UF researchers report: Immunosuppressant drug prevents late rejection of transplanted kidneys

A drug that suppresses the immune system and prolongs the survival of donated kidneys in patients in the first months after transplantation also has the ability to block organ rejection over the long haul, University of Florida researchers have found.

The drug, mycophenolate mofetil, has been shown to decrease acute rejection by 50 percent compared with an older agent commonly used,

Scientists at the University of Leicester are on the way to solving a problem that has long beset chemists trying to study chemical reactions.

To establish reaction mechanisms the observation of reaction intermediates is vital, but they are incredibly short-lived under normal conditions, and therefore difficult to detect. Freezing the reaction – known as matrix isolation – has been employed for many years, but produces rigid solids in which molecules are trapped and therefore motionle

In the latest January 10th issue of Cell, a discovery is published by Barends et al. of Leiden University about the artful way by which an infecting plant virus succeeds in conquering the protein factories (ribosomes) of a host cell for subsequent enforced production of viral proteins. To this aim, the virus uses a molecular ’Trojan Horse’ mimicking the shape of transfer RNA, the regular molecular ’van’ for the delivery of amino acids as protein building-stones into those factories.

In the

Binghamton University researcher fractures myths around osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is not a disease, and neither weight-bearing exercise nor calcium supplements-not even a combination of the two-is capable of triggering the growth of new bone, says Kenneth McLeod, chair of the bioengineering department at Binghamton University and a leading researcher in the field of tissue development, healing and adaptation.

But don’t throw in the towel and plan your wardrobe and life a

In a recent study, giving iron supplements to anemic children when they have a cold or other upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) significantly improved their iron status without increasing stomach upset or other side effects, says a Penn State nutritionist.

Dr. Namanjeet Ahluwalia, associate professor of nutrition and principle investigator on the research team, says, “Because of conflicting results from previous studies, physicians preferred to be cautious and generally withhold iron

An enzyme found only in the liver and intestines may play a crucial role in the development of hardening of the arteries — or atherosclerosis, a research team from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The narrowing of arteries through atherosclerosis is a major contributor to heart attacks and strokes.

The confirmation of the relationship between the enzyme, AC

Groundbreaking study in female mice links estrogen, lower blood pressure, and insulin resistance, despite a high fructose diet

Bethesda, MD – High-fructose corn syrup replaced sucrose (table sugar) as a sweetener in most grocery products some 20 years ago. Today, about nine percent of the average dietary energy intake in the U.S. comes from fructose. However, a number of nutritionists are alarmed by the amount of the public’s consumption, as previous research has demonstrated that a

Technique used to shrink tumors, delay their growth

A team of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center scientists shrunk tumors or delayed their growth in animal studies by using radiation to enable a drug to “zero in” and block the tumor blood vessels.

The work, reported in the January issue of the journal Cancer Cell, is a model for what might be achieved in patients by using radiation to activate drug targets in tumors. “We can now use combinations of chemotherapy and radiation to

New pathway presents target for medication development

Brain molecules similar to the active compound in marijuana help to regulate alcohol consumption, according to new reports by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Bethesda, Maryland, and a separate NIAAA-supported group at several New York state research institutions.

In studies conducted with a strain of mice known to have a high preference for alcohol, the scientists found great

Treatment with two medications that suppress the immune system, rituximab and cyclophosphamide, appears to have cured one woman of an otherwise untreatable case of the blood disease known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). The findings support the theory that TTP is an autoimmune disease, and not only provide insight into diagnosis and treatment, but also reveal clues about blood clotting and autoimmune diseases in general.

“In this particular patient who did not respond to stand

atugen AG, a private company focused on the elucidation of disease pathways, today announced the identification of a novel cancer target that appears to play an important role in tumor growth and metastasis. atugen’s research group has demonstrated that inhibition of the novel target, Atu027, which has homology to protein kinases, results in blockage of tumor growth of human prostate carcinoma cells in orthotopic mouse models. atugen has demonstrated that human prostate tumor cells engineered to expr

RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as an extremely versatile and powerful tool in biomedical research. A new study published in the February issue of Nature Structural Biology reports the creation of transgenic mice in which inherited RNAi lowers or silences the expression of a target gene, producing a stable “gene knockdown.” This finding extends the power of RNAi to genetic studies in live animals, and has far-reaching implications for the study and treatment of many human diseases.

To a

Fungus-growing ants practice agriculture and have been doing so for the past 50 million years according to research published in the Jan. 17 issue of Science. These ants not only grow fungus gardens underground for food but also have adapted to handling parasitic “weeds” that infect their crops.

The team of scientists who collaborated on this analysis includes Ted Schultz of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Bess Wong of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Came

Promising cancer-fighting candidates emerge from tropical ocean ‘mud’

Although the oceans cover 70 percent of the planet’s surface, much of their biomedical potential has gone largely unexplored. Until now.

A group of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, have for the first time shown that sediments in the deep ocean are a significant biomedical resource for microbes that produce antibiotic molecules.

In a seri

Ground-breaking research at the University of Leicester into the division of chloroplasts holds out hope of a safer way of genetically modifying crops, with implications for agriculture particularly in the developing world.

Using three plant types – Arabidopsis, tomato and rice – Dr Simon Geir Møller has been working with colleagues in the University of Leicester Department of Biology and at the Laboratory of Plant Molecular Biology at the Rockefeller University in New York to examine how ch

By using mouse models, the EU-funded DEPROHEALTH-project has demonstrated that some lactobacilli can have a beneficial effect on intestinal inflammation and infections. The major target disease in these mouse studies has been inflammation of the bowel. For this purpose, engineered lactobacilli were constructed. The modified strains that are most promising produce fair levels of an effective compound (an interleukine) that helps preventing the inflammation caused by bacteria. Four of the most promi