Discovery has implications for future treatments

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified for the first time a group of genes that impact the development and function of blood stem cells, a discovery that brings researchers a step closer to harnessing the power of stem cells for disease treatments.

Every day, blood stem cells divide and differentiate to generate approximately 200 billion new blood cells in the bone marrow of adults. To maintain their num

A Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator from Albany, New York, and an HHMI international research scholar from Buenos Aires, Argentina have combined their expertise to identify two peculiar features of the protein-making machinery of the parasite that causes Chagas disease. Their findings could help scientists develop a safe and effective drug for the disease, whose cardiac complications kill up to 30 percent of those infected.

The unusual structure of the ribosome, publis