A new technique for studying the structure of the childhood RSV virus and its activity in living cells could help researchers unlock the secrets of the virus, including how it enters cells, how it replicates, and perhaps why certain lung cells escape the infection relatively unscathed.
Patients with tongue cancer who started their treatment with a course of chemotherapy fared significantly worse than patients who received surgery first, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Biologists at The Johns Hopkins University have discovered that low oxygen conditions, which often persist inside tumors, are sufficient to initiate a molecular chain of events that transforms breast cancer cells from being rigid and stationery to mobile and invasive. Their evidence underlines the importance of hypoxia-inducible factors in promoting breast cancer metastasis.
A team of researchers studying plants has assembled the largest dated evolutionary tree, using it to show the order in which flowering plants evolved specific strategies, such as the seasonal shedding of leaves, to move into areas with cold winters. The results will be published Dec. 22 in the journal Nature.
Scientists using GPS to study changes in the Earth’s shape accurately forecasted the size and location of the magnitude 7.6 Nicoya earthquake that occurred in 2012 in Costa Rica.
An international team of researchers led by UC Davis in collaboration with scientists in Mexico and South Korea have taken a first step towards identifying glycans — sugars attached to proteins — that could help clinicians diagnose gastric cancer before it becomes deadly. Their research was published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is an inaugural member of the NIH Stroke Trials Network (NIHStrokeNet) and it will receive a 5-year, $1.3 million grant to build a collaborative research infrastructure for a regional coordinating stroke center.
Cells with a mutation in the gene called K-Ras—found in close to 30 percent of all cancers , but mostly those with worst prognosis, such as pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer—subvert the normal mechanisms of cell death.
A genetic trait known to make some people especially sensitive to stress also appears to be responsible for a 38 percent increased risk of heart attack or death in patients with heart disease, scientists at Duke Medicine report.
In some mountain ranges, Earth’s warming climate is driving rabbit relatives known as pikas to higher elevations or wiping them out. But University of Utah biologists discovered that roly-poly pikas living in rockslides near sea level in Oregon can survive hot weather by eating more moss than any other mammal.
A CU Cancer Center study published today in the journal Stem Cells shows that progenitor cells that create dangerous, muscle-invasive bladder cancer are different than the progenitor cells that create non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Though these two cancers grow at the same site, they are different diseases.
A University of Colorado Cancer Center study shows that ALK and ROS1 gene rearrangements known to drive subsets of lung cancer are also present in some colorectal cancers. These results imply that drugs used to target ALK and ROS1 in lung cancer may also have applications in this subset of colorectal cancer patients.
The ancestor of snakes and lizards likely gave birth to live young, rather than laid eggs, and over time species have switched back and forth in their preferred reproductive mode, according to research published in print in Ecology Letters Dec. 17.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified a protein complex that is essential for jumpstarting the immune response during the critical first 24 hours of an infection. The research appears in the current issue of the scientific journal Immunity.
Using a new technique to evaluate working muscles in mice, researchers have uncovered physiological mechanisms that could lead to new strategies for combating metabolism-related disorders like muscle wasting and obesity.
The study identifies a common, early marker of senescent cells that could have important implications for tumor suppression and aging-related diseases like Progeria
For tens of millions of Americans, a condition called tinnitus means there’s no such thing as the sound of silence. Now, new scientific findings that help explain what is going on inside their unquiet brains
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers are gaining a better understanding of the neurochemical basis of addiction with a new technology called optogenetics.
UI researchers describe the evolution of various forms of the enzyme “dihydrofolate reductase” as it occurred from bacteria to humans. Their paper, which appears in the Dec. 13 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, may prove useful to scientists in the design of future drugs and catalysts.
A network of 25 nationally recognized stroke centers has been created to rapidly address the three core features of stroke research and care: prevention, treatment and recovery.
A Phase I trial of endoxifen, an active metabolite of the cancer drug tamoxifen, indicates that the experimental drug is safe, with early evidence for anti-tumor activity, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The findings indicate that Z-endoxifen, co-developed by Mayo Clinic Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), may provide a new and better treatment for some women with estrogen positive breast cancer and, in particular, for those women who do not respond to tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. Results of the first in-human trial were presented today during the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
In this week’s edition of the journal Science, a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School and Whitehead Institute report that, at least in the case of one variety of cavefish, one agent of evolutionary change is the heat shock protein known as HSP90.
A team of Wayne State University researchers recently developed several diabetic models to study impaired wound healing in diabetic corneas. Using a genome-wide cDNA array analysis, the group identified genes, their associated pathways and the networks affected by DM in corneal epithelial cells and their roles in wound closure. Their findings may bring scientists one step closer to developing new treatments that may slow down or thwart the impact on vision.
A protein in Salmonella inactivates mast cells -- critical players in the body’s fight against bacteria and other pathogens -- rendering them unable to protect against bacterial spread in the body, according to researchers at Duke Medicine and Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS).
Cell biologists at Johns Hopkins have identified a unique class of breast cancer cells that lead the process of invasion into surrounding tissues. Because invasion is the first step in the deadly process of cancer metastasis, the researchers say they may have found a weak link in cancer's armor and a possible new target for therapy.
By taking advantage of the unique electronic properties of the material known as graphene, researchers now believe they’re on track to connect networks of nanomachines powered by small amounts of scavenged energy.
