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'Junk' DNA suppresses breast cancer

Supposed "junk" DNA, found in between genes, plays a role in suppressing cancer, according to new research by Universities of Bath and Cambridge.

2 Feb 2016

Understanding crucial role of 'healthy' brain in preventing memory failures linked to Alzheimer's disease

The mechanisms underlying the stability and plasticity of neural circuits in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for spatial memory and the memory of everyday facts and events, has been a major focus of study in the field of neuroscience. Understanding precisely how a "healthy" brain stores and processes information is crucial to preventing and reversing the memory failures associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of late-life dementia.

2 Feb 2016

Study provides new insights into breast cancer metastasis

It has long been thought that cancer metastasizes, or spreads, when a single cancer cell escapes from the original tumor, travels through the bloodstream and sets up shop in distant organs. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that these bad actors don't travel alone; instead they migrate through the body in cellular clusters, like gangs.

2 Feb 2016

Researchers identify definitive genetic defect in angiocentric gliomas

Diagnosis and treatment decisions for a recently recognized type of children's brain tumor should be improved by the discovery of the genetic mechanism that causes it, say researchers who identified the unusual DNA abnormality in angiocentric gliomas.

2 Feb 2016

New study lays foundation for future gene replacement therapies to treat ALS patients

Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to specifically modify gene expression in diseased upper motor neurons, brain cells that break down in ALS.

1 Feb 2016

Rockland announces availability of new human melanoma cell lines

Rockland Immunochemicals, Inc. announces the availability of a new collection of human melanoma cell lines that have been developed and characterized over several decades in the laboratory of Meenhard Herlyn, D.V.M., D.Sc., Caspar Wistar Professor in Melanoma Research, Director of the Melanoma Research Center, and professor in the Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.

1 Feb 2016

Alternative splicing: a new approach to drug development? An interview with Lucy Donaldson

RNA is becoming an interesting drug target as it takes possible intervention back one step to the synthesis of a target protein, instead of trying to block or inhibit a process.

1 Feb 2016

Researchers show how bacterial colony protects itself against toxic substances

Bacterial populations move over surfaces in coordinated way known as swarming, which allows them to spread further over organs and tissues and increases the virulence of the infection. This movement is driven by the action of the flagella and the chemoreceptors, the systems responsible for identifying chemical compounds in the environment and which are anchored at the poles of their cells, forming highly organised structures, of which the protein CheW forms part.

1 Feb 2016

Research offers novel insights into root causes of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mysterious and devastating disorder that afflicts one percent of the adult population worldwide. Its symptoms — hallucinations, emotional withdrawal, and cognitive impairment — are chronic and typically emerge just as individuals are entering adulthood. Today's medications treat just one of these symptoms (psychosis); treatments for the underlying disease and its many other symptoms have been hard to develop, because no one really understands what causes the disorder.

31 Jan 2016

Bile acid enables foetus to produce blood stem cells

A research group at Lund University in Sweden has been able to show that bile acid is transferred from the mother to the foetus via the placenta to enable the foetus to produce blood stem cells.

31 Jan 2016

HIV protein alters activity of networked neurons

Nearly half of HIV infected patients suffer from impaired neurocognitive function. The HIV protein transactivator of transcription (Tat) is an important contributor to HIV neuropathogenesis because it is a potent neurotoxin that continues to be produced despite treatment with antiretroviral therapy.

31 Jan 2016

Mild reduction in food intake slows development of autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease

A small reduction in food intake—less than required to cause weight loss—dramatically slowed the development of a common genetic disorder called autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) in mice, a new study in American Journal of Physiology—Renal Physiology reports.

30 Jan 2016

Certain viral infections during pregnancy could cause behavioral changes in offspring

A study published in the journal Science found that activation in pregnant mice of a particular immune response, similar to what may occur with certain viral infections during pregnancy, alters the brain structure of the mouse offspring and causes behavioral changes, reminiscent of those observed in humans with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

30 Jan 2016

TSRI scientists reveal workings of key 'relief-valve' in cells

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has solved a long-standing mystery in cell biology by showing essentially how a key "relief-valve" in cells does its job.

30 Jan 2016

Researchers discover previously unknown mechanism that regulates neurogenesis

Bassem Hassan's team at VIB/KU Leuven has discovered a previously unknown mechanism that is highly conserved between species and which regulates neurogenesis through precise temporal control of the activity of a family of proteins essential for brain development: the proneural proteins.

30 Jan 2016

Two studies shed new light on nature of tandem DNA repeat arrays

A pair of studies by a team of scientists has shed new light on the nature of a particular type of DNA sequences—tandem DNA repeat arrays—that play important roles in transcription control, genome organization, and development.

29 Jan 2016

Adhering to certain diet may help postpone need for dialysis in CKD patients

Adhering to a certain diet may help postpone the need for dialysis in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

29 Jan 2016

UCLA researchers find protein combination that could improve clinical bone restoration

A UCLA research team has found a combination of proteins that could significantly improve clinical bone restoration. The findings may be a big step toward developing effective therapeutic treatments for bone skeletal defects, bone loss and osteoporosis.

29 Jan 2016

New treatment could stop progression of ALS

Researchers at Oregon State University announced today that they have essentially stopped the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, for nearly two years in one type of mouse model used to study the disease - allowing the mice to approach their normal lifespan.

29 Jan 2016

Scientists trace one of the causes of ischemia renal failure

Every year acute renal failure affects over 13 million people and leads to 1.7 million deaths across the globe. It often develops when an insufficient supply of oxygen reaches the kidneys, a condition called ischemia.

29 Jan 2016