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Compulsive food seeking despite painful consequences

Ever get a buzz from eating chocolate? A study published in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience has shown that chocolate-craving mice are ready to tolerate electric shocks to get their fix.

8 Feb 2010

Memory complaints: Effectiveness of Non-pharmacological interventions

A meta-analysis published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by Swiss investigators B. Metternich and associates indicates the effectiveness of non pharmacological interventions on memory complaints.

8 Feb 2010

Cord Blood America finalizes agreement to process and store cord blood specimens for BioCells

Cord Blood America, Inc., the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological insurance policy, to families nationwide and internationally, said today that it has finalized an agreement to process and store cord blood specimens for BioCells, Inc., headquartered in Argentina, and its affiliates in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Panama and Puerto Rico.

8 Feb 2010

Silence Therapeutics strengthens patent portfolio of RNAi therapeutics in solid tumor treatment

Silence Therapeutics plc today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued the company a notice of allowance on a patent application directed to methods of treatment using a high-value therapeutic target in the area of oncology. Known as PKN-3, the target is a protein kinase C-related molecule that is believed to play an important role in the growth of cancer cells, as well as metastasis formation.

8 Feb 2010

Mutation in alpha tectorin gene causes progressive childhood deafness

Deafness is the most common disorder of the senses. Tragically, it commonly strikes in early childhood, severely damaging an affected child's ability to learn speech and language. In many cases, children gradually lose their hearing to become profoundly deaf over a long period of months to years, but scientists know very little about how this progressive loss happens, making prospects for prevention and cure very slim.

8 Feb 2010

Gene linked to endometrial cancer identified

Endometrial cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive tract, representing 6% of all cancers. There is currently no screening method or biomarker to indicate early presence of disease. "It is a very common malignancy that affects women of all ages" comments paper author Dr. Diego Castrillon. The cancer forms from the cells that grow along the inner lining of the uterus, which is called the endometrium, and usually it is diagnosed following patient reports of abnormal bleeding.

8 Feb 2010

Marijuana ineffective against Alzheimer's disease in animal model

The benefits of marijuana in tempering or reversing the effects of Alzheimer's disease have been challenged in a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.

8 Feb 2010

Stanford researchers use DNA minicircles to induce pluripotency in stem cells from human fat

Tiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Unlike other commonly used techniques, the method, which is based on standard molecular biology practices, does not use viruses to introduce genes into the cells or permanently alter a cell's genome.

8 Feb 2010

Gene variants associated with human biological ageing identified

Scientists announced today (7 Feb) they have identified for the first time definitive variants associated with biological ageing in humans. The team analyzed more than 500,000 genetic variations across the entire human genome to identify the variants which are located near a gene called TERC.

7 Feb 2010

Investigational drug for osteoporosis inhibits serotonin synthesis in the gut

An investigational drug that inhibits serotonin synthesis in the gut, administered orally once daily, effectively cured osteoporosis in mice and rats reports an international team led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center, in the Feb. 7 issue of Nature Medicine.

7 Feb 2010

GIS: Tbx3 gene improves quality of stem cells reprogrammed from differentiated cells

In the 7 Feb. 2010 issue of the journal Nature, scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), report that a genetic molecule, called Tbx3, which is crucial for many aspects of early developmental processes in mammals, significantly improves the quality of stem cells that have been reprogrammed from differentiated cells.

7 Feb 2010

Tβ4 may help treat skeletal muscle disease in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

REGENERX BIOPHARMACEUTICALS, INC. announced today that a research team in Washington, D.C. has found that dystrophin-deficient Mdx mice, treated twice a week for six months with Tβ4, showed a significant increase in skeletal muscle regenerating fibers compared to untreated mice. No effects related to muscle function or fibrosis and no adverse reactions were observed in the mice.

6 Feb 2010

Study may provide new intervention strategies for esophageal adenocarcinoma

Barrett's epithelium is recognized as a complication of erosive esophagitis and is the pre-malignant condition for adenocarcinoma of the esophagus.

6 Feb 2010

Study shows cellular circuitry is more complex than previously thought

Using an elaborate sleuthing system they developed to probe how cells manage their own division, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that common but hard-to-see sugar switches are partly in control.

6 Feb 2010

Breakthrough research could lead to new potential treatments for malaria

Groundbreaking research done at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) School of Biological Sciences (SBS) could lead to the development of more potent drugs or a vaccine for malaria, which is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes and kills up to three million people each year.

6 Feb 2010

Breakthrough discovery could help in developing a broad spectrum of antiviral drugs

Within a virus's tiny exterior is a store of energy waiting to be unleashed. When the virus encounters a host cell, this pent-up energy is released, propelling the viral DNA into the cell and turning it into a virus factory.

6 Feb 2010

Biochemists identify a critical piece in the evolutionary puzzle

Monash University biochemists have found a critical piece in the evolutionary puzzle that explains how life on Earth evolved millions of centuries ago.

6 Feb 2010

BIO urges HHS to preserve incentives for investment and innovation; improve patient access to genetic tests

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) released today a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius regarding the potentially harmful recommendations of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society (SACGHS) in its Report on Gene Patents and Licensing Practices and Their Impact on Patient Access to Genetic Tests.

6 Feb 2010

Scientists employ new approach to understand metabolic changes of TB bacteria

The complex chain of metabolic events in bacteria that lead to fatal diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) may be better understood using mathematical models, according to an article published in the February issue of Microbiology Today.

5 Feb 2010

Biotechnology: The next medical revolution

A recent article in the Scandia Journal reported that biotechnology is helping to improve our knowledge of many devastating illnesses, and has armed patients and their doctors with exciting new diagnostics and treatments to battle disease.

5 Feb 2010