Glutamine News and Research

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Glutamine is an amino acid used in nutrition therapy. It is also being studied for the treatment of diarrhea caused by radiation therapy to the pelvis.

Plastic surgeons warn of malnutrition in body contouring patients

Identifying malnutrition before surgery in massive weight loss patients seeking body contouring will significantly decrease surgical complications, accelerate wound healing, improve scar quality and boost patient energy levels, according to a study in the December issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery ®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

16 Nov 2008

New clue for cellular damage in Huntington's disease

"Huntington's disease presents an ideal vantage point to study neurodegenerative disease, because we know the misfolded protein that's responsible," says Martin Duennwald, formerly a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist.

16 Nov 2008

RNA toxicity contributes to neurodegenerative disease

Expanding on prior research performed at the University of Pennsylvania, Penn biologists have determined that faulty RNA, the blueprint that creates mutated, toxic proteins, contributes to a family of neurodegenerative disorders in humans.

27 May 2008

Intracellular antibody mops up mutant protein in Huntington's disease model

Scientists have created a tool for mopping up the clumps of mutant protein that drive neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease. Emory University researchers engineered a virus to make an intracellular antibody or "intrabody" against huntingtin, the protein whose mutant forms poison the brain cells of people with Huntington's.

26 May 2008

RNA toxicity contributes to neurodegenerative disease

21 May 2008

Model shows how mutation tips biochemistry to cause Alzheimer's

Your fate can be determined by tiny events. Imagine you live in the city and you walk everywhere to get exercise - you are healthy and not afraid of getting mugged. You almost never eat breakfast so you don't stop at the donut shop on the way to work, until one day the manager replaces the girl at the counter with her pretty red-haired younger sister. This seemingly unimportant change in your world is just enough to overcome your ability to resist high-fat temptation. A million donuts later, your cholesterol level surges and then your heart gives out. Curse you, little red-haired girl!

12 May 2008

People with manic depression have a distinct chemical signature in their brains

People with manic depression have a distinct chemical signature in their brains, according to a new study. The research, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, may also indicate how the mood stabilisers used to treat the disorder counteract the changes in the brain that it appears to cause.

5 Feb 2008

Potential new treatments for Huntington's disease

Working with fruit flies, researchers have discovered a new mechanism by which the abnormal protein in Huntington's disease causes neurodegeneration.

10 Jan 2008

Huntington's disease problem starts early

The damaging effects of the mutated protein involved in Huntington's disease take place earlier in cell life than previously believed, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report that appears in the current edition of the journal Neuron.

10 Jan 2008

Why the switch stays on

Cellular processes, such as when to multiply, are often regulated by switches that control the frequency and timing of interactions between proteins.

13 Dec 2007

New disease model for Huntington's

Huntington's disease is a genetic time bomb: Programmed in the genes, it appears at a predictable age in adulthood, causing a progressive decline in mental and neurological function and finally death.

27 Nov 2007

Abnormal glutamine repeats interfere with key transcription factor, leading to neurodegeneration

Although repeating sequences of three nucleotides encoding some of the bodies' 20 amino acids are a normal part of protein composition, abnormal expansion of trinucleotide repeats is the known cause of multiple inherited neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington disease.

14 Nov 2007

New insights into prion propagation

Prions - infectious, oddly-folded proteins that are the main suspects in fatal neurodegenerative diseases such as Cruetzfeldt-Jakob and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow" - remain mostly a mystery to scientists.

9 Jul 2007

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejects Vitrolife patent claims

In November 2005, IVFonline.com, LLC, among others, was sued for patent infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,838,235 (the '235 patent) by Vitrolife, AB of Sweden (Vitrolife).

27 Jun 2007

Scientists convert the sequence of proteins into music

UCLA molecular biologists have turned protein sequences into original compositions of classical music.

17 May 2007

Curry related compound shows promise against Kennedy's disease

Scientists who focus on the molecular signaling that underlies prostate cancer have discovered a compound that shows promise against a debilitating neurodegenerative condition known as Kennedy's disease, which is caused by a mutant gene.

21 Mar 2007

Nanogen announces new patents for inventions related to diabetes and Alzheimer's disease biomarkers

Nanogen has announced that it has been issued four patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for inventions related to diabetes and Alzheimer's disease biomarkers.

30 Oct 2006

Green tea slows down plaque formation in Huntington's disease

Green tea can apparently inhibit the formation of the lethal protein aggregates that are a characteristic feature of Huntington's disease (HD).

13 Sep 2006

The endocannabinoid system controls key epileptogenic circuits in the hippocampus

The same brain machinery that responds to the active substance in marijuana provides a central "on-demand" protection against seizures, researchers have found. They said their discoveries suggest that the "endocannabinoid" system might constitute a prime target for drugs against seizures of epilepsy and other neurodegenerative diseases.

16 Aug 2006

Mechanism for neurodenegerative diseases linked to transport proteins

Hampering the transport of proteins within cells may underlie several adult-onset neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's, ALS and Kennedy disease. Understanding how this cell transport is blocked in these diseases may offer targets for future therapy.

9 Jun 2006