Protein C News and Research

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No effective treatment yet for acute lung injury

Patients can essentially drown in their own fluids when trauma and infection prompt blood vessels to leak, flooding millions of air sacs in their lungs.

22 Aug 2011

Calcium scores and heart disease risk, experts debate

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22 Aug 2011

Cellular pathology of Lou Gehrig’s disease discovered

Researchers claim to have found a common cause behind the mysterious and deadly affliction of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The discovery could pave the way to new treatments for the devastating disorder whose victims include top physicist Professor Stephen Hawking.

22 Aug 2011

Micro-organisms hide themselves from immune defences

That micro-organisms have a great capacity to vary their surface structure is well known. It is one of the reasons why it is so difficult to develop vaccines against HIV and malaria, and why new influenza vaccines have to be produced every year. But it seems that these micro-organisms are also able to completely avoid activating a strong immune response in the person attacked.

22 Aug 2011

Research uncovers natural defense mechanism that inactivates C. diff toxins

Groundbreaking research encompassing Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, has uncovered a natural defense mechanism that is capable of inactivating the toxin that spreads Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, an increasingly common bacterial infection in hospitals and long-term care settings.

22 Aug 2011

Radiolabeled protein reveals presence of S. aureus endocarditis in mouse model

A novel imaging probe developed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators may make it possible to diagnose accurately a dangerous infection of the heart valves.

22 Aug 2011

Winter airway infections appear to trigger narcolepsy: Study

The onset of narcolepsy appears to follow seasonal patterns of H1N1 and other upper airway infections, according to a new study of patients in China that was led by Stanford University School of Medicine narcolepsy expert Emmanuel Mignot, MD.

22 Aug 2011

Scientists discover mechanism that helps explain why stress causes DNA damage

For years, researchers have published papers that associate chronic stress with chromosomal damage. Now researchers at Duke University Medical Center have discovered a mechanism that helps to explain the stress response in terms of DNA damage.

22 Aug 2011

Scientists identify common cause of all forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The underlying disease process of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS and Lou Gehrig's disease), a fatal neurodegenerative disease that paralyzes its victims, has long eluded scientists and prevented development of effective therapies. Scientists weren't even sure all its forms actually converged into a common disease process.

22 Aug 2011

New CDI therapeutic approach may offer treatment for other bacterial diseases

Researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered a molecular process by which the body can defend against the effects of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), pointing the way to a promising new approach for treating an intestinal disease that has become more common, more severe and harder to cure in recent years.

22 Aug 2011

Scientists reveal how thiostrepton blocks FOXM1 protein, prevents breast cancer development

Scientists have discovered how a molecule that was first discovered in bacteria blocks a protein which causes breast cancer to develop and spread, reveals research published in Nature Chemistry today.

22 Aug 2011

Quanterix's ELISA precisely measures low abundance cytokines in Crohn's disease

Quanterix Corporation, a company enabling a new generation of molecular diagnostic tests based on its revolutionary Single Molecule Array technology, today announced results of a pilot study to measure biomarkers of inflammation from patients with Crohn's disease.

20 Aug 2011

Two studies on how amino acids influence protein synthesis in recreational athletes

Physical activity requires strong, healthy muscles. Fortunately, when people exercise on a regular basis, their muscles experience a continuous cycle of muscle breakdown (during exercise) and compensatory remodeling and growth. Athletes have long experimented with methods to augment these physiologic responses to enhance muscle growth.

20 Aug 2011

High levels of calcium in coronary arteries increase risk of stroke, heart attack

The presence of calcium in coronary arteries is a much better predictor of heart attack and stroke than C-reactive protein among people with normal levels of LDL cholesterol, according to a study of more than 2,000 people led by a Johns Hopkins heart specialist.

19 Aug 2011

Seven research teams across the U.S. to develop new drugs for nervous system disorders

The National Institutes of Health has made awards to investigators across the United States for an ambitious set of projects seeking to develop new drugs for disorders of the nervous system.

19 Aug 2011

Powerful X-rays help develop new drug treatment for malignant melanoma

Powerful X-ray technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) national laboratories is revealing new insights into diseases ranging from Alzheimer's to the swine flu, and, most recently, enabled the discovery of a groundbreaking new drug treatment for malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

19 Aug 2011

Researchers demonstrate a way to control excitation and contraction in cardiac muscle cells

By employing optogenetics, a new field that uses genetically altered cells to respond to light, and a tandem unit cell (TCU) strategy, researchers at Stony Brook University have demonstrated a way to control cell excitation and contraction in cardiac muscle cells, the details of which are published in the early online edition of Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology: "Stimulating Cardiac Muscle by Light: Cardiac Optogenetics by Cell Delivery."

19 Aug 2011

Lucentis receives Health Canada approval for treatment of retinal vein occlusion

Following a priority review, Health Canada has approved Lucentis (ranibizumab) as a treatment for vision loss resulting from retinal vein occlusion (RVO). This makes Lucentis the first approved treatment of its class in Canada for this debilitating condition. Patients will now have access to a treatment that is proven to be effective and has an established safety profile.

18 Aug 2011

IU scientist to investigate salubrinal drug against osteoporosis

An Indiana University scientist studying human bone growth has received a $2.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study a chemical compound with potential to fight osteoporosis and accelerate broken bone healing.

18 Aug 2011

Vitamin C shows promise against Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at Lund University have discovered a new function for vitamin C. Treatment with vitamin C can dissolve the toxic protein aggregates that build up in the brain in Alzheimer's disease.

18 Aug 2011