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Aspirin-like compounds (salicylates) increase insulin secretion in otherwise healthy obese people

Aspirin-like compounds (salicylates) can claim another health benefit: increasing the amount of insulin produced by otherwise healthy obese people. Obesity is associated with insulin resistance, the first step toward type 2 diabetes.

29 Apr 2008

Scientists find distinct kind of stem cells in the pituitary gland

A team of researchers led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have for the first time identified stem cells that allow the pituitary glands of mice to grow even after birth.

28 Apr 2008

New hope for blood disorder anaemia

A new understanding of how red blood cell production is controlled could lead to improvements in the treatment of the blood disorder anaemia, according to West Australian medical researchers.

13 Apr 2008

Iron deficiency cause

The discovery of a gene for a rare form of inherited iron deficiency may provide clues to iron deficiency in the general population – particularly iron deficiency that doesn't respond to iron supplements - and suggests a new treatment approach.

13 Apr 2008

Discovery of gene involved in blood stem cell replication, movement

Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have identified a gene that is responsible for the division and movement of marrow-derived, blood-forming stem cells, a finding that could have major implications for the future of bone marrow and blood cell transplantation.

10 Apr 2008

Manipulating the immune system like a parasite

One day it may be possible to mimic the tactics used by parasites to trick the body into accepting transplanted tissues or organs.

10 Apr 2008

Researchers identify gene involved in blood stem cell replication, movement

10 Apr 2008

Gene oppositely controlled by dietary protein, sugar

Researchers have discovered a gene in flies whose activity rises and falls depending upon the amount of protein and sugar in the insects' diets.

9 Apr 2008

Stem cell breakthrough offers diabetes hope

Scientists have discovered a new technique for turning embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing pancreatic tissue in what could prove a significant breakthrough in the quest to find new treatments for diabetes.

From The University of Manchester 4 Apr 2008

Key factor in brain development revealed, offers insight into lissencephaly

In the earliest days of brain development, the brain's first cells - neuroepithelial stem cells - divide continuously, producing a population of cells that eventually evolves into the various cells of the fully formed brain.

28 Mar 2008

REST protein protects embryonic stem cells' versatility and self-renewal

A protein known as REST blocks the expression of a microRNA that prevents embryonic stem cells from reproducing themselves and causes them to differentiate into specific cell types, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the journal Nature.

25 Mar 2008

New genetic clue to Parkinson's disease

Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University have discovered a gene that could hold the key to developing new treatments for Parkinson's disease – a progressive and often debilitating movement disorder that affects as many as one million Americans.

24 Mar 2008

Discovery of new effect for insulin

Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have shown that insulin has a previously unknown effect that plays a role in aging and lifespan, a finding that could ultimately provide a mechanism for gene manipulations that could help people live longer and healthier lives.

24 Mar 2008

Zebrafish enables cell regeneration studies to help understand, treat human disease

One aquarium fish's uncanny ability to regenerate essentially any cell type has given scientists a way to mimic cell loss that occurs in diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes then watch how the fish make more of them.

18 Mar 2008

Inbred Romanian community provides insight into genetic factors associated with vitiligo

An isolated, inbred Romanian community has a higher than average frequency of the skin disease vitiligo and other autoimmune diseases, suggesting a genetic variation that may indicate susceptibility to the condition in a broader population, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

18 Mar 2008

MGH initiates trial to reverse type 1 diabetes

Scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have initiated a phase 1 clinical trial to reverse type 1 diabetes.

14 Mar 2008

Stem cell funding for Parkinson’s disease

The Parkinson's Disease Society (PD) has announced funding of £170k to the University of Bristol for research into how to make stem cells produce dopamine and live longer after they have been transplanted into animals.

4 Mar 2008

New proof-of-principle findings that thymic involution can be reversed in humans

Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found that therapy can be used to stimulate the production of vital immune cells, called "T- cells," in adults with HIV infection.

21 Feb 2008

Test for blood sugar not accurate in diabetic dialysis patients

The standard test for measuring blood sugar control in people with diabetes is not accurate in those on kidney hemodialysis, according to new research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

21 Feb 2008