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Plant scientists reveal genetic mechanism that enables viral organisms to cause diseases

CSIRO plant scientists have shed light on a problem that has puzzled researchers since the first virus was discovered in 1892 - how exactly do they cause disease? In a major breakthrough that helps us better understand how viruses cause diseases in plants - and potentially in animals and humans - Dr Ming-Bo Wang and Neil Smith of CSIRO Plant Industry have revealed a genetic mechanism that enables viral organisms to infect hosts and cause diseases.

12 Aug 2011

Targeted therapies that attack stem cell-like cancer cells can prevent spread of prostate cancer

A successful interdisciplinary project is underway between two research groups, in which senior researcher Rebecka Hellsten and Professor Anders Bjartell at the Faculty of Medicine's division for Urological Cancer Research, Sk-ne University Hospital in Malm-, and Professor Olov Sterner and Assistant Professor Martin Johansson at the Lund University division of Organic Chemistry recently published their latest research findings in the scientific online journal PLoS ONE.

12 Aug 2011

More biodiversity needed to keep ecosystems functioning

The biological diversity of organisms on earth is not just something we enjoy when taking a walk through a blossoming meadow in spring; it is also the basis for countless products and services provided by nature, including food, building materials, and medicines as well as the self-purifying qualities of water and protection against erosion.

12 Aug 2011

Fibrate drugs may not prevent heart attacks in diabetes patients with elevated cholesterol

Type 2 diabetes patients, who face higher risk of cardiovascular disease, often take a combination of medications designed to lower their LDL or "bad" cholesterol and triglyceride levels while raising their HDL or "good" cholesterol because doctors long have thought that taken together, the drugs offer protection from heart attacks and improve survival.

12 Aug 2011

Benefits of nanoparticle sunscreens outweigh risks

The most personal encounter that many consumers have had so far with the much-heralded field of nanotechnology is the topic of an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the American Chemical Society's weekly newsmagazine.

12 Aug 2011

Metabolic profile reveals need for gender-specific therapies

Analyses of the metabolic profile of blood serum reveal significant differences between men and women. From their tests, scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München have concluded that there is a need for gender-specific therapies. The study was financed by the German Centre for Diabetes Research and was published in the current edition of the internationally renowned peer-reviewjournal PLoS Genetics.

12 Aug 2011

Pyrazinamide inhibits trans-translation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

For nearly 60 years, Pyrazinamide (PZA) has been used in conjunction with other medications to treat tuberculosis (TB), but scientists did not fully understand how the drug killed TB bacteria. PZA plays a unique role in shortening the duration of current TB therapy to six months and is used frequently to treat multi-drug resistant TB.

12 Aug 2011

Biomarkers may transform diagnosis of kidney disease

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common - but preventable -- complication after surgery that can lead to other complications or even death. The use and development of biomarkers will help physicians diagnose and treat acute kidney injury.

12 Aug 2011

Researchers explain why vertebrate intestines are so predictably loopy

Between conception and birth, the human gut grows more than two meters long, looping and coiling within the tiny abdomen. Within a given species, the developing vertebrate gut always loops into the same formation-however, until now, it has not been clear why.

12 Aug 2011

Amorfix provides update on cancer therapeutic antibody programs

Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd., a product development company focused on diagnostics and therapeutics for misfolded protein diseases, provides an update on its cancer therapeutic antibody programs.

12 Aug 2011

Mice with enzyme deficiency are unable to properly assess threat

Do you run when you should stay? Are you afraid of all the wrong things? An enzyme deficiency might be to blame, reveals new research in mice by scientists at the University of Southern California.

12 Aug 2011

New technique can help develop HIV vaccines

Researchers have traced in detail how certain powerful HIV neutralizing antibodies evolve, a finding that generates vital clues to guide the design of a preventive HIV vaccine, according to a study appearing in Science Express this week.

12 Aug 2011

Study tracks development of chimp brain and makes comparison to humans

In both chimpanzees and humans, portions of the brain that are critical for complex cognitive functions, including decision-making, self-awareness and creativity, are immature at birth. But there are important differences, too. Baby chimpanzees don't show the same dramatic increase in the volume of prefrontal white matter in the brain that human infants do.

12 Aug 2011

Researchers to develop new prostate cancer therapy

Prostate cancer that has become resistant to hormone treatment and that does not respond to radiation or chemotherapy requires new methods of treatment. By attacking stem cell-like cells in prostate cancer, researchers at Lund University are working on a project to develop a new treatment option.

12 Aug 2011

Research team reports first genetic sequencing of urothelial carcinoma

In an article published online this week in Nature Genetics, a University of Colorado Cancer Center team in partnership with universities in China and Denmark reports the first genetic sequencing of urothelial (transitional) carcinoma, the most prevalent type of bladder cancer.

12 Aug 2011

Insight into how molecular motor proteins save energy

The transport system inside living cells is a well-oiled machine with tiny protein motors hauling chromosomes, neurotransmitters and other vital cargo around the cell. These molecular motors are responsible for a variety of critical transport jobs, but they are not always on the go. They can put themselves into "energy save mode" to conserve cellular fuel and, as a consequence, control what gets moved around the cell, and when.

12 Aug 2011

G-CSF therapy does not induce chromosomal instability in healthy stem cell donors

According to a study published in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), researchers have reported that administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), a drug that releases stem cells from the bone marrow into the blood, is unlikely to put healthy stem cell donors at risk for later development of abnormalities involving loss or gains of chromosomes that have been linked to hematologic disorders such as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia.

12 Aug 2011

MYCN amplification can serve as a favorable prognostic indicator for neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma, a malignant tumor that primarily affects infants and young children, is a leading cause of death for children with cancer. When amplification of the MYCN oncogene is found in the tumor, it usually indicates an aggressive tumor with rapid progression of the disease and a poor outcome. Thus MYCN amplification has come to be used as a prognostic indicator.

12 Aug 2011

New measurement technologies provide scientists more complete look at neurological activity

In 1991, Carl Lewis was both the fastest man on earth and a profound long jumper, perhaps the greatest track-and-field star of all time in the prime of his career. On June 14th of that year, however, Carl Lewis was human. Leroy Burrell blazed through the 100-meters, besting him by a razor-thin margin of three-hundredths of a second. In the time it takes the shutter to capture a single frame of video, Lewis's three-year-old world record was gone.

12 Aug 2011

NSAIDs like ibuprofen slow the spread of breast cancers

Published online on Aug. 7, 2011, the journal Nature Medicine reports that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs including ibuprofen reduce the severity of postpartum breast cancers in animal models.

12 Aug 2011