Disruptive clumps of mutated protein are often blamed for clogging cells and interfering with brain function in patients with the neurodegenerative diseases known as spinocerebellar ataxias. But a new study in fruit flies suggests that for at least one of these diseases, the defective proteins may not need to form clumps to do harm.
A research team led by Wayne State University, in collaboration with Michigan State University, has identified a single gene in honeybees that separates the queens from the workers. The scientists unraveled the gene’s inner workings and published the results in the current issue of Biology Letters. The gene, which is responsible for leg and wing development, plays a crucial role in the evolution of bees’ ability to carry pollen.
Dana-Farber researchers have found that a combination of two already-in-use drugs may have an effect on stopping the growth of the most common genetic subtype of lung cancer setting the stage for clinical trials.
Age is a key risk factor for breast cancer. A recent study by researchers from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC), “Age-related DNA methylation in normal breast tissue and its relationship with invasive breast tumor methylation,” examines the connection between cancer and the aging process to see if epigenetic DNA alterations might contribute to age-related increases in breast cancer risk.
A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that moderate to severe hot flashes continue, on average, for nearly five years after menopause, and more than a third of women experience moderate/severe hot flashes for 10 years or more after menopause. Current guidelines recommend that hormone therapy, the primary medical treatment for hot flashes, not continue for more than 5 years.
Dartmouth researchers developed a new biological pathway-based computational model, called the Pathway-based Human Phenotype Network (PHPN), to identify underlying genetic connections between different diseases as reported in BioDataMining this week.
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have been awarded approximately $1.8 million from the National Cancer Institute to identify signaling pathways that underlie lung cancer and to develop new therapeutic approaches.
The development of DNA-based vaccines with cytokine adjuvants has emerged as particularly promising for inducing antiviral and anti-tumor, cell-mediated immune responses. The protein IL-33 boosts the immune system of a human papilloma virus animal model of cancer.
In the first whole-genome analysis conducted through the Roswell Park Center for Personalized Medicine, and the second ever in bladder cancer, researchers found two distinct patterns of genetic alteration in tumors and identified a potential target.
Whitehead Institute researchers have determined that poly(A) tails on messenger RNAs (mRNAs) shift their role in the regulation of protein production during early embryogenesis. This finding about the regulation of mRNA translation also provides insight into how microRNAs control protein production.
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that valproic acid, a widely prescribed drug for treating epilepsy, has the additional benefits of reducing fat accumulation in the liver and lowering blood sugar levels in the blood of obese mice.
Fewer than one in two children and young adults treated for anxiety achieve long-term relief from symptoms, according to the findings of a study by investigators from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and five other institutions.
Preliminary results of a small clinical trial show that a vaccine used to treat women with high-grade precancerous cervical lesions triggers an immune cell response within the damaged tissue itself. The Johns Hopkins scientists who conducted the trial said the finding is significant because measuring immune system responses directly in the lesions may be a more accurate way to evaluate so-called “therapeutic” vaccines than by the conventional means of blood analysis.
CU Cancer Center study: bladder and lung cancers are marked by shared differences in the genetics that control the cell cycle, with diagnostic, prognostic and treatment implications.
Aside from the 2013 Nobel Prize in Medicine going to the discoverers of this highly organized transport system, scientific interest in a particular group of vesicles called exosomes has accelerated over the last several years. Andrew K. Godwin, Ph.D., professor and director of molecular oncology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, is among the researchers studying the potential clinical applications of these specialized structures.
Study: patients taking crizotinib for ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer may safely and durably use up to three courses of targeted radiation therapy to eradicate pockets of drug-resistant disease.
Researchers have come up with a method to convert adult cells into epithelial stem cells, the first time anyone has achieved this in either humans or mice. The epithelial stem cells, when implanted into immunocompromised mice, regenerated the different cell types of human skin and hair follicles, and even produced structurally recognizable hair shaft, raising the possibility that they may eventually enable hair regeneration in people.
Specific compounds found in exhaled breath may help diagnose lung cancer in its early stages
Various muscular diseases are associated with changes in the elasticity of the protein titin, but whether these changes are a cause or an effect of disease has been unclear. Researchers help solve this “chicken or the egg” conundrum and identify a key player in determining titin’s size and stiffness.
The ultraviolet radiation (UVR) present in sunlight is the most common environmental carcinogen. To develop better methods of protection from the sun, we need to understand how the human skin detects and responds to UVR. Researchers provide new insight into the molecular pathway underlying this process.
In normal development, all cells turn off genes they don’t need, often by attaching a chemical methyl group to the DNA, a process called methylation. Historically, scientists believed methyl groups could only stick to a particular DNA sequence: a cytosine followed by a guanine, called CpG. But in recent years, they have been found on other sequences, and so-called non-CpG methylation has been found in stem cells, and in neurons in the brain.
Deprivation of vision during critical periods of childhood development has long been thought to result in irreversible vision loss. Now, researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have challenged that theory by studying a unique population of pediatric patients who were blind during these critical periods before removal of bilateral cataracts. The researchers found improvement after sight onset in contrast sensitivity tests, which measure basic visual function and have well-understood neural underpinnings. Their results show that the human visual system can retain plasticity beyond critical periods, even after early and extended blindness.
Researchers at Duke Medicine report that health care costs increase in parallel with body mass measurements, even beginning at a recommended healthy weight. Pharmacy and medical costs may even double for obese people compared with those at a healthy weight, according to a recent study published in the journal Obesity.
Poor-quality sleep with frequent awakenings can speed cancer growth, increase tumor aggressiveness and dampen the immune system’s ability to control cancer. This study demonstrates the effects of sleep loss on tumor growth and invasiveness and points to a mechanism for therapy.
