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New project aims to prevent complications from drug usage

If a patient is ill and takes drugs for that illness, these drugs often lead to further illnesses and complications. This affects millions of people throughout the world.

24 Mar 2016

Neurons in hypothalamus help maintain blood glucose levels, study finds

To learn what different cells do, scientists switch them on and off and observe what the effects are. There are many methods that do this, but they all have problems: too invasive, or too slow, or not precise enough. Now, a new method to control the activity of neurons in mice, devised by scientists at Rockefeller University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, avoids these downfalls by using magnetic forces to remotely control the flow of ions into specifically targeted cells.

24 Mar 2016

Research shows tumor suppressor protein regulates polarity genes

What does Brad Pitt have in common with a fruit fly? His Hollywood hairstyles cover a prominent cowlick - the swirl of hair that that is caused by a patterning mechanism also active in our two-winged friends -- that similarly feature "polarized" hair patterns.

24 Mar 2016

Research: X and Y DNA swapping may occur more often than previously thought

It turns out that the rigid "line in the sand" over which the human sex chromosomes---the Y and X--- go to avoid crossing over is a bit blurrier than previously thought. Contrary to the current scientific consensus, Arizona State University assistant professor Melissa Wilson Sayres has led a research team that has shown that X and Y DNA swapping may occur much more often.

24 Mar 2016

Blood test can predict risk of developing TB disease long before it manifests

A landmark study published this month in the leading medical journal, The Lancet, reports the discovery of a blood test that can predict whether someone is likely to develop tuberculosis (TB) disease, long before the disease manifests.

23 Mar 2016

New worldwide collaboration aims to speed up effective diagnosis of TB

As World TB day (24 March) marks global efforts to eliminate tuberculosis as a public health problem by 2035, Oxford University researchers, in partnership with Public Health England (PHE), will lead a new worldwide collaboration called CRyPTIC to speed up diagnosis of the disease.

23 Mar 2016

Penn neurologists uncover new genetic cause of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease

Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT) is a family of inherited disorders of the peripheral nervous system, affecting approximately one in 2,500 Americans. Its most common iteration, CMT1, comes in many forms, most of which have to date been linked to a small set of causative genes.

23 Mar 2016

Research findings offer new way to differentiate, treat patients with lung cancer

Research in Manchester has identified mutations in lung cancer that is key to tumour growth, offering a new way to differentiate and treat some patients with the disease.

23 Mar 2016

Pediatric researchers find gene variants that can strongly increase bone strength in girls

Pediatric researchers have found that rare genetic changes strongly increase the likelihood that a child will have higher bone density, but only in girls.

23 Mar 2016

MU researchers use MRI to study effects of Phenylketonuria

All children are screened for a host of conditions at birth, such as Phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder that is passed by mutated genes from both parents to their offspring. PKU is rare, only affecting one in every 10,000 children in the U.S.; therefore, it is seldom studied.

23 Mar 2016

Exposure to substitute chemical can stimulate formation of fat cells

Exposure to a substitute chemical often used to replace bisphenol A in plastics can encourage the formation of fat cells, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's journal Endocrinology.

23 Mar 2016

Whole genome sequencing of chimpanzee parasite reveals clues about human malaria

Understanding the origins of emerging diseases - as well as more established disease agents -- is critical to gauge future human infection risks and find new treatment and prevention approaches. This holds true for malaria, which kills more than 500,000 people a year. Symptoms, including severe anemia, pregnancy-associated malaria, and cerebral malaria, have been linked to the parasite's ability to cause infected red blood cells to bind to the inner lining of blood vessels.

22 Mar 2016

Study identifies nerve cells and brain region behind innate fear response

The odor of bobcat urine, if you ever get a chance to take a whiff, is unforgettable -- like rotten meat combined with sweat, with something indescribably feral underlying it. To humans, it's just nose-wrinklingly disgusting.But to mice, it smells like one thing: fear.

22 Mar 2016

Role of dietary restriction in lifespan extension

The role of dietary restriction in extending lifespan is the subject of research being conducted at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, by visiting scientist Markus Schosserer, Ph.D., of the biotechnology department at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, in Austria.

22 Mar 2016

Shigella dysenteriae pathogen probably originated in Europe, genetic study reveals

The largest genetic study on the bacterium responsible for epidemic dysentery has revealed that the Shigella dysenteriae pathogen, which remains a real scourge in Africa and Asia, probably originated in Europe.

22 Mar 2016

Southampton researchers link birth season epigenetic DNA marks to allergic disease

Researchers at the University of Southampton have discovered specific markers on DNA that link the season of birth to risk of allergy in later life.

22 Mar 2016

TGen scientists highlight advantages of using RNA-sequencing in precision medicine

Uncovering the genetic makeup of patients using DNA sequencing has in recent years provided physicians and their patients with a greater understanding of how best to diagnose and treat the diseases that plague humanity. This is the essence of precision medicine.

22 Mar 2016

Four key genes govern growth, multiplication of blood stem cells

An important element in getting blood stem cells to multiply outside the body is to understand which of the approximately 20,000 genes in the human body control their growth. Now a research team at Lund University in Sweden has studied close to 15,000 of these genes alongside each other.

22 Mar 2016

Specialized gene editing system paves way to eventual cure for HIV patients

A specialized gene editing system designed by scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University is paving the way to an eventual cure for patients infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

22 Mar 2016

Researchers use DNA sequencing technology to identify gene variants that affect susceptibility to SLE

Demonstrating the potential of precision medicine, an international study based at UT Southwestern Medical Center used next-generation DNA sequencing technology to identify more than 1,000 gene variants that affect susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

21 Mar 2016