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CINJ researcher receives PCF grant for study on lung cancer detection and prevention

Sharon Pine, PhD, a researcher at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Medicine of Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has been awarded a two-year, $80,000 dollar research grant from the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

20 Feb 2013

J Cell Mol Med, Microbial Biotechnology join Wiley Open Access publishing program

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., announced today that Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Microbial Biotechnology have joined the Wiley Open Access publishing program. All articles in these two journals are now open access and free to view, download and share.

20 Feb 2013

Plasma plays a crucial part in determining how blood flows

Blood flows differently than water. Anyone who has ever cut themselves knows that blood flows viscously and rather erratically. The similarity between blood and ketchup is something not only filmmakers are aware of. Experts refer to these materials as "non-Newtonian fluids," of which ketchup and blood are prime examples.

20 Feb 2013

Insight into how NMDA receptors function

In a pair of new papers, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences upend a long-held view about the basic functioning of a key receptor molecule involved in signaling between neurons, and describe how a compound linked to Alzheimer's disease impacts that receptor and weakens synaptic connections between brain cells.

20 Feb 2013

Immature malaria parasites more resistant to treatment with artemisinin

New research has revealed that immature malaria parasites are more resistant to treatment with key antimalarial drugs than older parasites, a finding that could lead to more effective treatments for a disease that kills one person every minute and is developing resistance to drugs at an alarming rate.

20 Feb 2013

Study may help design better DAA drug cocktails to treat HCV

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects about 4 million in the United States and is the primary cause of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Current therapy against HCV is suboptimal. Daclatasvir, a direct acting antiviral (DAA) agent in development for the treatment of HCV, targets one of the HCV proteins (i.e., NS5A) and causes the fastest viral decline (within 12 hours of treatment) ever seen with anti-HCV drugs.

20 Feb 2013

TIR-199 shows promise in fighting renal cancer

Chemists at the University of California, Riverside have developed a compound that holds much promise in the laboratory in fighting renal (kidney) cancer.

20 Feb 2013

Study finds chemical cues that allow seals’ brain to remain half awake and asleep

A new study led by an international team of biologists has identified some of the brain chemicals that allow seals to sleep with half of their brain at a time.

20 Feb 2013

Targeting p38alpha MAPK isoform can help treat CNS inflammatory diseases

A study by a leading Alzheimer's researcher at the University of Kentucky provides new evidence that will help researchers home in on the molecular mechanisms involved in inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS) and aid drug-development strategies for treating inflammatory neurological diseases.

20 Feb 2013

CCR1 and CCR5 receptors play a crucial role in atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is one of the commonest causes of death in modern societies. The condition is characterized by the build-up of fatty deposits called atherosclerotic plaques on the inner surfaces of arteries, which restrict, and may eventually cut off, blood flow. The deposits can also be dislodged from their site of origin and may then block major vessels in the heart or the brain, leading to life-threatening myocardial infarction or stroke.

20 Feb 2013

Researchers succeed in developing artificial neuronal network

This technological prowess was made possible by the development of a "simplified artificial brain" that reproduces certain types of so-called "recurrent" connections observed in the human brain.

20 Feb 2013

Outstanding U.S. and Canadian scientists to receive Sloan Research Fellowships for 2013

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of 126 outstanding U.S. and Canadian researchers as recipients of Sloan Research Fellowships for 2013.

20 Feb 2013

Meloxicam recognizes and treats osteoarthritis in cats

Scientists at the University of Montreal's Quebec Research Group in Animal Pharmacology have found a way to recognize and treat osteoarthritis in cats - a condition that the owner might not notice and that can make even petting painful.

20 Feb 2013

UCLA plays a vital role in ongoing research into Rasmussen encephalitis

How do you find a cure for a devastating pediatric brain disease so rare that it can take decades to build a meaningful research base? In 2010, the parents of a patient created the Rasmussen Encephalitis (RE) Children's Project to help solve this problem. In a short amount of time, the foundation has raised funds to establish a consortium of top researchers, build a collection of samples of the disease from around the world and support projects to study the disease tissue and search for genetic links. The goal is to find a cure.

20 Feb 2013

Stanford University neurobiology professor wins Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Prize

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Cornell Medical College have announced that the Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental Psychobiology has been awarded to Carla Shatz, PhD, the Sapp Family Provostial Professor in Neurobiology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

20 Feb 2013

New coronavirus could potentially be treated with immunotherapy

The new coronavirus that has emerged in the Middle East is well-adapted to infecting humans but could potentially be treated with immunotherapy, according to a study to be published on February 19 in mBio-, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

20 Feb 2013

Tiny microscope can help scientists observe neuronal firings in the brain

If you want to read a mouse's mind, it takes some fluorescent protein and a tiny microscope implanted in the rodent's head.

20 Feb 2013

Experts identify new gene responsible for spinal meningioma

Genetic medicine experts from Manchester Biomedical Research Centre at Saint Mary's Hospital and The University of Manchester have identified a new gene responsible for causing an inherited form of tumour, known as spinal meningioma.

From The University of Manchester 19 Feb 2013

SARS-linked virus well adapted to infect humans, could be treated with drugs to boost immune system, study shows

"A new virus that emerged in the Middle East last year and has killed five people is well adapted to infecting humans but could potentially be treated with drugs that boost the immune system, scientists said on Tuesday," Reuters reports, noting, "The virus, called novel coronavirus or NCoV, is from the same family as the common cold and as SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome."

19 Feb 2013

Scientists explore development of unique dentition of 'toothed whales'

Whales are mammals, but they don't look like the mammals living around us, as they have a triangular fluke for tail, no hind legs and no body hair. And inside their mouths, their teeth are unfamiliar too - being much simpler and 'peg like'. A multidisciplinary team of researchers have now married together the fossil record and the embryonic development process to investigate how the whale got its teeth.

19 Feb 2013