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Portable DNA sensors

A researcher at the National University at San Diego has taken a mathematical approach to a biological problem - how to design a portable DNA detector.

11 Mar 2008

How variants of a specific gene, CAPON or NOS1AP, can disrupt normal heart rhythm

A research team from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Johns Hopkins University and China Medical University and Hospital in Taiwan have described for the first time the mechanisms by which variants of a specific gene, CAPON or NOS1AP, can disrupt normal heart rhythm.

4 Mar 2008

Genetic factors in smoking also increase risk of chronic bronchitis

Smoking is a known risk factor for respiratory diseases like chronic bronchitis, but genes also play a significant role in its development, according to researchers in Sweden, who studied more than 40,000 Swedish twins to determine the extent to which behavior, environment and genes each play a role ion the development of chronic bronchitis.

1 Mar 2008

2 oxygenation events in ancient oceans sparked spread of complex life

The rise of oxygen and the oxidation of deep oceans between 635 and 551 million years ago may have had an impact on the increase and spread of the earliest complex life, including animals, according to a study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online Early Edition during the week of February 25 – 29.

26 Feb 2008

Worm defecation holds clues to widespread cell-to-cell communication process

The focus of two recent Nobel prizes, a species of roundworm has made possible another advance in the understanding of how cells talk to one another, according to a study published online Feb. 21 in the journal Current Biology.

22 Feb 2008

Scorpion venom may hold key to controlling cystic fibrosis

Researchers have discovered a peptide in scorpion venom that may hold the key to understanding and controlling cystic fibrosis and other secretory diseases.

17 Feb 2008

Bacterial toxin closes gate on immune response

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that a bacterial toxin from the common bacterium Staphylococcus aureus shuts down the control mechanism of the tunnel, called an ion channel, in immune cell membranes.

14 Feb 2008

RNA-associated introns guide nerve-cell channel production

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that introns, or junk DNA to some, associated with RNA are an important molecular guide to making nerve-cell electrical channels.

7 Feb 2008

New understanding of ion channel regulation

A study at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago published this week in the online version of Biophysical Journal proposes that bubbles may control the opening and closing of ion channels.

4 Feb 2008

Celebrex may disrupt heart rhythm

Celebrex, a popular arthritis drug that blocks pain by inhibiting an enzyme known as COX-2, has been shown in laboratory studies to induce arrhythmia, or irregular beating of the heart, via a novel pathway unrelated to its COX-2 inhibition.

25 Jan 2008

Viroporins, membrane-permeabilizing proteins of the poliomyelitis virus

A research team from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid directed by Professor Luís Carrasco has published new discoveries concerning the membrane permeabilizing proteins of the polio virus.

16 Jan 2008

How asthma and allergy symptoms are triggered

In demonstrating that a group of calcium ion channels play a crucial role in triggering inflammatory responses, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have not only solved a longstanding molecular mystery regarding the onset of asthma and allergy symptoms, but have also provided a fundamental discovery regarding the functioning of mast cells.

15 Jan 2008

Fish oil supplements may help some cardiac patients while harming others

Fish oil supplements may help some cardiac patients while harming others, suggests a new review of evidence compiled by St. Michael's Hospital and University of Toronto researchers.

15 Jan 2008

Research focuses on basic cellular mechanics that instigate the muscle contractions of labor

In the 21st century, human tissue can be generated from stem cells and severed limbs are successfully reattached, while the physiological processes governing life's most fundamental event, childbirth labor, remain a medical mystery.

4 Jan 2008

Researchers seek to make cavity-causing bacteria self-destruct

Bacteria that eat sugar and release cavity-causing acid onto teeth may soon be made dramatically more vulnerable to their own acid.

3 Jan 2008

Study uncovers clues to cystic fibrosis gene dysfunction and gastrointestinal disease

A new study by researchers at Hasbro Children's Hospital, the pediatric division of Rhode Island Hospital, and Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, offers new insight into the role that the cystic fibrosis gene plays in the development of gastrointestinal disease.

14 Dec 2007

Missing brain protein may be one of the culprits behind autism and other brain disorders

The protein helps synapses develop. Synapses--through which neurons communicate with one other-underlie our ability to learn and remember. Now Li-Huei Tsai, Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, has uncovered an enzyme that is key to that protein's activity.

5 Dec 2007

Merck Serono's Cyanokit approved in Europe

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, announced today that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for its product Cyanokit (active substance: hydroxocobalamin) for the treatment of known or suspected cyanide poisoning in both adults and the pediatric population.

3 Dec 2007

Researchers find evidence of mature heart cell potential in embryonic stem cells

In a new study, UC Davis researchers report the first functional evidence that heart cells derived from human embryonic stem cells exhibit one of the most critical properties of mature adult heart cells, an important biological process called excitation-contraction coupling.

27 Nov 2007

MIT radar technology fights breast cancer

Treating breast cancer with a type of heat therapy derived from MIT radar research can significantly increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy, according to results from the fourth clinical trial of the technique reported online Nov. 25 in the journal Cancer Therapy.

27 Nov 2007