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'Chaperone' protein may play a critical role in pathogenesis of heart failure

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a new drug target that may treat and/or prevent heart failure. The team evaluated failing human and pig hearts and discovered that SUMO1, a so-called "chaperone" protein that regulates the activity of key transporter genes, was decreased in failing hearts.

8 Sep 2011

Scientists discover backup circuits in cetuximab-resistant cancer cells

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and colleagues overseas have discovered a pair of backup circuits in cancer cells that enable the cells to dodge the effect of a widely used cancer drug.

8 Sep 2011

UVB light processing boosts vitamin D in mushrooms

A new commercial processing technology is suitable for boosting the vitamin D content of mushrooms and has no adverse effects on other nutrients in those tasty delicacies, the first study on the topic has concluded. The technology, which involves exposing mushrooms to the same kind of ultraviolet light that produces suntans, can greatly boost mushrooms' vitamin D content. It appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

8 Sep 2011

Abnormal levels of lysophosphatidic acid can trigger congenital hydrocephalus

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found what may be a major cause of congenital hydrocephalus, one of the most common neurological disorders of childhood that produces mental debilitation and sometimes death in premature and newborn children.

8 Sep 2011

Researchers identify new drug target for heart failure

8 Sep 2011

ATA announces five recipients of 2011 thyroid cancer research grants

The American Thyroid Association (ATA) announced the five recipients of its 2011 research grants, each of whom will receive up to $25,000 annually for up to two years. Three of the five recipients were awarded special ATA ThyCa grants for research projects that focus on thyroid cancer. These grants are funded by ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors, Inc.

8 Sep 2011

Scientist identifies how lack of dopamine leads to symptoms of Parkinson's

A scientist at the Gladstone Institutes has identified how the lack of a brain chemical known as dopamine can rewire the interaction between two groups of brain cells and lead to symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

8 Sep 2011

Daily moderate drinking may decrease atherosclerosis

For the first time, new research shows that patterns of alcohol consumption - a drink or two every night, or several cocktails on Friday and Saturday nights only - may be more important in determining alcohol's influence on heart health than the total amount consumed.

8 Sep 2011

Cyclic proteins transport drugs faster

Biologists at the Technische Universität Darmstadt have discovered means for speeding the transport of the active ingredients of drugs into live cells that might allow drastically reducing drug dosages in the future.

8 Sep 2011

Inhibition of Sab protein protects liver from acetaminophen toxicity

New research from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) may help prevent damage to the liver caused by drugs like acetaminophen and other stressors.

8 Sep 2011

IFT member explains facts about antioxidants

IFT Member Claudia Fajardo-Lira, PhD, Professor of Food Science and Nutrition at California State University-Northridge, explains the facts about antioxidants.

8 Sep 2011

Social engagement transforms white fat into energy-burning brown fat

When mice are given a more engaging place to live with greater opportunities for social stimulation, some of their energy-storing white fat is transformed to energy-burning brown fat. As a result, the animals expend more energy and lose weight even as they eat more. The findings reported in the September Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, point to the powerful effect that animals' social and physical environments can have on their metabolisms.

8 Sep 2011

Scientists invent new system that uses magnetism to purify hybrid nanoparticles

A team of Penn State University scientists has invented a new system that uses magnetism to purify hybrid nanoparticles -- structures that are composed of two or more kinds of materials in an extremely small particle that is visible only with an electron microscope.

8 Sep 2011

Biochemists reveal interaction between tumor suppressor protein and chaperone

Every cell has thousands of proteins whose activity and lifetime must be regulated to control the cellular life cycle from cell division to cell death. The heat shock protein Hsp90 plays a key role in this process. It is a so-called chaperone, a quality controller, as it were. It monitors and controls the quality and activity of many important signal proteins and helps them take on the right form. When the cell is exposed to high stress levels from heat or a lack of oxygen, Hsp90 is produced in larger quantities to shield its partner proteins from damage.

8 Sep 2011

New surprising discovery on division of mitochondria within cells

A surprising new discovery by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California, Davis regarding the division of tiny "power plants" within cells known as mitochondria has implications for better understanding a wide variety of human diseases and conditions due to mitochondrial defects.

8 Sep 2011

Mass. Eye and Ear receives NIAID grant to coordinate Harvard-wide Project on Antibiotic Resistance

The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary has received an $11 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the largest National Institutes of Health grant in this hospital's187-year history, to coordinate the Harvard-wide Project on Antibiotic Resistance.

8 Sep 2011

APS sponsors 7th International Symposium on Aldosterone and the ENaC/Degenerin Family of Ion Channels

The American Physiological Society is sponsoring the 7th International Symposium on Aldosterone and the ENaC/Degenerin Family of Ion Channels, being held September 18-22 at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, Calif. This scientific conference explores the connection between fluid balance in the body and hypertension, a growing global health concern.

8 Sep 2011

NJIT to honor electrical engineer for nanotechnology research

What do brilliantly colored glass, advanced batteries, and innovative technology for the regulation of brain functions have in common? They are nano-scale structures far smaller than the wavelengths of energy coursing through them in different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, said NJIT Professor Haim Grebel.

8 Sep 2011

Study: Protein's structural arrangement can change its signaling function

In a joint study, scientists from the California and Florida campuses of The Scripps Research Institute have shown that changes in a protein's structure can change its signaling function and they have pinpointed the precise regions where those changes take place.

8 Sep 2011

Researchers identify new genetic cause of inherited Parkinson's disease

A large team of international researchers have identified a new genetic cause of inherited Parkinson's disease that they say may be related to the inability of brain cells to handle biological stress.

8 Sep 2011