Medical Science News

RSS

Genetic tools that enable cell type-specific delivery hold promise for combating incurable neurologic diseases

Novel tools and methods for delivering therapeutic genes to cells in the central nervous system hold great promise for the development of new treatments to combat incurable neurologic diseases. Five of the most exciting developments in this rapidly advancing field are presented in a series of articles in the June issue of Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc..

29 Jun 2011

Insufficient sleep can reduce benefit of hormones released during sleep

Nearly half of all Americans reported having difficulty sleeping. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that about 35% of people surveyed in 12 states said they slept less than 7 hours a night on average.

29 Jun 2011

New insights into 'sundowning' syndrome

New research provides the best evidence to date that the late-day anxiety and agitation sometimes seen in older institutionalized adults, especially those with dementia, has a biological basis in the brain.

28 Jun 2011

454 Life Sciences launches new GS FLX+ System for high-throughput sequencing

454 Life Sciences, a Roche Company, announced today the launch and immediate availability of the new GS FLX+ System, an instrument capable of generating extra-long sequencing reads up to 1,000 by in length.

28 Jun 2011

AMRI, Proteros ink new partnership

AMRI and Proteros Biostructures GmbH announced today that they have signed an agreement for a joint offering to the life sciences industry. Proteros, an expert in the field of protein crystallization and X-ray structural analysis, provides services that complement AMRI's existing drug discovery capabilities in chemistry, in vitro biology, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics services.

28 Jun 2011

Federal Ministry of Health supports radionuclide production at Research Neutron Source

The German Federal Ministry of Health has awarded more than one million euros in research and development funding for the efficient production of an important cancer diagnostic agent at the research neutron source FRM II. In a 2009 feasibility study, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen demonstrated that due to the high neutron flux the neutron source in Garching can produce about half of the European demand of the radioisotope molybdenum-99.

28 Jun 2011

Protein c-JUN protects both tumour accelerating gene and tumour suppressor gene

The process of cell division is tightly regulated, as mistakes may lead to cancer. The so-called c-JUN protein has been fingered as causing tumours in both skin and liver. It has long been known to have a direct role in reducing the expression of a gene (p53) that leads to the death of abnormal cells and to activate transcription of a further gene (CyclinD1) that directly promotes cell division.

28 Jun 2011

Inefficiency of activation-induced deoxycytidine deaminase is good for the immune system

Why is antibody diversity important? Think about it like this, said Myron Goodman, who is an author on the paper: "Why don't you die when I sneeze? It's because you have a powerful immune system. And the way to get a decent immune system is for your body to have a way to respond to insults it has never seen before."

28 Jun 2011

RCSI researchers identify novel drug target for osteomyeltitis

New research from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has identified a novel drug target for the treatment of infection in bone.

28 Jun 2011

Three research organisations to support open-access journal for biomedical, life sciences

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max Planck Society and the Wellcome Trust announced today that they are to support a new, top-tier, open access journal for biomedical and life sciences research.

28 Jun 2011

Study shows how binge drinking could cause serious brain damage in young adults

It's considered a rite of passage among young people - acting out their independence through heavy, episodic drinking. But a new University of Cincinnati study, the first of its kind nationally, is showing how binge drinking among adolescents and young adults could be causing serious damage to a brain that's still under development at this age.

28 Jun 2011

BPA “de-masculinizes” male mice: Study

Laboratory studies have shown that male mice who are exposed in the womb to bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical compound found in some hard plastics and can linings, appear to be less masculine and less attractive to females once they mature. This raises controversies that human boys could be similarly affected. The findings were published Monday on the website of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

28 Jun 2011

Janssen, Jubilant partner for drug discovery in the field of neuroscience

Jubilant Discovery Services Inc., Bedminster, New Jersey, a Jubilant Life Sciences Company, announced today that it has entered into a drug discovery alliance with Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., Beerse, Belgium, that will aim to deliver preclinical candidates to Janssen. The alliance is set to span an initial period of 3 years and will focus on multiple targets in the area of neuroscience.

28 Jun 2011

DSM introduces Kremer Method for rapid, cost effective production of biopharmaceuticals

Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, today announced the introduction of the Kremer Method, an innovative proprietary technology developed by DSM scientists which improves downstream processing of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for faster and more cost effective production of biopharmaceuticals

28 Jun 2011

Experts discuss therapeutic potential of adipose-derived stem cells at ICAS Conference

Esthetic therapies with stem cells from autologous fat are revolutionizing cosmetic surgery: Ever more women prefer breast augmentations with autologous stem cells over silicone implants. The world's leading experts recently met at the ICAS Conference in Istanbul to discuss the therapeutic potential of stem cells from fat tissue.

28 Jun 2011

Scientists discover origin of Barrett's esophagus

Dr Frank McKeon, Senior Group Leader of the Stem Cell and Developmental Biology at A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore, and Principal Investigator Dr Wa Xian at A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology, together with their counterparts from the Harvard Medical School, the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and the National University of Singapore, have made the striking finding that Barrett's esophagus work, published online in the journal Cell on 24 June 2011, is essential to developing therapeutics for esophageal cancer.

28 Jun 2011

Scientists discover how bacteria invade heart tissue and cause endocarditis

Scientists have discovered the tool that bacteria normally found in our mouths use to invade heart tissue, causing a dangerous and sometimes lethal infection of the heart known as endocarditis.

28 Jun 2011

New software program can allow scientists to produce single brain images

A University of Colorado Boulder research team has developed a new software program allowing neuroscientists to produce single brain images pulled from hundreds of individual studies, trimming weeks and even months from what can be a tedious, time-consuming research process.

28 Jun 2011

Scientists identify central switch responsible for epilepsy

UC Irvine and French researchers have identified a central switch responsible for the transformation of healthy brain cells into epileptic ones, opening the way to both treat and prevent temporal lobe epilepsy.

28 Jun 2011

Researchers identify new lung stem cell that helps repair large airways

Researchers at UCLA have identified a new stem cell that participates in the repair of the large airways of the lungs, which play a vital role in protecting the body from infectious agents and toxins in the environment.

28 Jun 2011