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Researchers discover quarky calcium release in heart cells

Three years of microscopic experiments on heart cells has led to a discovery by a team of University of Maryland researchers and collaborators of the workings of faint calcium signals in the heart cells, a discovery that may translate into new therapies for heart disease.

12 May 2011

Researchers discover Rasip1 protein that might prevent cancer metastasis

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have discovered a protein that guides blood vessel development and eventually might lead to a treatment to keep cancer cells from spreading.

12 May 2011

Losartan therapy improves muscle injury regeneration and prevents disuse atrophy

Using geriatric mice, a Johns Hopkins research team has shown that losartan, a commonly used blood pressure drug, not only improves regeneration of injured muscle but also protects against its wasting away from inactivity.

12 May 2011

Research shows that cold cognition predicts hot emotion

How useful would it be to anticipate how well someone will control their emotions? To predict how well they might be able to stay calm during stress? To accept critical feedback stoically? Heath A. Demaree, professor of psychology at Case Western Reserve University, finds clues in what psychologists call "hot" and "cold" psychology.

12 May 2011

New research may help explain how post-traumatic stress syndrome develops in some people

Adversity, we are told, heightens our senses, imprinting sights and sounds precisely in our memories. But new Weizmann Institute research, which appeared in Nature Neuroscience this week, suggests the exact opposite may be the case: Perceptions learned in an aversive context are not as sharp as those learned in other circumstances.

12 May 2011

Salmonella enterica bacterium activates virulence genes through Fur protein

Salmonella enterica, one of the main causes of gastrointestinal infections, modulates its virulence gene expression, adapting it to each stage of the infection process, depending on the free iron concentration found in the intestinal epithelium of its host.

12 May 2011

Scientists develop promising vaccine formulations to treat methamphetamine addiction

Scientists are reporting development of three promising formulations that could be used in a vaccine to treat methamphetamine addiction - one of the most serious drug abuse problems in the U.S. The report appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

12 May 2011

Conference to discuss process of synaptic plasticity in Alzheimer's disease

Optimal functioning of neural networks is critical to the complex cognitive processes of memory, language, emotion and reasoning that deteriorate in people suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

12 May 2011

Amira to present AM152 preclinical data in fibrotic disease at ATS Annual Meeting

Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it will present preclinical data on AM152, an LPA1 receptor antagonist, during the Annual Meeting of the American Thoracic Society in Denver, Colorado.

12 May 2011

VGTI, OHSU's new vaccine candidate may fight against HIV

Research conducted at Oregon Health & Science University's Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute has developed a vaccine candidate in non-human primates that may eventually lead to a vaccine against Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

12 May 2011

New research sheds light on common pathogenic mechanisms underlying Huntington's disease

New research sheds light on common pathogenic mechanisms shared by Huntington's disease (HD) and HD-like disorders. The study, published by Cell Press in the May 12, 2011, issue of the journal Neuron, uses a new transgenic mouse model for an HD-like disorder to unravel complex molecular events that drive disease pathology.

12 May 2011

New genome-wide study identifies causes of serious childhood immune disorder

A new genomics study, led by the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, sets the stage for the first predictive diagnostic test in a serious immunodeficiency disease in children. If the disorder, common variable immunodeficiency disease, can be diagnosed early, children may receive life-saving treatments before the disease can progress.

12 May 2011

Researchers look for surrogate endpoints to predict early benefit of cancer drugs

Great hopes are always placed in new cancer therapies. However, whether new surgical techniques, drugs or radiation therapies actually prolong the life of cancer patients, or even cure them, can often only be reliably assessed after several years' of testing. Researchers are therefore looking for proxy markers that after initiation of cancer therapy can reliably predict as quickly as possible whether the treatment has a benefit.

12 May 2011

Two new research studies on schizophrenia

Two new research studies published in Biological Psychiatry point to progressive abnormalities in brain development that emerge as vulnerable individuals develop schizophrenia.

12 May 2011

BWH Karp Laboratory acquires BioFlux 1000 system for stem cell homing research

Fluxion Biosciences announced today that the Karp Laboratory at the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) has purchased the BioFlux 1000 system, which will be applied in their stem cell homing research.

From Fluxion Biosciences 12 May 2011

Healthy alternatives to vitamin D

The recent increase in recommended vitamin D intake from the Food and Nutrition Board may prompt some to seek more summer sun. But, experts at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center say there's no safe amount of time people can stay in the sun without increasing skin cancer risks.

12 May 2011

iPSC-derived liver cells hold potential as alternative to liver transplants

Johns Hopkins researchers have demonstrated that human liver cells derived from adult cells coaxed into an embryonic state can engraft and begin regenerating liver tissue in mice with chronic liver damage.

12 May 2011

Reprogrammed herpes virus can improve early cancer diagnosis

Scientists have used a genetically re-engineered herpes virus that selectively hunts down and infects cancerous tumors and then delivers genetic material that prompts cancers to secrete a biomarker and reveal their presence.

12 May 2011

Neuroscientists document deliberate control of touch sensations in human working memory

Neuroscientists of the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have now been able for the first time to document deliberate control of touch sensations in human working memory. It has been shown that the human brain can remember several touch sensations at the same time and consciously retrieve the touch if concentration is focused on these touches.

12 May 2011

Liquid rice hull smoke could help fight diseases

Liquid smoke flavoring made from hickory and other wood - a mainstay flavoring and anti-bacterial agent for the prepared food industry and home kitchens - may get a competitor that seems to be packed with antioxidant, antiallergenic and anti-inflammatory substances, according to a new study in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. It is the first analysis of liquid smoke produced from rice hulls, the hard, inedible coverings of rice grains.

12 May 2011