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Researchers discover mechanism of thermostat protein

Johns Hopkins and National Taiwan University researchers have discovered more details about how an energy sensing "thermostat" protein determines whether cells will store or use their energy reserves.

22 Feb 2012

ALS Association, AAN to honor KCL neurologist with Essey Award

The American Academy of Neurology and the ALS Association are awarding the 2012 Sheila Essey Award: An Award for ALS Research to Christopher Shaw, MBChB, MD, FRACP, with the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London. Shaw will receive the award during the Academy's 64th Annual Meeting, April 21-28, 2012, in New Orleans.

22 Feb 2012

Link between brain dominance and laterality of cell phone use

If you're a left brain thinker, chances are you use your right hand to hold your cell phone up to your right ear, according to a new study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

22 Feb 2012

First study to gauge college students' willingness to donate to a genetic biobank

A majority of college students is receptive to donating blood or other genetic material for scientific research, according to a new study from Southern Methodist University, Dallas.

22 Feb 2012

VTT participates in two new EU projects that focus on type 2 diabetes

VTT is participating in two new European projects focusing on type 2 diabetes. The projects aim at identifying new therapeutic choices and strategies for preventing the disease. Focus is on obtaining information on cellular dysfunction in diabetes and the effects of changes in lifestyle. The goal includes planning individual lifestyle instructions for people at high risk of diabetes and exploiting the results in a major European health insurance system.

22 Feb 2012

OGF-OGFr axis discovery provides new insights into ovarian cancer

Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania have discovered that the presence and integrity of the opioid growth factor receptor (OGFr), which mediates the inhibitory action of opioid growth factor (OGF) on cell proliferation, is a key to understanding the progression and treatment of human ovarian cancer.

22 Feb 2012

Study: MRSA jumps from food animals to humans

A strain of the potentially deadly antibiotic-resistant bacterium known as MRSA has jumped from food animals to humans, according to a new study involving two Northern Arizona University researchers.

22 Feb 2012

BioLineRx BL-7010 may reduce gluten toxicity in patients with celiac disease

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced the publication of pre-clinical results demonstrating that BL-7010, an orally available treatment for celiac disease, reduces gluten toxicity (the negative effect of gluten on the patient's body).

22 Feb 2012

New chemical compound to treat brain damage from stroke

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have designed, produced and patented a new chemical compound for the possible treatment of brain damage caused by stroke. The compound binds 1,000 times more effectively to the target protein in the brain than the potential drug currently being tested on stroke victims.

22 Feb 2012

Mitochondria may be promising new target for cancer treatment

Mitochondria, tiny structures within each cell that regulate metabolism and energy use, may be a promising new target for cancer therapy, according to a new study. Manipulation of two biochemical signals that regulate the numbers of mitochondria in cells could shrink human lung cancers transplanted into mice, a team of Chicago researchers report in the journal FASEB.

22 Feb 2012

Insulin production may persist for decades after onset of type 1 diabetes

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research has found that insulin production may persist for decades after the onset of type 1 diabetes. Beta cell functioning also appears to be preserved in some patients years after apparent loss of pancreatic function. The study results appear in the March issue of Diabetes Care.

22 Feb 2012

Researchers study specially bred mice to understand annual flu epidemics

As part of a national collaboration, Oregon Health & Science University researchers are studying specially bred mice that are more like humans than ever before when it comes to genetic variation. Through these mice, the researchers hope to better understand and treat an infectious disease that plagues us year in and year out: the flu.

22 Feb 2012

IDOM researchers overturn textbook view of liver metabolism

A team led by researchers from the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism (IDOM) at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has overturned a "textbook" view of what the body does after a meal.

22 Feb 2012

Short telomeres may increase risk of chronic diseases

The ability to anticipate future events allows us to plan and exert control over our lives, but it may also contribute to stress-related increased risk for the diseases of aging, according to a study by UCSF researchers.

22 Feb 2012

AChemS recognizes Monell Center molecular biologist as outstanding junior scientist

Molecular biologist Ichiro Matsumoto, Ph.D., of the Monell Center, is the recipient of the 2012 Ajinomoto Award for Young Investigators in Gustation, awarded annually by the Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) to an outstanding junior scientist who is an emerging leader in the field of gustation.

22 Feb 2012

DANSR/FORTE assay more effective in diagnosing Edwards and Down syndrome

Using a noninvasive test on maternal blood that deploys a novel biochemical assay and a new algorithm for analysis, scientists can detect, with a high degree of accuracy, the risk that a fetus has the chromosomal abnormalities that cause Down syndrome and a genetic disorder known as Edwards syndrome.

22 Feb 2012

Electronic properties of DNA can play a role in early diagnosis of cancer-causing mutations

Scientists have discovered that cancer-causing genetic mutations have better-disguised electronic signatures than other mutations - a trait which could help them fly under the radar of the body's defence mechanisms.

22 Feb 2012

Key regulator of lens development also controls mechanosensory neuron development

A gene known to control lens development in mice and humans is also crucial for the development of neurons responsible for mechanosensory function, as neurobiologists of the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have now discovered.

22 Feb 2012

Telomeres - the indicators of aging - are highly susceptible to stress and depression

Stress has numerous detrimental effects on the human body. Many of these effects are acutely felt by the sufferer, but many more go 'unseen', one of which is shortening of telomere length.

22 Feb 2012

Combination of gemcitabine and MRK003 kills pancreatic cancer cells

Cancer Research UK scientists have revealed how a combination of two very different drugs - currently being tested in clinical trials - amplifies the destruction of pancreatic cancer cells, according to research published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, today.

22 Feb 2012