In a study of older mice, wolfberries appear to interact with the influenza vaccine to offer additional protection against the flu virus. The research from Tufts University suggests the wolfberry may increase the activity of dendritic cells, which play an important role in the ability of the immune system to defend against viral infections.
Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a new way to predict which heart failure patients are likely to see their condition get worse and which ones have a better prognosis. Their study is one of the first to show that energy metabolism within the heart, measured using a noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test, is a significant predictor of clinical outcomes, independent of a patient’s symptoms or the strength of the heart’s ability to pump blood, known as the ejection fraction.
Research findings suggest there may be a simple way to reduce the risk of breast cancer by keeping cholesterol in check, either with statins or a healthy diet. Additionally, for women who have breast cancer and high cholesterol, taking statins may delay or prevent resistance to endocrine therapies such as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors.
Researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute have found that a byproduct of cholesterol functions like the hormone estrogen, fueling the growth and spread of the most common types of breast cancers.
Drugs that enhance a process called oxidative stress were found to kill rhabdomyosarcoma tumor cells growing in the laboratory and possibly bolstered the effectiveness of chemotherapy against this aggressive tumor of muscle and other soft tissue. The findings are the latest from the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital–Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project and appear in the December 9 edition of the scientific journal Cancer Cell.
Researchers are developing a family of generators that provide power for portable electronic devices and sensors by harnessing the triboelectric effect to capture mechanical energy that would otherwise be wasted.
Researchers in the Women’s Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute have identified a series of 10 genes that may signify a trifecta of benefits for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer and ultimately reflect improved survival outcomes. The research found that the 10-gene biomarker panel may identify the aggressiveness of a patient’s disease, help predict survival outcomes and result in novel therapeutic strategies tailored to patients with the most adverse survival outcomes.
New study affirms the use of large-scale protein measurements to validate disease biomarkers and drug targets
A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins and in Texas has identified a handful of genetic mutations in black Americans, in addition to some chemical alterations affecting gene activity, which may help explain why the death rate among African-Americans from the most common form of head and neck cancer continues to hover some 18 percent higher above the death rate of whites with the same cancer.
Saint Louis University nursing instructor Julie Bertram found mental health nurses lend valuable perspective in treating troubled teens in foster care.
The study identifies the BTLA inhibitory receptor as a key factor in limiting inflammatory responses, particularly in skin. The research has important implications for psoriasis drug development. By targeting the BTLA receptor, inflammatory responses can be reined to restore immune homeostasis.
Using a powerful gene-hunting technique for the first time in mammalian brain cells, researchers at Johns Hopkins report they have identified a gene involved in building the circuitry that relays signals through the brain. The gene is a likely player in the aging process in the brain, the researchers say. Additionally, in demonstrating the usefulness of the new method, the discovery paves the way for faster progress toward identifying genes involved in complex mental illnesses such as autism and schizophrenia — as well as potential drugs for such conditions.
USDTL researchers will investigate the relationship between in utero alcohol exposure and epigenetics using Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The goal of USDTL’s new research program is to identify epigenetic patterns that are associated with prenatal alcohol exposure in newborns.
A low level of daily exposure to a common component of sunlight can cause skin damage at the molecular level after just a few days, new research shows. The findings highlight the need for better sunscreens to protect against these damaging rays.
Scientists develop new method for counting cancer-fighting cells in ovarian cancer patients
University of Utah and German biologists discovered how nerve cells recycle tiny bubbles or “vesicles” that send chemical nerve signals from one cell to the next. The process is much faster and different than two previously proposed mechanisms for recycling the bubbles.
An international, multidisciplinary research team has developed an ultrathin membrane that can stick to skin and carry arrays of diagnostic sensors and stimulatory components. The “electronic skin” allows remote patient monitoring and may someday be used to deliver treatments.
Fred Hutch researchers discover that cancer develops a few years after cells undergo drastic mutations, contrary to common belief.
For what is believed to be the first time, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University have illuminated the inner workings of an important class of enzymes located inside the outer envelopes of cells. Much to their surprise, they report, these protein cutters, called rhomboid proteases, are entirely different than nearly every other type of enzyme studied, showing no attraction to the proteins they cut and being extremely slow in making their cuts.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified an enzyme that can halt or possibly even reverse the build-up of toxic protein fragments known as plaques in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease. The research appeared in a recent edition of the scientific journal Nature Communications.
A new class of drugs reduced the risk of patients contracting a serious and often deadly side effect of lifesaving bone marrow transplant treatments, according to a study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
RNA molecules are generally thought to be “silent” when stowed in cytoplasmic granules. But a protein mutated in some ALS patients forms granules that permit translation of stored RNAs. The finding identifies a new mechanism that could contribute to the pathology of the disease.
Researchers have identified a protein that causes loss of function in immune cells combatting HIV. The scientists report in a paper appearing online Dec. 2 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that the protein, Sprouty-2, is a promising target for future HIV drug development, since disabling it could help restore the cells’ ability to combat the virus that causes AIDS.
An international team of scientists, including researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, has identified a key metabolic enzyme that common malaria parasites require for survival at each stage of infection in humans. The findings raise the possibility of a new approach to combating malaria, one of the world’s deadliest diseases. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Nature.
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