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Aussie team discover rare breast stem cell responsible for tissue growth

Australian scientists have discovered the rare stem cell that drives the formation of all breast tissue.

9 Jan 2006

Researchers uncover new toxic mechanism in ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease

Exactly how ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease - damages motor neurons is one of medical science's lingering mysteries. At least six mishaps within cells appear to contribute to the death of the nerves that enable muscle movement, but nothing stands out as the key problem.

6 Jan 2006

DNA polymerase zeta gives cells with damaged DNA a new lease on life

Fortunately, our cells contain many enzymes devoted strictly to detecting and repairing any damage caused by these insults. In fact, failure of these enzymes to make needed repairs to genes can lead to the accumulation of mutations and, eventually, cell death or possibly cancer.

6 Jan 2006

Scientists describe phenomenon in the human genome called transcription-induced chimerism

In the January issue of the journal Genome Research, two teams of scientists describe a widespread phenomenon in the human genome called transcription-induced chimerism (TIC), where two adjacent genes produce a single, fused RNA transcript.

6 Jan 2006

Soy diet worsens heart disease in mice

Researchers from the University of Colorado have shown that mice carrying a genetic mutation that is linked to altered heart growth and function in humans, have significantly worse heart problems if fed a soy diet, when compared to mice fed a soy-free (milk protein-based) diet.

6 Jan 2006

New model for the origin of rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common systemic autoimmune diseases, and one of the least understood. Smoking is the major known environmental risk factor for RA, though little is known about the mechanisms involved.

6 Jan 2006

Researchers discover that large segments of human genome are devoid of mobile DNA elements called transposons

Scientists from the University of Queensland, Australia report in the journal Genome Research that large segments of the human genome are conspicuously devoid of ubiquitous mobile DNA elements called transposons.

6 Jan 2006

Caspase 8 gene halts spread of aggressive childhood cancer

A team of cancer researchers has shown that a gene commonly lost during neuroblastoma tumor formation, one of the most aggressive cancers in babies and children, is in fact a "metastasis suppressor" gene.

6 Jan 2006

Australian researchers discover stem cell that drives the formation of all breast tissue

Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium scientists from The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, using a mouse model, have discovered the rare stem cell that drives the formation of all breast tissue.

5 Jan 2006

Researchers move closer to understanding the basis of a severe epilepsy and mental retardation

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine took a step closer to understanding the basis of a severe epilepsy and mental retardation syndrome with work published in the January 5, 2006 issue of the journal Neuron.

5 Jan 2006

Pharmacogenetics can reduce health care costs

Chances are good that a medication you take is one of several drugs that can be affected by genetic factors, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the St. Louis College of Pharmacy.

5 Jan 2006

Genetic risk factors for depression greater in women

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that genes contribute more strongly to the risk of depression in women than in men, and that there may be some genetic factors that are operating uniquely in one sex and not in the other.

5 Jan 2006

UCLA examines disease-versus-disease interactions

The knowledge that one disease may prevent the onset of another is not new. For example, the discovery that cowpox vaccines can prevent smallpox dates back to 1798.

5 Jan 2006

Elevated homocysteine levels may be a biomarker for increased risk of AMD

People who have elevated homocysteine in their blood, an amino acid that is a known biomarker for cardiovascular disease, may also be at an increased risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a study in the January issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

5 Jan 2006

Smokers with a family history of lung cancer encouraged to undergo screening

To detect invasive lung cancer in its early stages, researchers urge current and former smokers who have a strong family history of the disease to take a lung function test and undergo screening with spiral computed tomography. The test is especially important should the previously diagnosed relative be young (around 50).

2 Jan 2006