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Dynamic connectivity rewires neuronal circuits on the fly to sharpen senses

Researchers from the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC), a joint project of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, have for the first time described a mechanism called "dynamic connectivity," in which neuronal circuits are rewired “on the fly” allowing stimuli to be more keenly sensed.

17 Dec 2007

Genetic cause of Kawasaki disease

Researchers from Japan's RIKEN SNP Research Center, collaborating with a team at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), have discovered a new genetic variation that affects a child's risk of getting Kawasaki disease (KD), an illness characterized by acute inflammation of the arteries throughout the body.

17 Dec 2007

Highly promising Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research

The TI Pharma project is a large-scale study into the brain material of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients, who gave permission to the Netherlands Brain Bank for their tissue to be used for scientific research.

17 Dec 2007

Targeted therapy and chemotherapy shrinks breast cancer metastases in brain

A combination of a "targeted" therapy and chemotherapy shrank metastatic brain tumors by at least 50 percent in one-fifth of patients with aggressive HER2-positive breast cancer, according to data presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

17 Dec 2007

Cholesterol affects your hearing

Levels of cholesterol in the membranes of hair cells in the inner ear can affect your hearing, said a consortium of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University and Purdue University in a report in the print edition of The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

17 Dec 2007

Breakthrough technology provides new understanding of cellular processes endocytosis and exocytosis

For the first time, scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City have observed in real time a cellular mechanism that's crucial to how brain cells communicate.

17 Dec 2007

Researchers zero in on the tiniest members in the war on cancer

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University have uncovered another reason why one of the most commonly activated proteins in cancer is so dangerous.

14 Dec 2007

Treatment with secretoneurin reduces injury to the brain following stroke

Stroke is the term used to describe deteriorating brain function due to either the leaking of blood vessels (hemorrhage) or oxygen deprivation (ischemia) in the brain.

14 Dec 2007

Sperm's immune-protection properties could provide link to how cancers spread

Sugar-based markers on human sperm cells which may prevent them from being attacked by the female immune system could provide a vital clue to how some cancers spread in the human body, according to new research published on 14 December 2007.

14 Dec 2007

Scientists overcome obstacles to stem cell heart repair

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) at Imperial College London have overcome two significant obstacles on the road to harnessing stem cells to build patches for damaged hearts.

14 Dec 2007

Researchers report protein interactions of MAP kinase signaling pathway

The Stowers Institute's Rong Li Lab, in collaboration with the Institute's Imaging Center, has achieved a quantitative in vivo measurement of the dynamic protein-protein interactions in the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade signaling pathway, which is critical to growth and differentiation decisions in all eukaryotic cells.

14 Dec 2007

Profound immune system discovery opens door to halting destruction of lupus

A researcher funded by the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) has discovered an entirely new and powerful molecular switch that controls the inflammatory response of the immune system.

14 Dec 2007

Researchers shine the light of venus to learn how the herpes virus invades cells

University of Pennsylvania researchers have uncovered an important step in how herpes simplex virus, HSV-1, uses cooperating proteins found on its outer coat to gain entry into healthy cells and infect them.

14 Dec 2007

New technique reveals insights into lung disease

Doctors at the Universities of Nottingham and Leicester are collaborating in the use of a magnetic resonance technique to image and quantify the air spaces inside the lungs - and the results of their research may lead to a link between childhood disease and later degenerative lung disease.

14 Dec 2007

Molecular 'trip switch' shuts down inflammatory response

Like a circuit breaker that prevents electrical wiring from overheating and bringing down the house, a tiny family of three molecules stops the immune system from mounting an out-of-control, destructive inflammatory response against invading pathogens, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found.

14 Dec 2007

MicroRNA regulates cancer stem cells

One of the biggest stories in cancer research over the past few years has been, unexpectedly, stem cells.

14 Dec 2007

Immune system may target some brain synapses

A baby's brain has a lot of work to do, growing more neurons and connections.

14 Dec 2007

First view of synapse in real time

For the first time, scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City have observed in real time a cellular mechanism that's crucial to how brain cells communicate.

14 Dec 2007

Early treatment stops epilepsy in its tracks

Yale School of Medicine researchers have shown for the first time that it is possible to suppress the development of epilepsy in genetically predisposed animals - which could open the door to treating epilepsy as a preventable disease.

14 Dec 2007

Cancer research giants to present the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has announced a collaboration for the future of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

14 Dec 2007