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Researchers identify genetic mutation responsible for MDP Syndrome

National Paracycling Champion Tom Staniford has an extremely rare condition which, until now, has puzzled his doctors. He is unable to store fat under his skin - yet has type 2 diabetes - and suffered hearing loss as a child. Now, thanks to advances in genome sequencing, an international research team led by the University of Exeter Medical School has identified Tom's condition and pinpointed the single genetic mutation that causes it.

17 Jun 2013

UCSF researchers discover memory-boosting molecule in mice

Memory improved in mice injected with a small, drug-like molecule discovered by UCSF San Francisco researchers studying how cells respond to biological stress.

15 Jun 2013

Abnormal metabolic pathway drives cancer-cell growth in glioblastoma subtype

A study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James) has identified an abnormal metabolic pathway that drives cancer-cell growth in a particular glioblastoma subtype. The finding might lead to new therapies for a subset of patients with glioblastoma, the most common and lethal form of brain cancer.

14 Jun 2013

Study provides new insight into how pyrazinamide works

Pyrazinamide (PZA)-a frontline tuberculosis drug-kills dormant persister bacteria and plays a critical role in shortening TB therapy. PZA is used for treating both drug susceptible and multi-drug resistant TB but resistance to PZA occurs frequently and can compromise treatment.

14 Jun 2013

Penn Medicine researchers identify key molecular player in recurrent breast cancer

According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 40,000 women in the United States will succumb to breast cancer this year. Most of these women will die not from the primary tumor but rather tumor recurrence - the reappearance of the disease following treatment.

14 Jun 2013

Study: Tocilizumab is effective in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

A new study presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism shows that tocilizumab is efficacious and leads to a sustained clinically meaningful improvement in children with polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (pcJIA).

13 Jun 2013

Study unravels cause of hearing loss in humans

A novel genetic mutation was first identified in 2010 as causing hearing loss in humans. Researchers have now discovered that this mutation induces malfunction of an inhibitor of an enzyme commonly found in our body that destroys proteins.

13 Jun 2013

University of Oxford researchers receive grant to study genes that contribute to ankylosing spondylitis

A team at the University of Oxford has received a grant of £160,000 from Arthritis Research UK to study the function of the genes which contribute to people developing a painful inflammatory back condition called ankylosing spondylitis.

13 Jun 2013

Solution-based circuit chip for rapid, multiplexed detection of pathogens

Life-threatening bacterial infections cause tens of thousands of deaths every year in North America. Increasingly, many infections are resistant to first-line antibiotics. Unfortunately, current methods of culturing bacteria in the lab can take days to report the specific source of the infection, and even longer to pinpoint the right antibiotic that will clear the infection.

13 Jun 2013

TSRI scientists identify key triggers of cancer-blocking mechanism in cells

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have identified key triggers of an important cancer-blocking mechanism in cells.

12 Jun 2013

PSMA enzyme could become hallmark of new generation of biomarkers for prostate cancer treatment

No matter where they have hidden, metastatic prostate cancer cells still express some of the same signaling as normal prostate cells; in some cases even more so, as with the PSMA enzyme. Harnessing this enzyme could mean the beginning of a new platform for prostate cancer detection, staging, treatment and post-treatment monitoring, say researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging's 2013 Annual Meeting.

12 Jun 2013

Researchers find master regulator of EMT and metastasis

The predominant cause of death in cancer patients is metastasis, the formation of secondary tumors in other organs like the brain, liver, and lungs. Cancer cells detach from the original primary tumor and reach a single cell or group of cells in another organ. The cells of the body normally remain in place through adhering to an extracellular substance. However, cancer cells learn how to release themselves from these bonds and invade surrounding tissues, blood, and the lymphatic system.

11 Jun 2013

Discovery highlights protective role of liver enzyme in treating jaundice

Helping to protect newborns and older patients against more severe effects of jaundice is the hope of University of Guelph researchers, who have shown how a liver enzyme protects cells from damage caused by the condition.

10 Jun 2013

Faldaprevir+ achieves viral cure in 88% of treatment-naïve genotype-1 hepatitis C patients in Asia

New findings presented today during the APASL Liver Week in Singapore, highlighted the efficacy and safety of faldaprevir+ plus pegylated interferon and ribavirin (PegIFN/RBV) in treatment-naïve patients with genotype-1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Asia.1 This post-hoc sub-analysis of the Phase III STARTVerso™1 and 2 trials showed that both doses of faldaprevir were associated with high viral cure rates and a shorter treatment duration in this particular patient group.1

10 Jun 2013

Researchers discover potential target for cancer-fighting drugs

As tumors grow, their centers are squeezed of oxygen. And so tumors must flip specific genetic switches to survive in these hypoxic environments.

10 Jun 2013

Human Argonautes directly cuts messenger RNA

Human Argonautes (hAgo), are key proteins involved in a process known as RNA interference. RNAi, as it is often called, is a mechanism that cells use to regulate gene expression.

7 Jun 2013

Available drugs may have a dramatic impact on children stricken with Tay-Sachs disease

A team of researchers has made a significant discovery which may have a dramatic impact on children stricken with Tay-Sachs disease, a degenerative and fatal neurological condition that often strikes in the early months of life.

7 Jun 2013

Research reveals how HIV triggers signal to kill infected immune cell

Untreated HIV infection destroys a person's immune system by killing infection-fighting cells, but precisely when and how HIV wreaks this destruction has been a mystery until now. New research by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, reveals how HIV triggers a signal telling an infected immune cell to die.

6 Jun 2013

Six top scientists studying psoriasis receive NPF research grants to discover new treatments for chronic diseases

Six of the top scientists studying psoriasis-the most common autoimmune disease in the country, affecting 7.5 million Americans-and psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory joint and tendon disease affecting up to 30 percent of people with psoriasis, received National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) research grants totaling $450,000 for projects that aim to discover new treatments and a cure for these chronic diseases.

5 Jun 2013

New plug-in optical sensor can help diagnose Kaposi's sarcoma

As antiretroviral drugs that treat HIV have become more commonplace, the incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma, a type of cancer linked to AIDS, has decreased in the United States.

5 Jun 2013