Mitochondria News and Research

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Neutral genetic drift

Johns Hopkins researchers have added to the growing mound of evidence that many of the genetic bits and pieces that drive evolutionary changes do not confer any advantages or disadvantages to humans or other animals.

10 Jul 2007

Potential new treatment pathway for Parkinson's

In the vast majority of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, the disorder arises not because of a genetic defect, but because some external insult triggers the death of dopamine-producing neurons.

9 Jul 2007

Reactive oxygen species mediate a cellular 'memory' of high glucose stress signaling

Researchers at the University of Warwick’s Warwick Medical School have uncovered a process that locks the body’s metabolism in a diabetic state after only relatively limited exposure to high glucose levels.

29 Jun 2007

PINK1 protects from Parkinson's

Parkinson disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by the selective loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons.

19 Jun 2007

Insights into a key strategy cancer cells use to survive and thrive

The discovery of how some abnormal cells can avoid a biochemical program of self-destruction by increasing their energy level and repairing the damage, is giving investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital insights into a key strategy cancer cells use to survive and thrive.

3 Jun 2007

How cells breathe

Inhaling oxygen is only the first step in a long journey through the nooks and crannies of the body.

1 Jun 2007

Study looks at brain damage that occurs after stroke

Brain damage that occurs even days after a stroke, increasing stroke size and devastation, is the focus of researchers trying to identify new treatments.

1 Jun 2007

Exercise rejuvenates muscle tissue in healthy senior citizens

Not only does exercise make most people feel better and perform physical tasks better, it now appears that exercise, specifically, resistance training -- actually rejuvenates muscle tissue in healthy senior citizens.

24 May 2007

At last the key to eternal youth - go to the gym!

According to scientists the secret of eternal youth is not to be found in a bottle of pills or some kind of potion; it is they say as simple as working out at the gym on a regular basis.

23 May 2007

Coenzyme Q10 does not improve Parkinson's disease symptoms

Small doses of the antioxidant coenzyme Q10 appear to increase blood levels of this naturally occurring compound in patients with Parkinson's disease, but does not improve Parkinson's disease symptoms, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the July 2007 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

15 May 2007

Researchers discover how antibiotic linezolid inhibits bacterial growth

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in collaboration with research teams from Pharmacia & Upjohn and Pfizer, have discovered precisely how the antibiotic linezolid inhibits bacterial growth.

11 May 2007

Discovery of cellular processes which regulate heart's energy supply

The heart needs a steady supply of energy to function properly. MUHC researcher Dr. Vincent Gigure's and his colleagues recently identified several genetic programs which work together to ensure this energy is available.

10 May 2007

Global heartbeat control suggests therapy for beating heart failure

Keeping a healthy heart beating requires the production of a constant supply of energy, a feat depending on the coordination of several genetic programs.

9 May 2007

Researchers create agent that protects cells from the lethal effects of radiation

No drugs exist to protect the public from the high levels of radiation that could be released by a "dirty" bomb or nuclear explosion.

9 May 2007

Sperm from diabetic men have greater levels of DNA damage which may affect their fertility

In the first study to compare the quality of DNA in sperm from diabetic and non-diabetic men, researchers at Queen’s University Belfast showed that the DNA in the nuclei of the sperm cells had greater levels of fragmentation in diabetic men, and that there were more deletions of DNA in the tiny, energy-generating structures in the cells called mitochondria.

8 May 2007

Loss of a single gene in kidney cancer cells causes them to stop making mitochondria

Studying a rare inherited syndrome, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that cancer cells can reprogram themselves to turn down their own energy-making machinery and use less oxygen, and that these changes might help cancer cells survive and spread.

8 May 2007

Diabetes damages DNA in men's sperm and may affect fertility

Scientists have found that sperm from diabetic men have greater levels of DNA damage than sperm from men who do not have the disease.

4 May 2007

Study provides better understanding of how to treat individuals affected by copper imbalances

Copper is an essential part of our lives. From copper pipes and wires - to important copper-containing proteins in the body, copper is necessary for healthy growth and neurological development.

2 May 2007

Ultra fast and ultra active: the strange life of the extraocular muscles

The eye, often called the window to the soul, may become a window to the mysteries of muscular dystrophy, a debilitating muscle disease that often leads to death in early adulthood.

2 May 2007

Small amounts of stem/progenitor cells from bone marrow enhance repair of damaged tissues

New studies in the laboratory of Dr. Darwin J. Prockop, Director of Tulane University's Center for Gene Therapy, are shedding light on the previously mysterious mechanism through which even relatively small amounts of stem/progenitor cells taken from a patient's own bone marrow enhance repair of damaged tissues.

30 Apr 2007