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Scientists detect several biomarkers to screen active drugs for Batten disease

Goethe University and Harvard Medical School start screening for active ingredients for the treatment of Batten disease

20 Apr 2011

How peppermint helps to relieve Irritable Bowel Syndrome

University of Adelaide researchers have shown for the first time how peppermint helps to relieve Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which affects up to 20% of the population.

20 Apr 2011

Plant hormone auxin acts as a signalling molecule in embryo development

During the development of organisms, a particular event repeatedly occurs: a signal appears temporarily, but the processes it triggers must be maintained - for example, when the fate of cells in the embryo is established.

20 Apr 2011

Alzheimer’s diagnostic guidelines released

Neurologists and experts have come up with a set of guidelines to better diagnose Alzheimer's disease in the clinic for the first time in nearly three decades. The advice also helps doctors identify the earliest signs of the degenerative condition, even before symptoms of memory loss begin. The hope is that they can help patients prepare early, and eventually treat, the disease.

19 Apr 2011

Parents open to genetic tests for children

Genetic testing techniques have not been perfected yet but parents are willing to take the risk to know if their children are at risk for diseases in adulthood. Some parents would like the ability to predict the future, in terms of their child's risk for certain chronic health conditions. This comes in a new study published online in the journal Pediatrics. Experts, however, say the tests are of little value at this time.

19 Apr 2011

EraGen, Applied BioCode partner to commercialize molecular diagnostics

Applied BioCode, Inc. and EraGen Biosciences Inc. today announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership and license agreement. The agreement provides EraGen with access to Applied BioCode's Barcoded Magnetic Bead technology and the CE-marked BioCode-1000 system.

19 Apr 2011

Mount Sinai's new Dubin Breast Center to provide patients with seamless care

The new Dubin Breast Center of The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai opened today, bringing a range of multidisciplinary services under one roof and marking a great leap forward in care of breast cancer patients throughout the region.

19 Apr 2011

Exacerbate-reverse' approach can identify potential therapy for fatal childhood disease

Many genes that cause human diseases have parallel genes in other organisms, including yeast. Now Columbia University researchers have used an innovative yeast-based screening method to identify a possible treatment for the fatal childhood disease Niemann-Pick C.

19 Apr 2011

Study finds more evidence linking high-grade serous ovarian cancer to fallopian tubes

High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC), the fifth-deadliest cancer among American women, is thought by many scientists to often be a fallopian tube malignancy masquerading as an ovarian one. While most of the evidence linking HGSOC to the fallopian tubes has so far been only circumstantial, a new Dana-Farber Cancer Institute study suggests there is a direct connection, a finding that could aid in the development of better treatments for the cancer.

19 Apr 2011

Tweaking gene in satellite cells may increase lifespan of people with muscular dystrophy

Researchers have long questioned why patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) tend to manage well through childhood and adolescence, yet succumb to their disease in early adulthood, or why elderly people who lose muscle strength following bed rest find it difficult or impossible to regain.

18 Apr 2011

Quest Diagnostics launches AccuType IL28B test for HCV

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, today announced the availability of its AccuType® IL28B test for aiding in the prediction of patient response to peginterferon alpha-based therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

From Quest Diagnostics 18 Apr 2011

Scientists identify networks of genes critical in embryonic-heart development

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have identified networks of genes that play an important role in embryonic-heart development, advancing knowledge of how healthy hearts develop-and offering clues about how to combat a common birth defect known as congenital heart disease.

18 Apr 2011

First ever genome scan for womb cancer reveals genetic region that reduces risk of the disease

Scientists have carried out the first ever genome scan for womb cancer and discovered a genetic region that reduces risk of the disease, according to a study published in Nature Genetics.

18 Apr 2011

Intellectual disability may have genetic origin, but is not hereditary

Mutations in a group of genes associated with brain activity frequently cause intellectual disability, according to a study led by scientists affiliated with the University of Montreal and the research centre at the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine. Intellectual disability is a severe handicap that affects between one and two percent of children worldwide. It can often be attributed to genetic causes, but the specific genes involved were mostly unknown.

18 Apr 2011

Study: Borna disease virus does not contain exact copies of genomic RNAs

Like bacteria, viruses have their own genome. The ends or termini of a viral RNA are especially interesting for virologists because they play an important role in reproduction and in the reaction of the innate immune system to the virus.

18 Apr 2011

DFG Senate Commissions propose statement on biobanks' legal regulations

Biomaterial banks are an indispensable resource for biomedical research. They are of great importance to the quality and competitiveness of German research. Therefore, it is important that clear strategies and recommendations exist for Germany. At present however, no general comprehensive statutory regulations, in the form of a research biobank act, should be introduced.

18 Apr 2011

Parents may chose predictive genetic tests for their children

Parents offered genetic testing to predict their risks of common, adult-onset health conditions say they would also test their children. That is the finding of a new study published in the May issue of Pediatrics.

18 Apr 2011

Team of researchers study development of mesoderm

During the development of an embryo, a large number of different, specialised cell-types arise from the fertilised egg. The genetic information is identical in all cells of an organism. Different properties of cells arise because the activity of genes is controlled and regulated by so called transcription factors. By switching genes on or off, the body makes muscle cells, bone cells, liver cells and many more.

16 Apr 2011

Scientists discover new clues about mechanism behind losartan drug's protective effects

The Johns Hopkins researchers who first showed that the commonly used blood pressure drug losartan may help prevent life-threatening aneurysms of the aorta in patients with Marfan syndrome have now discovered new clues about the precise mechanism behind the drug's protective effects.

16 Apr 2011

NIH researchers survey landscape of melanoma genome

A team led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health is the first to systematically survey the landscape of the melanoma genome, the DNA code of the deadliest form of skin cancer. The researchers have made surprising new discoveries using whole-exome sequencing, an approach that decodes the 1-2 percent of the genome that contains protein-coding genes.

16 Apr 2011