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RUB experiment: Consequences of light stimulation

Whenever we are doing something, one of our brain hemispheres is more active than the other one. However, some tasks are only solvable with both sides working together. PD Dr. Martina Manns and Juliane R-mling of the Ruhr-Universit-t Bochum are investigating, how such specializations and co-operations arise.

2 Mar 2012

Blood, urine markers can predict heart surgery patients at higher risk for worse AKI

Blood and urine markers can indicate which patients with an abrupt kidney injury following heart surgery will experience progressive kidney problems, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology.

2 Mar 2012

Researchers discover critical placental niche cell and signaling pathway

UCLA stem cell researchers have discovered a critical placental niche cell and signaling pathway that prevent blood precursors from premature differentiation in the placenta, a process necessary for ensuring proper blood supply for an individual's lifetime.

2 Mar 2012

Pharmacological antagonist can inhibit body's response to cold

Researchers at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, in collaboration with Amgen Inc. and several academic institutions, have discovered a way to block the body's response to cold using a drug. This finding could have significant implications in treating conditions such as stroke and cardiac arrest.

2 Mar 2012

Memory training strategy can help patients with MCI

If someone has trouble remembering where the car keys or the cheese grater are, new research shows that a memory training strategy can help. Memory training can even re-engage the hippocampus, part of the brain critical for memory formation, the results suggest.

2 Mar 2012

Review highlights potential strategies for treatment of Down syndrome, AD

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic disorder in live born children arising as a consequence of a chromosomal abnormality. It occurs as a result of having three copies of chromosome 21, instead of the usual two. It causes substantial physical and behavioral abnormalities, including life-long cognitive dysfunction that can range from mild to severe but which further deteriorates as individuals with DS age.

2 Mar 2012

UCSD first to treat glioma with investigational viral vector

UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center researchers and surgeons are among the first in the nation to treat patients with recurrent brain cancer by directly injecting an investigational viral vector into their tumor. The treatment is being developed by a local San Diego Company, Tocagen Inc.

2 Mar 2012

First study to focus on platelet genetics in African Americans

Researchers, led by scientists from Johns Hopkins, have found five previously unknown gene mutations believed to be associated with elevated blood platelet counts in African-Americans, findings they say could someday lead to the development of new drugs to help prevent coronary artery disease.

2 Mar 2012

Planarian flatworms reveal new insights into stem cell biology

Devising a novel method to identify potential genetic regulators in planarian stem cells, Whitehead Institute scientists have determined which of those genes affect the two main functions of stem cells. Three of the genes are particularly intriguing because they code for proteins similar to those known to regulate mammalian embryonic stem cells. Such genetic similarity makes planarians an even more attractive model for studying stem cell biology in vivo.

2 Mar 2012

New HS44 molecule inhibits lung metastasis

One type of white blood cell, the Natural Killer T Cells, fights against infections and tumours by freeing cytokine proteins which activate the body's immune response and destroy infected or malignant cells. To do so they must receive an activation signal. Specific receptors located on their surface act as switches: they activate the lymphocyte in presence of an antigen, a molecule which triggers alarm signals.

2 Mar 2012

Study offers hope for novel approach to prevent AD

As scientists struggle to find an effective way to prevent Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison may have found a new approach to interrupting the process that leads to the devastating disease.

2 Mar 2012

New link between polyamine regulation and ESC biology

A*STAR scientists have for the first time, identified that precise regulation of polyamine levels is critical for embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal - the ability of ESCs to divide indefinitely - and directed differentiation.

2 Mar 2012

Report highlights benefits of Nuvilex's cell encapsulation technology for diabetes

Nuvilex, Inc., an emerging biotechnology provider of cell and gene therapy solutions, today provided additional details based on the Goldman Small Cap Research report issued February 29, 2012, that highlighted the company's cell encapsulation technology and its benefits for treating chronic diseases such as diabetes.

2 Mar 2012

SuperFAK protein decreases damage from heart attack by 50%

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reduced damage from a heart attack by 50 percent by enhancing a protective protein found in mice and humans.

2 Mar 2012

Study uncovers how FoxO1 protein contributes to heart disease in patients with diabetes

UT Southwestern Medical Center cardiologists have uncovered how a specific protein's previously unsuspected role contributes to the deterioration of heart muscle in patients with diabetes. Investigators in the mouse study also have found a way to reverse the damage caused by this protein.

2 Mar 2012

Alternative subunits generate different functional subtypes of RNA polymerases

Indiana University biologists have found that specific types of RNA polymerase enzymes, the molecular machines that convert DNA into RNA, can differ in function based on variation in the parts -- in this case protein subunits -- used to assemble those machines.

2 Mar 2012

Treatment with vitamin D reduces size of uterine fibroids

Treatment with vitamin D reduced the size of uterine fibroids in laboratory rats predisposed to developing the benign tumors, reported researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.

2 Mar 2012

NexGen receives U.S. patent allowance for novel pathogenesis based seizure treatment

NexGen Biomedical, Inc.'s Founder has received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent Office for a novel treatment method for seizures.

2 Mar 2012

p14 ARF protein also regulates tumor-induced angiogenesis

Researchers at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have identified a new function for a gene that normally prevents the development of cancer.

2 Mar 2012

Scientists identify genetic defect responsible for TAR Syndrome

Universitätsmedizin Berlin in collaboration with the Sanger Institute in Cambridge and other cooperation partners in Belgium, the Netherlands and France, were able to identify a genetic defect that is responsible for the development of TAR Syndrome, a congenital malformation of the skeleton and blood.

1 Mar 2012