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Study suggests that common gut microbe may control risk of developing MS

A common gut microbe might curb the risk of developing multiple sclerosis--at least in women--suggests the largest study of its kind published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

20 Jan 2015

CSHL researchers describe new pathway that controls fear memories in the mouse brain

Some people have no fear, like that 17-year-old kid who drives like a maniac. But for the nearly 40 million adults who suffer from anxiety disorders, an overabundance of fear rules their lives. Debilitating anxiety prevents them from participating in life's most mundane moments, from driving a car to riding in an elevator.

20 Jan 2015

Penn State researchers explore benefits of beet juice

Athletes who down beet juice before exercising to increase blood flow and improve performance may be surprised at the results of a recent study conducted at Penn State's Noll Laboratory. While beetroot juice rich in nitrates did not enhance muscle blood flow or vascular dilation during exercise, researchers found that it did "de-stiffen" blood vessels under resting conditions, potentially easing the workload of the heart.

20 Jan 2015

Tiny lumps of calcium phosphate may trigger age-related macular degeneration

New research from scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has found that tiny lumps of calcium phosphate may be an important triggering factor for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a degenerative eye disease that can cause severe vision loss and blindness.

20 Jan 2015

Study leads to discovery of rare genetic disorder

Recently, a grassroots effort initiated by families and clinicians led to the discovery of a human genetic disorder with severe consequences that is linked to a mutation in the human NGLY1 gene. In a big step towards understanding the effects of this mutation, research by scientists at the RIKEN-Max Planck Joint Research Center in Japan implicates the enzyme ENGase as the factor responsible for deficient protein degradation that occurs in the absence of mouse Ngly1 gene expression.

19 Jan 2015

Chromatrap announce solid state ChIP kits

Chromatrap®, a business unit of Porvair Sciences, has an announced solid state ChIP kits which rapidly improve chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) through a unique patented technology that streamlines the process, ensuring chromatin preparation to qPCR analysis can be performed in under five hours.

From Chromatrap® - Porvair Sciences Ltd 19 Jan 2015

ETH Zurich researchers demonstrate promising method to fabricate cellulose-sheaths for implants

Artificial implants such as pacemakers often cause complications because the body identifies them as foreign objects. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now demonstrated a simple method to fabricate cellulose-sheaths for implants, whose micro-structured surface makes them especially biocompatible.

19 Jan 2015

Tübingen researchers develop new way of labeling T-cells

To better understand what happens during immune reactions in the body, researchers at Tübingen University have developed a new way of labeling T-cells, allowing them to track the T-cell movement in mice using non-invasive positron emission technology (PET).

19 Jan 2015

Researchers examine how terpenes can inhibit growth of liver cancer cells

As main component of essential oils, terpenes can inhibit the growth of different cancer cells. Researchers from the Ruhr-University Bochum headed by Prof Dr Dr Dr Hanns Hatt have analysed this process in liver cancer cells in detail.

19 Jan 2015

Scientists explore how the brain adapts to visual restoration

Recent scientific advances have meant that eyesight can be partially restored to those who previously would have been blind for life. However, scientists at the University of Montreal and the University of Trento have discovered that the rewiring of the senses that occurs in the brains of the long-term blind means that visual restoration may never be complete.

19 Jan 2015

Researchers reveal link between the microbiome of young mice and later onset of autoimmune disease

Researchers have revealed that the colonization of the gut of young mice by certain types of bacteria can lead to immune responses later in life that are linked to disease.

19 Jan 2015

Iron accumulation in human tissues may contribute to the aging process

It's been known for decades that some metals, including iron, accumulate in human tissues during aging and that toxic levels of iron have been linked to neurologic diseases, such as Parkinson's. Common belief has held that iron accumulation happens as a result of the aging process.

17 Jan 2015

Abnormal attachment of sugar to BACE1 enzyme leads to formation of Aβ plaques in the brain

Researchers at the RIKEN-Max Planck Joint Research Center in Japan have demonstrated that hallmark symptoms of Alzheimer's disease can be reduced when sugars are prevented from binding to one of the key enzymes implicated in the disease. The new findings, reported in EMBO Molecular Medicine, show that abnormal attachment of a particular sugar to the enzyme BACE1 is a critical factor leading to the formation of Aβ plaques in the brain, and that plaques were reduced and cognitive performance improved when this action was prevented in mice through loss of the enzyme GnT-III.

17 Jan 2015

Study: Stem cells derived from human female amnion have anti-inflammatory effects

Stem cells derived from human amnion have for some time been considered promising for cell therapies because of their ease of access, ability to differentiate, and absence of ethical issues.

17 Jan 2015

Researchers gain new insight into fragile X syndrome

Scientists have gained new insight into fragile X syndrome -- the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability -- by studying the case of a person without the disorder, but with two of its classic symptoms.

17 Jan 2015

CUMC researchers identify that OCR stem cells can regenerate bone and cartilage in mice

A stem cell capable of regenerating both bone and cartilage has been identified in bone marrow of mice. The discovery by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center is reported today in the online issue of the journal Cell.

16 Jan 2015

Researchers uncover new gene tied to incurable eye disorder

An exhaustive hereditary analysis of a large Louisiana family with vision issues has uncovered a new gene tied to an incurable eye disorder called retinitis pigmentosa, according to an examination led by scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

16 Jan 2015

New study demonstrates that vitamin D can protect people against colorectal cancer

A new study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators demonstrates that vitamin D can protect some people with colorectal cancer by perking up the immune system's vigilance against tumor cells.

16 Jan 2015

Study: Century-old drug may help treat autism

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) affect 1 to 2 percent of children in the United States. Hundreds of genetic and environmental factors have been shown to increase the risk of ASD. Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine previously reported that a drug used for almost a century to treat trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, reversed environmental autism-like symptoms in mice.

16 Jan 2015

Fast HPLC screening methods used to detect steroids

As the importance of steroids in the regulation of bioprocesses has increased so has the demand for fast screening methods for their detection. HPLC is a highly regarded analytical technique for pharmaceutical applications due to its unrivalled analytical validation characteristics; including accuracy, precision, limit of detection, specificity, linearity and range, and ruggedness.

16 Jan 2015