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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

UAB discovery may offer new therapeutic approaches to asthma

University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have found a previously unknown step in the pathway that leads to asthma, a discovery that may offer new therapeutic approaches to this incurable disease. Asthma affects more than 25 million people in the United States, including about 7 million children.

27 Jan 2016

Increasing levels of FGF21 hormone protects against loss of immune function in the elderly

A hormone that extends lifespan in mice by 40% is produced by specialized cells in the thymus gland, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. The team also found that increasing the levels of this hormone, called FGF21, protects against the loss of immune function that comes with age.

12 Jan 2016

Research brings scientists closer to understanding mechanisms underlying genomic imprinting process

Research led by Dr. Keiji Tanimoto from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, has brought us closer to understanding the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of genomic imprinting.

25 Nov 2015

Protein sensor for proprioception found

Can you touch a finger to the tip of your nose with your eyes closed? Most of us can, thanks to a sense called proprioception, which tells us where our body parts are relative to each other and our environment. Not surprisingly, this sense is essential for normal movement and balance—walking, for instance.

10 Nov 2015

Genetic reduction of AMPK enzyme can prevent or delay hearing loss

A mitochondrial defect is responsible for a type of human hereditary deafness that worsens over time and can lead to profound hearing loss.

6 Nov 2015

Researchers develop multiplexed screening approach to study cancer development in mice

In a novel use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system, which can be deployed to switch genes off, researchers from Germany, the UK and Spain have developed a multiplexed screening approach to study and model cancer development in mice. The scientists mutated genes in the adult mouse liver uncovering their cancer-causing roles and determining which combinations of genes cooperate to cause liver cancer.

27 Oct 2015

Role for endogenous retrovirus proposed in ALS pathogenesis

Expression of the human endogenous retrovirus-K is upregulated in some patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and causes degeneration of motor neurons when overexpressed in mice, research shows.

9 Oct 2015

Immune-molecule-based mop-up therapy reduces specific type of breast tumor in mice

Disabling a cancer-causing pathway and administering an immune-molecule-based mop-up therapy eradicated a specific type of breast tumor in mice, according to researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

8 Oct 2015

Dopamine transmission mediated by D1 receptors essential for controlling movements in Parkinson's disease

Dopamine deficiency in the basal ganglia (a set of subcortical structures) causes severe motor dysfunctions, such as slowness of movements (bradykinesia), as observed in Parkinson's disease. Dopamine binds D1 and D2 receptors that are expressed in the nerve cells of the striatum (a structure of the basal ganglia), and exerts different effects on the nerve cells. However, how dopamine controls through these receptors the information flow in the basal ganglia and voluntary movements is still not clear.

6 Oct 2015

Songbirds may help researchers find cure for Huntington’s disease

Many neurological disorders can rob someone of the ability to speak clearly, causing them to stutter, mispronounce words, and struggle to put together coherent sentences. However, the molecular and neurological dysfunctions that cause these symptoms aren't well understood. Recent work at The Rockefeller University may give researchers a new tool to better study these vocal and speech impairments, particularly in Huntington's disease.

6 Oct 2015

AMO Pharma raises $25 million in private equity financing

AMO Pharma Limited, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focusing on debilitating diseases with limited or no treatment options, announced today that the company has raised $25 million in private equity financing from Woodford Investment Management.

30 Sep 2015

Simple stem cell production method shows promise in mice for treating IPF

In a small pilot study, researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated a rapid, simple way to generate large numbers of lung stem cells for use in disease treatment. This method of harvesting and growing a patient's own lung stem cells shows promise in mice for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and could one day provide human IPF sufferers with an effective, less invasive method of treatment for their disease.

10 Sep 2015

Regulatory T cells may reduce susceptibility to allergies

Susceptibility to allergies reduced by increased production of regulatory T cells. This is the main finding of a current study being conducted at the Institute of Immunology at MedUni Vienna, headed up by Winfried F. Pickl. The initial results of this study by Alina Neunkirchner, which looks at the root cause of the development of allergies, are being presented at the European Congress of Immunology, which starts in Vienna this Sunday (6 - 9 September 2015, Austria Center Vienna).

3 Sep 2015

Penn research reveals additional pathway for origin of colon cancer

Cancer researchers already know of some oncogenes and other factors that promote the development of colon cancers, but they don't yet have the full picture of how these cancers originate and spread. Now researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have illuminated another powerful factor in this process.

6 Aug 2015

New study estimates link between coffee consumption habits and incidence of mild cognitive impairment

A new study by researchers at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy, Geriatric Unit & Laboratory of Gerontology and Geriatrics, IRCCS "Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza", San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, Italy, and Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy, estimates the association between change or constant habits in coffee consumption and the incidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), evaluating 1,445 individuals recruited from 5,632 subjects, aged 65-84 year old, from the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging (ILSA), a population-based sample from eight Italian municipalities with a 3.5-year median follow-up.

29 Jul 2015

Prion variant offers “dramatic” protection against prion disease

A naturally occurring variant of the human prion protein is not only resistant to conversion into an abnormal form but also prevents the conversion of wild-type proteins, shows a study in Nature.

12 Jun 2015

Stemedica receives FDA's IND approval for itMSC Phase IIa clinical trial to treat Alzheimer's disease

Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc. received the FDA's investigational new drug (IND) approval for a United States-based, Phase IIa clinical study using its allogeneic stem-cell therapy to treat subjects with mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD), the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

9 Jun 2015

Researchers receive $10 million grant for citrus greening research project

To help develop a therapeutic treatment for citrus greening disease, a bacterial infection that threatens the future of the U.S. citrus industry, the United States Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative has awarded a diverse group of researchers a $10 million grant.