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Research uncovers natural defense mechanism that inactivates C. diff toxins

Groundbreaking research encompassing Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, has uncovered a natural defense mechanism that is capable of inactivating the toxin that spreads Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, an increasingly common bacterial infection in hospitals and long-term care settings.

22 Aug 2011

New technique can detach sugars from carrier molecule, reattach them to drugs

The surface of cells and many biologically active molecules are studded with sugar structures that are not used to store energy, but rather are involved in communication, immunity and inflammation.

22 Aug 2011

Scientists discover key defense mechanism against C. difficile infection

Researchers have discovered a key mechanism used by intestinal cells to defend themselves against one of the world's most common hospital-acquired bacterial infections - a mechanism they think they can exploit to produce a therapy to protect against the effects of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

22 Aug 2011

Radiolabeled protein reveals presence of S. aureus endocarditis in mouse model

A novel imaging probe developed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators may make it possible to diagnose accurately a dangerous infection of the heart valves.

22 Aug 2011

Winter airway infections appear to trigger narcolepsy: Study

The onset of narcolepsy appears to follow seasonal patterns of H1N1 and other upper airway infections, according to a new study of patients in China that was led by Stanford University School of Medicine narcolepsy expert Emmanuel Mignot, MD.

22 Aug 2011

First computerized genome-scale model of cancer cell metabolism

Scientists are constantly on the hunt for treatments that can selectively target cancer cells, leaving other cells in our bodies unharmed.

22 Aug 2011

Disadvantaged, unhealthy mothers more likely to have sickly children

Disadvantaged, unhealthy mothers are much more likely to have sickly children than are disadvantaged moms who are relatively healthy—and this is not only due to genetics, suggests new research to be presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

22 Aug 2011

Scientists discover mechanism that helps explain why stress causes DNA damage

For years, researchers have published papers that associate chronic stress with chromosomal damage. Now researchers at Duke University Medical Center have discovered a mechanism that helps to explain the stress response in terms of DNA damage.

22 Aug 2011

Scientists identify common cause of all forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The underlying disease process of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS and Lou Gehrig's disease), a fatal neurodegenerative disease that paralyzes its victims, has long eluded scientists and prevented development of effective therapies. Scientists weren't even sure all its forms actually converged into a common disease process.

22 Aug 2011

New CDI therapeutic approach may offer treatment for other bacterial diseases

Researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered a molecular process by which the body can defend against the effects of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), pointing the way to a promising new approach for treating an intestinal disease that has become more common, more severe and harder to cure in recent years.

22 Aug 2011

Scientists reveal how thiostrepton blocks FOXM1 protein, prevents breast cancer development

Scientists have discovered how a molecule that was first discovered in bacteria blocks a protein which causes breast cancer to develop and spread, reveals research published in Nature Chemistry today.

22 Aug 2011

Quanterix's ELISA precisely measures low abundance cytokines in Crohn's disease

Quanterix Corporation, a company enabling a new generation of molecular diagnostic tests based on its revolutionary Single Molecule Array technology, today announced results of a pilot study to measure biomarkers of inflammation from patients with Crohn's disease.

20 Aug 2011

Research on why and how malaria parasites go undetected in the placenta of pregnant women

Collaborative research between LSTM and the University of Copenhagen, published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have answered a long standing mystery, why and how malaria parasites go unnoticed by the immune defences of pregnant mothers.

20 Aug 2011

Researchers to generate new knowledge about brain's complex communication system

Researchers at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen have collaborated with the company NeuroSearch to generate new knowledge about an important part of the brain's complex communication system.

20 Aug 2011

New findings on cancer stem cells

In cancer, tumors aren't uniform: they are more like complex societies, each with a unique balance of cancer cell types playing different roles. Understanding this "social structure" of tumors is critical for treatment decisions in the clinic because different cell types may be sensitive to different drugs. A common theory is that tumors are a hierarchical society, in which all cancer cells descend from special self-renewing cancer stem cells.

20 Aug 2011

Two studies on how amino acids influence protein synthesis in recreational athletes

Physical activity requires strong, healthy muscles. Fortunately, when people exercise on a regular basis, their muscles experience a continuous cycle of muscle breakdown (during exercise) and compensatory remodeling and growth. Athletes have long experimented with methods to augment these physiologic responses to enhance muscle growth.

20 Aug 2011

New model for biomedical education

Leaders in biomedical education at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are calling for a radical new approach to post-graduate training in the life sciences to address significant challenges, including an avalanche of new discoveries in the last decade and the need to transcend traditional departmental boundaries to understand biological processes at multiple levels.

20 Aug 2011

VOA News examines new drug compound that shows broad-based efficacy in lab tests

VOA News looks at a new drug compound developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that they say has so far "killed every virus it's been tested on in the laboratory." "The drug - known by the acronym DRACO - works by chemically targeting viral-infected cells and prompting them to self-destruct, eliminating the disease in the process," VOA writes.

20 Aug 2011

Scientists report molecular structural basis for sex organ, head deformities

Scientists this month reported the molecular structural basis for severe head deformities and ambiguous sex organs in babies born with Antley-Bixler syndrome accompanied by an enzyme deficiency.

20 Aug 2011

Babies of mothers with higher pre-pregnancy BMI are fatter, finds study

Babies of mothers with a higher pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) are fatter and have more fat in their liver, a study published in September's issue of the journal Pediatric Research has found.

20 Aug 2011