Dartmouth engineers and radiologists develop new approach for diagnostic imaging of dense breasts with suspicious lesions. MRI/NIRS technique offers greater flexibility, speed, and accuracy. Technology shows promise for improving MRI’s ability to distinguish cancer from benign abnormalities.
Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts General Hospital have demonstrated, for the first time, that aspirin intake correlates with halted growth of vestibular schwannomas (also known as acoustic neuromas), a sometimes lethal intracranial tumor that typically causes hearing loss and tinnitus.
Seattle BioMed researchers identified two HIV-1 Envelope immunogens that elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies when introduced as a vaccine. The study was published online in PLOS One.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have developed a mathematical model to predict how a patient’s tumor is likely to behave and which of several possible treatments is most likely to be effective.
Using a novel high-throughput screening process, scientists have for the first time identified molecules with the potential to block the accumulation of a toxic eye protein that can lead to early onset of glaucoma.
Survivors of breast cancer have a one in six chance of developing breast cancer in the other breast. But a study conducted in mice suggests that survivors can dramatically reduce that risk through treatment with moderate doses of radiation to the unaffected breast at the same time that they receive radiation therapy to their affected breast. The treatment, if it works as well in humans as in mice, could prevent tens of thousands of second breast cancers.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have figured out a key step in how “free” calcium — the kind not contained in bones — is managed in the body, a finding that could aid in the development of new treatments for a variety of neurological disorders that include Parkinson’s disease.
Setting the stage for possible advances in pain treatment, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland report they have pinpointed two molecules involved in perpetuating chronic pain in mice. The molecules, they say, also appear to have a role in the phenomenon that causes uninjured areas of the body to be more sensitive to pain when an area nearby has been hurt.
Researchers at Duke Medicine have shown that continuing spinal cord stimulation appears to produce improvements in symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, and may protect critical neurons from injury or deterioration.
Columbia University Medical Center researchers have identified a gene, called matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), that appears to play a major role in motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The findings, made in mice, explain why most but not all motor neurons are affected by the disease and identify a potential therapeutic target for this still-incurable neurodegenerative disease. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Neuron.
Prevalence and incidence rates of vulvodynia were substantial among all ethnic groups.
Although the brain becomes smaller with age, the shrinkage seems to be fast-tracked in older adults with hearing loss, according to the results of a study by researchers from Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging. The findings add to a growing list of health consequences associated with hearing loss, including increased risk of dementia, falls, hospitalizations, and diminished physical and mental health overall.
Nearly half of hospitalized American adults age 65 and older require decision-making assistance from family members or other surrogates because the patient is too impaired to make decisions independently, according to a new study from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University Center for Aging Research.
Teen marijuana use may have repercussions in unexposed progeny. This rodent study found that parental use of marijuana/THC was linked to molecular and neurobiological disturbances and increased motivation to get drugs.
Using a simple study of eye movements, Johns Hopkins scientists report evidence that people who are less patient tend to move their eyes with greater speed. The findings, the researchers say, suggest that the weight people give to the passage of time may be a trait consistently used throughout their brains, affecting the speed with which they make movements, as well as the way they make certain decisions.
A University of Colorado Cancer Center study, recently published in the journal Oncogene, shows that downstream from the oncogenic fusion of genes EWS with FLI1 is a signaling chain that includes microRNA-22 and the gene KDM3A. By targeting these links, researchers hope to break this cancer-causing chain.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center researchers find a statistically significant correlation between longer normal withdrawal time and higher (overall) polyp detection rates, adenoma detection rates, and serrated polyp detection rates.
AML is a blood cancer, but for many patients the cancer may originate from an unusual source: a mutation in their bone cells. In a study published today in the online edition of Nature, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center found that a mutation in the bone cells called osteoblasts, which build new bone, causes AML in mice. The mutation was found in nearly 40 percent of patients with AML or myelodysplastic syndrome, a precursor condition, who were examined as part of the study.
Glaucoma is a stealthy disease. It can cause irreparable damage to the eyes before there is any vision loss. It also has been known since antiquity, but its cause is a mystery in most cases. Glaucoma Awareness Month is a good time to ask: Are researchers making progress toward solving this mystery?
Finding suitable drug targets for treating cocaine addiction has proved daunting, but for the first time, researchers have shown that abundant enzyme PARP-1 and the sidekick-1 gene are found to enhance the brain's reward system.
Cancer cells have something that every prisoner longs for—a master key that allows them to escape. A new study describes how a protein that promotes tumor growth also enables cancer cells to use this key and metastasize.
Researchers have developed a tissue scaffold that can deliver gene therapy to wounds over a period of several weeks.
Researchers replicated human pancreatic beta cells in a mouse model in which donor cells were transplanted. The newly replicated cells retained features of mature beta cells and showed a physiological response to glucose.
Scientists studying grasslands in Oklahoma have discovered that an increase of 2 degrees Celsius in the air temperature above the soil creates significant changes to the microbial ecosystem underground. Compared to a control group with no warming, plants in the warmer plots grew faster and higher, which put more carbon into the soil as the plants senesce. The microbial ecosystem responded by altering its DNA to enhance the ability to handle the excess carbon.
A newly-developed, “designer” dietary fiber with an added potential prebiotic effect may eliminate the side effects of current treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) which affects 10-20 percent of the population, disproportionately women.
Shingles, a painful blistering virus related to the chicken pox, are more common in the winter and spring than any other time of the year. While people over the age of 60 account for 50% of all shingles cases, less than 15% get a vaccine that can prevent the illness. Now, a new study is showing that simple hi- and low-tech interventions may help motivate seniors to get vaccinated. The study also suggests that the combined use of pharmacists and electronic medical records could be successfully reapplied to managing other preventable or chronic illnesses.
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