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Progress toward preventing initial and recurrent episodes of C. diff infection

Surgeons are making progress toward preventing initial and recurrent episodes of clostridium difficile colitis (C. difficile or C. diff), a vicious bacterial infection that is estimated to affect about 336,000 people each year, typically patients on antibiotics.

6 Oct 2012

New computer program predicts most stable structures of nanometer-sized collagen

The human body is proficient at making collagen. And human laboratories are getting better at it all the time. In a development that could lead to better drug design and new treatments for disease, Rice University researchers have made a major step toward synthesizing custom collagen. Rice scientists who have learned how to make collagen - the fibrous protein that binds cells together into organs and tissues - are now digging into its molecular structure to see how it forms and interacts with biological systems.

26 Sep 2012

Alexithymia linked to white matter integrity in schizophrenia

Increased levels of alexithymia among patients with schizophrenia are associated with reductions in white matter integrity in specific regions of the corpus callosum, researchers report.

19 Sep 2012

New NHGRI grants to help develop technologies to dramatically reduce DNA sequencing costs

Grants of almost $19 million will help to develop technologies to dramatically reduce the cost of DNA sequencing, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced today.

15 Sep 2012

Researchers discover small DNA sequence that drives GATA2 protein

The protein GATA2 is known as a "master regulator" of blood cell development. When a mutation occurs in the gene that makes GATA2, serious blood diseases such as acute myeloid leukemia can result.

11 Sep 2012

Study sheds new light on why most bone marrow transplant patients suffer acute GVHD

A team of scientists led by a bone marrow transplant researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has shed new light on why most bone marrow transplant patients who receive tissue-matched cells from unrelated donors still suffer acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).

6 Sep 2012

DNA synthesis in the 3’ and 5’ direction possible using new template-directed method

When a cell divides, it passes on genetic information by producing copies of its DNA. Chemists have also learned to copy DNA. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a German team has now introduced a new copying technique that uses a single strand of DNA as the “master copy”, like a cell, but does not require enzymes.

30 Aug 2012

CNIO team generates transgenic mouse model for aplastic anaemia associated with short telomeres

Aplastic anaemia is characterised by a reduction in the number of the bone marrow cells that go on to form the different cell types present in blood (essentially red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets). In most cases, the causes of the disorder are hard to determine, but some patients have been found to have genetic alterations leading to a shortening of their telomeres (the end regions of chromosomes that protect and stabilise DNA).

30 Aug 2012

New method can differentiate between breast cancer patients with good and poor prognosis

It is now possible to identify aggressive breast cancers by interpreting the mathematical patterns in the cancer genome. Researchers at the University of Oslo, Norway (UiO) have developed a completely new method for differentiating between breast cancer patients with high and low risks of dying from the illness.

24 Aug 2012

RNA switches can better equip and regulate viruses for many therapeutic applications

Numerous viruses are used in the service of science today. They serve as gene taxis to transfer therapeutic genes into body cells or as therapeutic viruses targeted to infect and destroy cancer cells. For such applications, the viruses are often equipped with additional genes, such as for immune mediators or for proteins inducing programmed cell death. However, these gene products can harm the body if they are released at the wrong moment or at excessive levels.

22 Aug 2012

ACS National Meeting & Exposition focuses on DNA wires and their potential use in identifying diseases

In a discovery that defies the popular meaning of the word "wire," scientists have found that Mother Nature uses DNA as a wire to detect the constantly occurring genetic damage and mistakes that ― if left unrepaired ― can result in diseases like cancer and underpin the physical and mental decline of aging.

20 Aug 2012

Toshiba establishes Chinese Procurement Center in Shanghai

Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation has established the Chinese Procurement Center in Shanghai.

3 Aug 2012

Weill Cornell Medical College receives NCATS grant to fund Clinical and Translational Science Center

Weill Cornell Medical College has received $49.6 million from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to fund its Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC).

3 Aug 2012

Statistical method uses evolutionary information to enhance identification of disease-associated alleles

A book containing misprints may cause annoyance for the reader, but typos in an individual's genetic blueprint (DNA) can mean serious disease or even death. The search for genetic correlates for the wide range of diseases plaguing humankind has inspired a wealth of research falling under the heading of genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

19 Jul 2012

Report: Even if economy recovers, health care and Medicaid costs will remain economic burden

Rising health care and Medicaid costs coupled with flat revenue are parts of a bevy of economic problems states face in the coming years even if the economy recovers, according to a new report from the State Budget Crisis Task Force -- led in part by a former Federal Reserve chairman.

19 Jul 2012

First Edition: July 18, 2012

Today's headlines include coverage of a new report that offers a gloomy fiscal forecast for states as they confront rising health care costs, underfunded pensions and a range of other economic challenges.

18 Jul 2012

Five rare mutations in single gene increase chances of boys developing ASD

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified five rare mutations in a single gene that appear to increase the chances that a boy will develop an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

13 Jul 2012

Courtagen launches nucSEEKPDx assay

Courtagen Life Sciences, Inc., a privately held life sciences company that provides innovative proteomic and genomic products and services to the life sciences industry, today announced the expansion of their genetic test menu. The new genetic test, nucSEEKPDx, will sequence approximately 1,100 nuclear genes constituting the mitochondrial exome, which encodes the vast majority of proteins found in the mitochondrion. This test is by far the most comprehensive test on the market for the management of mitochondrial disorders.

11 Jul 2012

Next generation predictive 3D cell toxicity assays to be developed by Medicyte GmbH and Reinnervate Ltd

Two market leading companies in the field of cell based assays and predictive toxicology today announced a new product collaboration. Medicyte (inventors of the upcyte® technology) and Reinnervate (market leaders in the growing field of 3D cell culture) said they will work together to combine their upcyte® and Alvetex®Scaffold technologies to bring next generation cell bases assays to the biopharma and academic research markets.

9 Jul 2012

Epigenetic changes due to methylation play a key role in altering genes in RA

It's not just our DNA that makes us susceptible to disease and influences its impact and outcome. Scientists are beginning to realize more and more that important changes in genes that are unrelated to changes in the DNA sequence itself - a field of study known as epigenetics - are equally influential.

4 Jul 2012