Mutation News and Research

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How one virus mimicks a normal cellular protein to replicate successfully

Both viruses and cancers subvert the growth-control machinery in a cell to serve their own needs.

1 Nov 2007

Gene, stem cell therapy only needs to be 50 percent effective to create a healthy heart

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and greatly affects the quality and length of life for individuals with specific forms of muscular dystrophy.

1 Nov 2007

New model of esophageal cancer

In the November 1st issue of G&D, a team of scientists led by Dr. Anil Rustgi (UPENN) presents an innovative new model of esophageal cancer, which holds great promise as an experimental platform to investigate the etiology and possible treatment of this devastating disease.

1 Nov 2007

HIV arrived in U.S. from Haiti 10 years earlier than previously believed

The most widespread HIV subtype outside Africa likely emerged in Haiti in the 1960s and arrived in the U.S. a few years later -- about 10 years earlier than previously believed -- according to a study published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Los Angeles Times reports.

31 Oct 2007

How tumors respond to EGFR inhibitors

Three papers published this month in the open access general medical journal PLoS Medicine investigate how tumors respond to a an important class of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy, known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors.

31 Oct 2007

Sensitivity to smells explained

Some people are oblivious to the odor in the locker room after a game, while others wrinkle their noses at the slightest whiff of sweat.

31 Oct 2007

How can some people live at high altitudes and thrive while others struggle?

The answer for Tibetans who live at altitudes around 14,000 feet is increased nitric oxide (NO) levels. High levels of NO circulate in various forms in the blood and produce the physiological mechanisms that cause the increased blood flow that maintains oxygen delivery despite hypoxia - low levels of oxygen in the ambient air and the bloodstream.

31 Oct 2007

Aggregation propensity, amyloid peptide toxicity and Alzheimer disease

Cells have evolved multiple mechanisms to ensure proper folding, but a number of molecular and biophysical events - such as changes in pH or temperature, mutations, and oxidation - can disrupt a protein's native shape.

31 Oct 2007

Hunger influenced by leptin hormone

Researchers at UCLA have determined the brain circuits involved in hunger that are influenced by a hormone called leptin.

29 Oct 2007

Deep brain stimulation to treat Parkinson's makes some act irrationally

An implantable brain device meant to help Parkinson's disease patients better control their movements, has been found to have some worrying side-effects.

29 Oct 2007

Red hair and freckles - Neanderthals in Europe

Fossil remains of Neanderthals paint an incomplete picture; they cannot tell us about their cognitive skills or give us details of what they looked like.

28 Oct 2007

New model of HIV dynamics

The emergence of drug resistant forms of HIV often underlies the failure of current antiretroviral therapies for HIV infection.

28 Oct 2007

Not just humans benefit from animal biotechnology

Laboratory animals are the source of major discoveries and breakthroughs in biology, not just in tackling disease but also unravelling fundamental molecular processes.

25 Oct 2007

Many medical disorders may be languishing in mountains of discarded gene data

Previously hidden obesity-related genes have been uncovered from old experiments by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

24 Oct 2007

Researchers find crucial signal that switches on eye development

Researchers at the University of Warwick, funded by Wellcome Trust, have uncovered a crucial signal that switches on eye development.

24 Oct 2007

Combination targets offer new hope in fight against cancer

While some targeted therapies - drugs developed to attack specific molecules in the critical chemical pathways occurring within cancer cells - work well by themselves, increasingly researchers are finding that they work better when teamed with other targeted and conventional therapies.

24 Oct 2007