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Chronic hyperglycemia may lead to cardiac damage

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) injures the heart, even in patients without a history of heart disease or diabetes.

3 Feb 2012

Scientists uncover genes that govern male and female behaviors

Hormones shape our bodies, make us fertile, excite our most basic urges, and as scientists have known for years, they govern the behaviors that separate men from women. But how? Now a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has uncovered many genes influenced by the male and female sex hormones testosterone and estrogen that, in turn, govern several specific types of male and female behaviors in mice.

3 Feb 2012

Researchers tease out toxic role of tau oligomers in Alzheimer's

One of the most distinctive signs of the development of Alzheimer's disease is a change in the behavior of a protein that neuroscientists call tau. In normal brains, tau is present in individual units essential to neuron health. In the cells of Alzheimer's brains, by contrast, tau proteins aggregate into twisted structures known as "neurofibrillary tangles."

3 Feb 2012

Scientists discover new mechanisms by which RNA drugs can control gene activity

Small RNA-based nucleic acid drugs represent a promising new class of therapeutic agents for silencing abnormal or overactive disease-causing genes, and researchers have discovered new mechanisms by which RNA drugs can control gene activity.

3 Feb 2012

Researchers identify fexinidazole as potential new therapy for visceral leishmaniasis

Researchers at the University of Dundee have identified fexinidazole as a possible, much-needed, new treatment for the parasitic disease visceral leishmaniasis.

3 Feb 2012

Strong link between triglyceride levels and ischemic stroke in older women

In a surprising finding with significant implications for older women, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and NYU School of Medicine have found that high levels of triglycerides (blood fats) are the strongest risk factor for the most common type of stroke in older women – more of a risk factor than elevated levels of total cholesterol or of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.

3 Feb 2012

Multiple DNA repair defect in monocytes

Scientists working with Professor Bernd Kaina of the Institute of Toxicology at the Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have demonstrated for the first time that certain cells circulating in human blood - so-called monocytes - are extremely sensitive to reactive oxygen species (ROS).

3 Feb 2012

Silver as effective as leading chemotherapy drugs

The internet is awash with stories of how silver can be used to treat cancer. Now, lab tests have shown that it is as effective as the leading chemotherapy drug - and may have fewer side-effects.

3 Feb 2012

Version of 'Goldilocks' gene could determine future treatment for TB patients

'Goldilocks' gene could determine best treatment for TB patients Tuberculosis patients may receive treatments in the future according to what version they have of a single 'Goldilocks' gene, says an international research team from Oxford University, King's College London, Vietnam and the USA.

3 Feb 2012

GIS study sheds light on complex regulation of gene expression

Genome Institute of Singapore's (GIS) Associate Director of Genomic Technologies, Dr Yijun RUAN, led a continuing study on the human genome spatial/structural configuration, revealing how genes interact/communicate and influence each other, even when they are located far away from each other.

2 Feb 2012

Colchicine, another weapon against cancer

Finding a drug that targets only the diseased cells in our body and is otherwise harmless to healthy tissue is a goal for cancer researchers. It's driven the work of Professor Laurence Patterson, Director of the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Bradford, and his team of researchers.

2 Feb 2012

Scientists reveal novel mechanism underpinning age-dependent changes to cognitive abilities

New findings, led by neuroscientists at the University of Bristol and published this week in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, reveal a novel mechanism through which the brain may become more reluctant to function as we grow older.

2 Feb 2012

High beta-amyloid levels may affect brain performance in healthy adults

High levels of the protein beta-amyloid in the brain that is associated with Alzheimer's disease may affect brain performance even in healthy adults, according to a study published in the February 1, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

2 Feb 2012

Researchers identify mechanism that leads to ischemia-reperfusion damage

For patients with incurable pulmonary conditions, a lung transplantation is the only available treatment option. However, suitable donor organs are scarce, and even getting them to prospective recipients is not easy. As Professor Alexander Dietrich of the Walther Straub Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at LMU explains, "An isolated lung which is no longer perfused with blood can become so severely damaged that it is no longer functional. This so-called ischemia-reperfusion injury is one of the major problems in the field of lung transplantation."

2 Feb 2012

Scientists establish HCV infection in liver-like cells derived from iPSCs

Hepatitis C, an infectious disease that can cause inflammation and organ failure, has different effects on different people. But no one is sure why some people are very susceptible to the infection, while others are resistant. Scientists believe that if they could study liver cells from different people in the lab, they could determine how genetic differences produce these varying responses. However, liver cells are difficult to obtain and notoriously difficult to grow in a lab dish because they tend to lose their normal structure and function when removed from the body.

2 Feb 2012

Researchers reveal how antipsychotics affect metabolism by SMAD3 activation

In a paper published January 31 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) reveal how antipsychotic drugs interfere with normal metabolism by activating a protein called SMAD3, an important part of the transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) pathway.

2 Feb 2012

Oxford Nanopore CTO to present at AGBT conference in Florida

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. announces that Clive G Brown, Chief Technology Officer, will present at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference in Marco Island, Florida, on 17th February 2012 at 11.40am (EST) / 4.40pm (GMT).

From Oxford Nanopore Technologies 2 Feb 2012

Gene activity may help explain how vigorous exercise improves survival from prostate cancer

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have identified nearly 200 genes in the healthy prostate tissue of men with low-grade prostate cancer that may help explain how physical activity improves survival from the disease.

2 Feb 2012

Abnormal tau protein propagates along linked brain circuits

For decades, researchers have debated whether Alzheimer's disease starts independently in vulnerable brain regions at different times, or if it begins in one region and then spreads to neuroanatomically connected areas. A new study by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers strongly supports the latter, demonstrating that abnormal tau protein, a key feature of the neurofibrillary tangles seen in the brains of those with Alzheimer's, propagates along linked brain circuits, "jumping" from neuron to neuron.

2 Feb 2012

Healthy lung tissue transplantation shows promise for patients with pulmonary diseases

For patients suffering from severe pulmonary diseases including emphysema, lung cancer or fibrosis, transplantation of healthy lung tissue may offer the best chance for survival. The surgical procedure, however, faces two primary challenges: an acute shortage of donor lungs and rejection of transplanted tissue by the recipient's immune system.

2 Feb 2012