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Maternal obesity can program fetal brain to induce adult-onset obesity

Researchers at the University at Buffalo have found that fetuses of obese mother rats were programmed in utero to develop obesity in adulthood.

5 Nov 2008

Lung airway cells activate vitamin D and increase immune response

Vitamin D is essential to good health but needs to be activated to function properly in the human body.

5 Nov 2008

Resveratrol type drug mimics low-cal diet to ward off weight gain

A drug designed to specifically hit a protein linked to the life-extending benefits of a meager diet can essentially trick the body into believing food is scarce even when it isn't, suggests a new report in the November Cell Metabolism.

5 Nov 2008

Apelin hormone shows promise as target for managing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes

By injecting a hormone produced by fat and other tissues into mice, researchers report in the November Cell Metabolism that they significantly lowered blood sugar levels in normal and obese mice.

5 Nov 2008

New drug tricks the body into burning off fat

French scientists have found a drug they say tricks the body into burning off fat - and it even works on a high-fat diet.

5 Nov 2008

SurModics acquires drug delivery assets of PR Pharmaceuticals

SurModics, Inc. announced today that it has acquired a portfolio of intellectual property and collaborative drug delivery projects from PR Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a drug delivery company specializing in injectable, biodegradable sustained release formulations.

4 Nov 2008

Maternal obesity can program fetal brain to induce adult-onset obesity

Researchers at the University at Buffalo have found that fetuses of obese mother rats were programmed in utero to develop obesity in adulthood.

4 Nov 2008

Brain development takes an unexpected bend

Organs, such as the brain or the heart, are not simply collections of the correct types of cells that are required for their function. If these cells are not organized and shaped properly, the organ simply does not function. One crucial part of this organization is to bend sheets of connected cells ("epithelia") so that they form a structure that is an integral part of the functional organ.

4 Nov 2008

Targeting epigenetic changes helps tackle MLL-AF4 leukemias

A very difficult-to-treat child leukemia may benefit from the discovery of a small but potent epigenetic change that launches the cancer - but could potentially be reversed relatively easily, preventing cancer-promoting genes from being turned on.

4 Nov 2008

Genetic mutation linked to seasonal affective disorder

With the days shortening toward winter, many people will begin to experience the winter blahs.

4 Nov 2008

Adding protein sarcospan to muscle cells might help Duchenne muscular dystrophy

The overlooked and undervalued protein, sarcospan, just got its moment in the spotlight.

4 Nov 2008

Human papillomavirus helps cervical and head and neck cancers resist treatment and grow and spread

The human papillomavirus (HPV) allows infected cervical and head and neck cancer cells to maintain internal molecular conditions that make the cancers resistant to therapy and more likely to grow and spread, resulting in a poor prognosis for patients, researchers with UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center found.

4 Nov 2008

No need for RNA

Not all enzymes that are assumed to require an RNA component in order to function do actually contain RNA. This surprising discovery was made during a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF that focussed on the enzyme RNase P.

3 Nov 2008

Genentech submits application to FDA for Avastin in the most aggressive form of brain cancer

Genentech has announced that the company submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Avastin (bevacizumab) as a therapy for people with previously treated glioblastoma. If accepted by the FDA, the application would be considered for an accelerated approval that allows provisional approval of medicines for cancer or other life-threatening diseases based on preliminary evidence suggesting clinical benefit.

3 Nov 2008

Without glial cells, animals lose their senses

Sensory neurons have always put on a good show. But now it turns out they'll be sharing the credit. In groundbreaking research to appear in the October 31 issue of Science, Rockefeller University scientists show that while neurons play the lead role in detecting sensory information, a second type of cell, the glial cell, pulls the strings behind the scenes.

3 Nov 2008

How the Nodal gene family keeps the heart in the right (asymmetric) place

Asymmetry is crucial for the heart proper functioning, and now, scientists from the Institute Gulbenkian of Science in Portugal and Harvard University, have discovered that a family of genes, called Nodal, is crucial determining this asymmetry by controlling the speed and direction of the heart muscle cells during embryonic development.

2 Nov 2008

New method provides panoramic view of protein-RNA interactions in living cells

DNA, it has turned out, isn't all it was cracked up to be. In recent years we learned that the molecule of life, the discovery of the 20th century, did not - could not - by itself explain the huge differences in complexity between a human and a worm.

2 Nov 2008

Double-barreled immune cell approach for neuroblastoma

Adding an artificial tumor-specific receptor to immune system cells called T-lymphocytes that target a particular virus extended and improved the cells' ability to fight a form of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma, said researchers form Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in a report that appears online in the journal Nature Medicine.

2 Nov 2008

Scientists develop genome-wide platform to study how specialized proteins regulate RNA in living, intact cells

DNA, it has turned out, isn't all it was cracked up to be. In recent years we learned that the molecule of life, the discovery of the 20th century, did not -- could not -- by itself explain the huge differences in complexity between a human and a worm.

2 Nov 2008

Alternative splicing in genes more prevalent than previously believed

Scientists have long known that it's possible for one gene to produce slightly different forms of the same protein by skipping or including certain sequences from the messenger RNA.

2 Nov 2008