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Study suggests new treatment strategy for heart attacks and strokes

A heart attack doesn't just damage heart muscle tissue by cutting off its blood supply, it also sets off an inflammatory cascade that worsens underlying atherosclerosis, actively increasing the risk for a future heart attack. These findings from a study receiving advance online publication in Nature suggest an important new therapeutic strategy for preventing heart attacks and strokes, both of which are caused when atherosclerotic plaques rupture and block important blood vessels.

28 Jun 2012

Detailed study on how diesel soot gets stuck in the lungs

The exhaust from diesel-fuelled vehicles, wood fires and coal-driven power stations contains small particles of soot that flow out into the atmosphere. The soot is a scourge for the climate but also for human health. Now for the first time, researchers have studied in detail how diesel soot gets stuck in the lungs. The results show that more than half of all inhaled soot particles remain in the body.

28 Jun 2012

TB research finds body’s own response helps TB bacteria survive

Inhibiting a key immune response in mice during initial multi-drug treatment for tuberculosis could — paradoxically — shorten treatment time for the highly contagious lung infection according to new research from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and the Center for TB Research. Shorter duration of drug therapy is key, researchers say, to increase treatment compliance for the growing global health threat posed by the disease.

28 Jun 2012

UH receives federal grants to pursue projects related to prostate cancer, diabetes and obesity

Researchers at the University of Houston (UH) have been awarded more than $862,000 in federal grants to pursue projects related to prostate cancer, diabetes and obesity. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) will fund two new prostate cancer projects, while a third NIH grant will support diabetes and obesity research in the UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS).

28 Jun 2012

Dietary fiber can improve gastrointestinal health

A University of Illinois study shows that dietary fiber promotes a shift in the gut toward different types of beneficial bacteria. And the microbes that live in the gut, scientists now believe, can support a healthy gastrointestinal tract as well as affect our susceptibility to conditions as varied as type 2 diabetes, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis.

28 Jun 2012

Intensive early treatment slows down progression of type 2 diabetes

Intensive early treatment of type 2 diabetes slows down progression of the disease by preserving the body's insulin-producing capacity, a UT Southwestern study has shown.

28 Jun 2012

Scientists transplant stem cells from patients with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy into mice

Stem cells from patients with a rare form of muscular dystrophy have been successfully transplanted into mice affected by the same form of dystrophy, according to a new study published today in Science Translational Medicine.

28 Jun 2012

Data from Infinity’s IPI-145 pre-clinical study on inflammatory diseases

Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported preclinical data for IPI-145, the company's oral inhibitor of phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)-delta and PI3K-gamma. The data demonstrate potent PI3K-delta and -gamma inhibition in biochemical, cellular and whole blood assays and activity in multiple preclinical models of inflammatory disease, including rheumatoid arthritis and asthma.

28 Jun 2012

BPI clinical study to evaluate computerized, brain-plasticity-based program for schizophrenia

Researchers at San Francisco-based Brain Plasticity, Inc. (BPI) have begun a multi-center study to evaluate the effects of a computerized, brain-plasticity-based program designed to address the cognitive issues associated with schizophrenia.

28 Jun 2012

New compound could treat certain types of genetic disorders in muscles

Scientists at UCLA have identified a new compound that could treat certain types of genetic disorders in muscles. It is a big first step in what they hope will lead to human clinical trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

28 Jun 2012

Scientists reverse diabetes in mice using stem cells

University of British Columbia scientists, in collaboration with an industry partner, have successfully reversed diabetes in mice using stem cells, paving the way for a breakthrough treatment for a disease that affects nearly one in four Canadians.

28 Jun 2012

Study suggests adverse role for BclI polymorphism in obesity and insulin resistance

A large study in people at risk of diabetes has found a direct association between the presence of a small genetic alteration in a hormone receptor and increased body fat and insulin resistance. The results, to be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston, suggest an adverse role for a previously described genetic variant, the BclI polymorphism.

28 Jun 2012

Protein kinase A activated in the nucleus as well as the cytoplasm

Using a new tool allowing proteins in a living cell to be manipulated in real time, researchers at Johns Hopkins have stumbled across the answer to a longstanding debate about where and how a certain protein is turned on in the cell. Reporting in the February 2012 issue of Nature Chemical Biology, scientists show that protein kinase A is also activated in the nucleus rather than inside the cell’s body, a challenge to traditional beliefs.

27 Jun 2012

Second potential immune checkpoint target for cancer immunotherapy announced by Compugen

Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN) announced today results demonstrating the therapeutic potential of CGEN-15022, a Compugen-discovered B7/CD28-like membrane protein, as an immune checkpoint target for treatment of multiple cancers.

27 Jun 2012

Magnet guides iron-loaded cells to specific damaged sites in the heart

Optimal stem cell therapy delivery to damaged areas of the heart after myocardial infarction has been hampered by inefficient homing of cells to the damaged site. However, using rat models, researchers in France have used a magnet to guide cells loaded with iron oxide nanoparticles to key sites, enhancing the myocardial retention of intravascularly delivered endothelial progenitor cells.

27 Jun 2012

Small coils activate neurons to modulate brain-cell activity

Magnetic fields generated by microscopic devices implanted into the brain may be able to modulate brain-cell activity and reduce symptoms of several neurological disorders.

27 Jun 2012

DHA and curcumin help maintain neurological function after degenerative damage

UCLA researchers discovered that a diet enriched with a popular omega-3 fatty acid and an ingredient in curry spice preserved walking ability in rats with spinal-cord injury. Published June 26 in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, the findings suggest that these dietary supplements help repair nerve cells and maintain neurological function after degenerative damage to the neck.

27 Jun 2012

Gene transfer technique eliminates specific neural circuit linked to Parkinson's disease

In the brains of humans and non-human primates, over 100 billion nerve cells build up complicated neural circuits and produce higher brain functions. When an attempt is made to perform gene therapy for neurological diseases like Parkinson's disease, it is necessary to specify a responsible neural circuit out of many complicated circuits.

27 Jun 2012

Diet enriched with curcumin and DHA can promote neuroprotection in chronic SCI

Researchers from the Department of Neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine and the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology at UCLA have found that a diet enriched with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid, and curcumin, a component of the Indian spice turmeric, can protect the injured spinal cord and minimize the clinical and biochemical effects of spinal cord myelopathy in rats.

27 Jun 2012

Scientists now have clues to how GATA4 gene mutation leads to septal defects in babies with CHD

Scientists now have clues to how a gene mutation discovered in families affected with congenital heart disease leads to underdevelopment of the walls that separate the heart into four chambers.

27 Jun 2012