The DNA molecule–nature’s premier data storage material–may hold the key for the information technology industry as it faces demands for more compact data processing and storage circuitry. A team led by Richard Kiehl, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota, has used DNA’s ability to assemble itself into predetermined patterns to construct a synthetic DNA scaffolding with regular, closely spaced docking sites that can direct the assembly of circuits for processing

How the First Identified Epigenetic Disease Turns on the Genes That Produce its Symptoms

Sometime between the age of 6 and 18 months, after a period of seemingly normal development, girls affected with Rett Syndrome lose interest in play; they gradually become withdrawn and anxious, develop autistic-like behaviors, and acquire specific symptoms like repetitive teeth-grinding and hand-wringing. This devastating neurological disease affects one in 15,000 female children.

Perhaps George Washington wouldn’t have chopped down his father’s cherry tree if he knew what chemists now know. They have identified a group of naturally occurring chemicals abundant in cherries that could help lower blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. In early laboratory studies using animal pancreatic cells, the chemicals, called anthocyanins, increased insulin production by 50 percent, according to a peer-reviewed study scheduled to appear in the Jan. 5 issue of the America

Blocking a key molecule protects breast implants, permanent catheters, pacemakers, artificial joints, glucose sensors for diabetics, and other biomaterials from rejection and damage by the body, according to a study published this month in The American Journal of Pathology.

The more complicated the function of the implant, the more likely it is to be rendered non-functional due to damage induced by the body, said the lead author, Themis Kyriakides, assistant professor of pathol

In experiments in the lab and with guinea pigs, researchers from Johns Hopkins have found the first evidence that genetically engineered heart cells derived from human embryonic stem (ES) cells might one day be a promising biological alternative to the electronic pacemakers used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

Electronic pacemakers are used in children and adults with certain heart conditions that interfere with a normal heartbeat. However, these life-saving device

Paxceed shows therapeutic promise for diseases involving brain amyloids

In a preclinical efficacy trial, the cancer drug paclitaxel (Paxceed)–which exerts its effects by binding to and stabilizing microtubules inside cells–reduced the adverse effects of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-like pathology in a mouse model. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine showed that the microtubule-stabilizing drug Paxceed helps correct the problems caused by clumped tau

Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) could potentially be treated using their own stem cells that have been manipulated by gene therapy, suggests a study reported in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The authors, who represent five institutions, including the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, demonstrate for the first time that human bone marrow-derived adult stem cells can be coaxed to differentiate into ai

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston have discovered that malignant melanoma, the potentially lethal skin cancer, can’t grow without a steady supply of a protein that normal cells can do without.

The findings, which are published in the December issue of Cancer Cell, suggest that drugs that cut off melanoma cells’ supply of the protein, called CDK2, might curb the growth of the dangerous skin cancer in patients, and with rela

Researchers have discovered that specific cancer-causing genes associated with leukemias can transform mature white blood cells into leukemic cells that have all the properties of stem cells. The findings are noteworthy because they show that certain leukemia oncogenes can commandeer and switch on genetic programs that govern self-renewal, one of the unique characteristics of stem cells.

The findings may also help explain why the cancer drug Gleevec, which targets the BCR-ABL enzy

A study by a team of researchers at the University of Southampton has revealed that Western style acupuncture can be effective in treating chronic neck pain. Moreover, its beneficial effects may be as much to do with the non-specific but powerful effects of the treatment process as the specific effect of the needles. The results of the study are set out in a paper that appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine on 21 December 2004.

Chronic neck pain presents a substantial problem

National survey shows patients want treatments to control broader range of symptoms giving them a second chance at life

A panel of experts says doctors treating patients with schizophrenia should be targeting symptoms beyond hallucinations and delusions, and focus in on the common, but often overlooked, symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as the inability to think clearly. Patients agree, ranking these symptoms as major concerns in a recent national survey. As a result, the

Acupuncture provides pain relief and improves function for people with osteoarthritis of the knee and serves as an effective complement to standard care. This landmark study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), both components of the National Institutes of Health. The findings of the study–the longest and largest randomized, controlled phase III clinical trial o

MGH study provides clues to best therapeutic schedule, cellular underpinnings of treatment

Although the earliest clinical trials of the cancer-fighting potential of antiangiogenesis drugs did not have the dramatic results that some hoped for, subsequent trials showed that combining agents that suppress blood-vessel growth with therapies that destroy cancer cells can improve patient survival. In the December issue of Cancer Cell, researchers from the Massachusetts General Hosp

In animal studies, researchers at Johns Hopkins have effectively used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure with 94 percent accuracy the size and amount of heart muscle damaged by a heart attack, known in medical terms as a myocardial infarct, or m.i., for short.

The Hopkins development, if confirmed in further pathology studies in humans, could standardize how physicians currently gauge the severity of a heart attack and a patient’s chances for recovery. A variety

Statistical physics approach to analysis of heartbeat pattern uncovers link to circadian cycle

In a newly reported, first-ever finding, physicists from Boston University and physiologists from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found that the body’s biological clock affects the patterns of heart-rate control in healthy individuals independent of sleep/wake cycle or other behavior influences. Their analysis of the heartbeat dynamics of the healthy individuals in the

Cardiovascular disease risk is extremely high in adults with diabetes. Yet women as well as people under 50 who have diabetes do not use aspirin, despite the fact that aspirin has been found an effective and inexpensive means to reduce risk of first and subsequent heart attack.

Previous research has demonstrated less frequent use of invasive cardiovascular procedures and effective medications for acute myocardial infarction, including thrombolytics, beta-blockers and aspirin,