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Research on molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease has been described as the "looming epidemic on the horizon." More than 5 million Americans currently suffer from this neurodegenerative disease that robs patients of their memories, and this number is projected to triple by the middle of the century.

18 Apr 2012

Promising anti-diabetic substance found in liquorice root

It provides the raw material for liquorice candy, calms the stomach and alleviates diseases of the airways: liquorice root. Chosen as the "Medicinal plant 2012", the root has been treasured in traditional healing since ancient times. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin have now discovered that liquorice root also contains substances with an anti-diabetic effect.

18 Apr 2012

More insight into tangled proteins in Alzheimer's disease

In Alzheimer's disease, brain neurons become clogged with tangled proteins. Scientists suspect these tangles arise partly due to malfunctions in a little-known regulatory system within cells. Now, researchers have dramatically increased what they know about this particular regulatory system in mice. Such information will help scientists better understand Alzheimer's and other diseases in humans and could eventually provide new targets for therapies.

17 Apr 2012

Tumor microenvironment contributes critically to drug response

It should be possible to significantly improve the response of common cancers to existing "classical" chemotherapy drugs, say scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), by introducing agents that alter the interaction of cancer cells with their immediate surroundings, called the tumor microenvironment.

17 Apr 2012

Individuals with low-quality genes may produce offspring with even more inferior chromosomes

Evolutionary biologists at the University of Toronto have found that individuals with low-quality genes may produce offspring with even more inferior chromosomes, possibly leading to the extinction of certain species over generations.

17 Apr 2012

New study describes therapeutic approach to halt cancer progression

A new study describes a therapeutic approach to halting cancer progression by exploiting a previously unrecognized "addiction" of leukemia cells to specific signaling molecules. The research, published by Cell Press online on April 16th in the journal Cancer Cell, identifies non-classical oncogenes critical for tumor development and survival, and describes a potentially less toxic strategy that selectively targets these molecules.

17 Apr 2012

PDAD patients have much denser accumulations of striatal plaques in the brain

Dementia is a frequent complication of Parkinson's disease (PD), but it is clinically impossible to distinguish PD dementia (PDD), which develops from the progression of the Lewy body pathology that underlies PD, from PD with coexistent Alzheimer's disease.

17 Apr 2012

Study finds lower cytokine levels in the plasma of children with autism

A University of Kansas Medical Center study found significantly lower levels of several cytokines, the immune system's messengers and regulators, in the plasma of children with autism disorder (AD) compared to that of unrelated healthy siblings from other families who had members with autism spectrum disorders.

17 Apr 2012

Study: Kidney cancer growth depends on autophagy

New research at the University of Cincinnati (UC) suggests that kidney cancer growth depends on autophagy, a complex process that can provide cells with nutrients from intracellular sources. Researchers say in certain circumstances autophagy can protect tumor cells from chemotherapy, allowing them to survive for long periods of time in a hidden, dormant, metastatic state.

17 Apr 2012

UCSF scientists assemble high-value genetic resource to help researchers

One of the ultimate ways of understanding what impact any particular gene has in human health or disease is to disrupt it-knocking it down or wiping it out in a worm, fly or mouse and gauging what happens next. Now scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Diabetes Center and the Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease have assembled a large publicly available resource to help researchers determine the importance of genes in mice and better gauge what roles they might play in disease.

17 Apr 2012

MTR can prevent cell death in patients with TBI

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers seeking a successful treatment for traumatic brain injury have found that the size and extent of damaged tissue can be reduced by using a new device to prevent cell death.

17 Apr 2012

T-FET biosensor can detect biomolecules at ultra-low concentrations

A new quantum mechanical-based biosensor designed by a team at University of California, Santa Barbara offers tremendous potential for detecting biomolecules at ultra-low concentrations, from instant point-of-care disease diagnostics, to detection of trace substances for forensics and security.

17 Apr 2012

Nurr1 gene plays a fundamental role in neuron survival

Researchers at the Institute of Neurosciences at Universitat Aut-noma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) identified the fundamental role played by the Nurr1 gene in neuron survival associated with synaptic activity. The discovery, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, allows scientists to study a new target that could help to understand the relationship between alterations in neural connections, which are known to cause early cognitive deficit, and the neurodegeneration characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.

17 Apr 2012

Lack of mLin41 gene regulator can cause neural tube defects

Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have found that lack of a specific gene interrupts neural tube closure, a condition that can cause death or paralysis.

17 Apr 2012

Two related enzymes play a key role in development of T-ALL

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) scientists have demonstrated that two related enzymes - phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) gamma and delta - play a key role in the development of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), a highly aggressive childhood leukemia that is difficult to treat.

17 Apr 2012

Researchers identify 56 genetic variants that influence BMD

Researchers at The Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, have co-authored the largest meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of osteoporosis as part of an international consortium and have identified dozens of genetic variants found to be linked to an increased risk of developing osteoporosis and of suffering broken bones.

17 Apr 2012

UTHealth researcher studies novel cell therapy to prevent GVHD

A researcher at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) is studying a novel cell therapy that could help avoid autoimmune problems after stem cell transplantation, as well as potentially treat other autoimmune diseases.

17 Apr 2012

Abnormal protein accumulation in the brain may lead to onset, severity of Parkinson's

Injection of a small amount of clumped protein triggers a cascade of events leading to a Parkinson's-like disease in mice, according to an article published online this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

17 Apr 2012

Bruker launches novel AVANCE III HD NMR spectrometer

At the Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Conference (ENC) 2012, Bruker introduces the novel AVANCE III HD NMR spectrometer.

17 Apr 2012

Study pinpoints compounds that repress cancer gene’s activity

A research team pursuing one of the most commonly altered genes in cancer has laid a critical foundation for understanding this gene that could point the way toward developing drugs against it. A recent study of cancer genetics pointed to the gene MCL1, which encodes a protein that helps keep cells alive

17 Apr 2012