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Researchers identify molecular emergency brake in charge of regulating self-digestion

Almost everything that happens inside a cell, including autophagy, is tightly regulated on a biochemical level. Like that, the cell makes sure that processes only take place when they are needed and that they are shut off when the need has expired. "Inside the cell, there exists a network of molecules. Between them, information is constantly being exchanged," says Schmitz, head of the research group "Systems-oriented Immunology and Inflammation Research" at HZI, who also holds a chair at the Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg.

15 Oct 2012

New insights into how miR-30d can promote healthy insulin production

Work by Michigan Technological University biologist Xiaoqing Tang is yielding new insights into how a tiny snippet of genetic material can promote healthy insulin production in mice.

13 Oct 2012

Leading scientists select first drugs to be evaluated in Alzheimer's clinical study

Leading scientists have selected the first drugs to be evaluated in a worldwide clinical study to determine whether they can prevent Alzheimer's disease.

11 Oct 2012

New drug candidate improves cognitive function of rats with Alzheimer's-like mental impairment

Washington State University researchers have developed a new drug candidate that dramatically improves the cognitive function of rats with Alzheimer's-like mental impairment.

11 Oct 2012

New mechanism may alter principle understandings of molecular interactions within a cell's nucleus

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, with collaborators from Harvard University, the University of Madrid, Princeton University, and the University of Zurich, have discovered a new mechanism that may alter principle understandings of molecular interactions within a cell's nucleus.

11 Oct 2012

U-M researchers to better understand HIV virus on a molecular level

A new $21-million grant will help researchers at the University of Michigan Health System better understand the HIV virus on a molecular level, potentially paving the way for new treatment approaches to AIDS and other diseases.

10 Oct 2012

Scientists discover mechanism used by A20 protein to combat inflammation

Scientists affiliated with VIB and UGent have discovered a mechanism used by the protein A20 to combat inflammation. This could be a very important point of focus in the search for a treatment for autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, in which the patient suffers from chronic, uncontrolled inflammation.

10 Oct 2012

High-fat Western diet could lead to development of atherosclerosis

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have found that a diet high in saturated fat raises levels of endothelial lipase (EL), an enzyme associated with the development of atherosclerosis, and, conversely, that a diet high in omega-3 polyunsaturated fat lowers levels of this enzyme.

10 Oct 2012

Researchers identify two new small 'chaperone' molecules that may treat Schindler/Kanzaki disease

University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers, experts in revealing molecular structure by X-ray crystallography, have identified two new small "chaperone" molecules that may be useful in treating the inherited metabolic disorder known as Schindler/Kanzaki disease.

10 Oct 2012

New screening method may lead to more efficient RNA drug development

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a new method of screening more than three million combinations of interactions between RNA and small molecules to identify the best targets on RNA as well as the most promising potential drug compounds.

10 Oct 2012

Researchers discover mechanism by which magnesium reduces cytokine production

Magnesium sulfate is given to many pregnant women to treat preterm labor and preeclampsia and was recently shown to prevent cerebral palsy; however little is known about how it works. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine recently discovered the mechanism by which magnesium reduces the production of cytokines.

10 Oct 2012

Researchers discover smallest and fastest-known RNA switches

A University of Michigan biophysical chemist and his colleagues have discovered the smallest and fastest-known molecular switches made of RNA, the chemical cousin of DNA. The researchers say these rare, fleeting structures are prime targets for the development of new antiviral and antibiotic drugs.

8 Oct 2012

Rember revamped for Phase 3 testing in behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia

Rember—the blue dye that created a stir in 2008 when Phase 2 clinical trial data claimed that it slowed decline in people with Alzheimer's disease—has now been revamped for Phase 3 testing in another disease, behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD).

6 Oct 2012

Progress toward preventing initial and recurrent episodes of C. diff infection

Surgeons are making progress toward preventing initial and recurrent episodes of clostridium difficile colitis (C. difficile or C. diff), a vicious bacterial infection that is estimated to affect about 336,000 people each year, typically patients on antibiotics.

6 Oct 2012

Mouse genome consists of 10-nm chromatin fibres

Scientists in Canada and the United States have used three-dimensional imaging techniques to settle a long-standing debate about how DNA and structural proteins are packaged into chromatin fibres. The researchers, whose findings are published in EMBO reports, reveal that the mouse genome consists of 10-nm chromatin fibres but did not find evidence for the wider 30-nm fibres that were previously thought to be important components of the DNA architecture.

5 Oct 2012

Study links PI3Kgamma molecule with multiple sclerosis

A University of Adelaide researcher has published results that suggest a possible new mechanism to control multiple sclerosis (MS).

5 Oct 2012

New gene test can detect pre-cancerous cells in patients with mouth lesions

Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have developed a new gene test that can detect pre-cancerous cells in patients with benign-looking mouth lesions. The test could potentially allow at-risk patients to receive earlier treatment, significantly improving their chance of survival.

5 Oct 2012

Patients with eye diseases can benefit from ArtCornea

Blindness is often caused by corneal diseases. The established treatment is a corneal transplant, but in many cases this is not possible and donor corneas are often hard to come by. In the future, an artificial cornea could make up for this deficiency and save the vision of those affected.

5 Oct 2012

Favorable preliminary results from XenoPort’s XP23829 Phase 1 trial on RRMS, psoriasis

XenoPort, Inc. announced today favorable preliminary results from a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy adults designed to assess the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety and tolerability of single doses of four different oral formulations of XP23829, a novel fumaric acid ester compound that is a prodrug of monomethyl fumarate (MMF).

5 Oct 2012

Assisted reproduction technology may increase risk of MS activity among women

Researchers in Argentina report that women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who undergo assisted reproduction technology (ART) infertility treatment are at risk for increased disease activity.

4 Oct 2012