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Entomologists look for Lyme disease answers in tick saliva

In research that could mitigate the spread of Lyme disease, Kansas State University entomologists are looking for answers in tick saliva.

12 Dec 2008

Researchers capture never before seen undulations of "dancing chromosomes"

The rhythm of life may beat far deeper than anyone previously thought. And it may gyrate and pulse in a way that rivals the sensuous choreography of "Dirty Dancing."

12 Dec 2008

Researchers create tiny, implantable device that captures and kills cancer cells in the bloodstream

In a new tactic in the fight against cancer, Cornell University researcher Michael King has developed what he calls a lethal "lint brush" for the blood -- a tiny, implantable device that captures and kills cancer cells in the bloodstream before they spread through the body.

12 Dec 2008

Scientists show that HIV's evolution in the body does not occur at a constant rate

HIV is so deadly largely because it evolves so rapidly. With a single virus as the origin of an infection, most patients will quickly come to harbor thousands of different versions of HIV, all a little bit different and all competing with one another to most efficiently infect that person's cells. Its rapid and unique evolution in every patient is what allows HIV to evade the body's defenses and gives the virus great skill at developing resistance to a pantheon of antiviral drugs.

12 Dec 2008

Vaxfectin-formulated H5N1 pandemic influenza achieves T-cell responses and cross-clade reactivity in humans

Vical Incorporated has announced that the company's Vaxfectin-formulated H5N1 pandemic influenza DNA vaccines induced T-cell responses against a matching strain of influenza virus and demonstrated cross-clade antibody responses against a different strain in a Phase 1 clinical trial.

11 Dec 2008

Genetic links found between type 1 diabetes and celiac disease

Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes and celiac disease appear to share a common genetic origin, scientists at the University of Cambridge and Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, have confirmed.

10 Dec 2008

RNA interference can facilitate vaccine development

Pharmaceutical companies and universities are racing to develop drugs that use the gene silencing mechanism known as RNA interference to treat a host of diseases.

10 Dec 2008

Studies on imaging and tracking transplanted cells

Successfully monitoring the distribution and fate of transplanted stem cells through imaging and subsequent tracking would aid clinicians in their ability to evaluate the efficacy of transplanted cells.

10 Dec 2008

Scans show immune cells intercepting parasites

Researchers may have identified one of the body's earliest responses to a group of parasites that causes illness in developing nations.

10 Dec 2008

New technique may provide quicker and easier way of developing protein-based drugs

Research by a Michigan State University chemist could eventually lead to a quicker and easier way of developing protein-based drugs that are key to treating a number of diseases, including cancer, diabetes and hepatitis.

10 Dec 2008

Protein FKBP12 provides new insights into understanding autism

Researchers at New York University's Center for Neural Science and the Baylor College of Medicine have identified a protein that when removed from mice results in behaviors that are akin to those with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

10 Dec 2008

New research points to possible treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease

There are many ways to die, but amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease must be one of the worst.

10 Dec 2008

Rosiglitazone shows potential for treating focal segmental glomerulosclerosis

The antidiabetes drug rosiglitazone may have the potential to protect kidney function in patients with a condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), according to a study appearing in the January 2009 issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

10 Dec 2008

Decreased levels of binding gene affect memory and behavior

Reducing the activity of a gene called FKBP12 in the brains of mice affected neuron-to-neuron communication (synapse) and increased both fearful memory and obsessive behavior, indicating the gene could provide a target for drugs to treat diseases such as autism spectrum disorder, obsessive-compulsive disease and others, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report in the current issue of the journal Neuron.

10 Dec 2008

Cellular 'brakes' may slow memory process in aging brains

University of Florida researchers may have discovered why some brain cells necessary for healthy memory can survive old age or disease, while similar cells hardly a hairsbreadth away die.

10 Dec 2008

Brain deletion of FK506-binding protein enhances repetitive behaviors in mice

A new study reveals a link between dysregulation of a common signaling pathway and repetitive behaviors similar to those associated with multiple neurological and neurodegenerative disorders including, autism spectrum disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and Huntington's disease.

10 Dec 2008

Controlling the building blocks of life

A simple and reliable method for converting one of the simplest chemical entities into one of the most difficult-to-make molecular building blocks of life, with complete control over its shape, is reported by scientists at the University of Bristol in this week's Nature.

10 Dec 2008

Pycnogenol reduces inflammatory marker C-reactive protein in osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA), a type of arthritis caused by the breakdown and loss of cartilage, affects more than 20 million Americans.

10 Dec 2008

Merck Serono's Kuvan receives European marketing authorization

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, today announced that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Kuvan(R) for the treatment of hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) in phenylketonuria (PKU) or BH4 deficient patients.

10 Dec 2008

New discovery on cell division could improve chemotherapies for cancer

Researchers from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a key step required for cell division in a study that could help improve therapies to treat cancer.

10 Dec 2008