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UCSF: 1-2 punch blocks tumor growth, invasion and metastasis

Simultaneous targeting of two different molecules in cancer is an effective way to shrink tumors, block invasion, and stop metastasis, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found-work that may improve the effectiveness of combination treatments that include drugs like Avastin.

24 Feb 2012

Seven scientists aim to make strides in predicting and preventing preterm birth

With the help of funding from the March of Dimes, researchers from five states and Canada are seeking answers to questions such as how cellular-level processes that control uterine muscles may affect preterm labor, the causes of preeclampsia, and how air pollution may affect pregnancy and preterm birth - all with the goal of preventing preterm birth so more babies will get a healthy start in life.

24 Feb 2012

New drug for Huntington's disease might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action

A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that a new drug for Huntington's disease - pridopidine or dopamine stabiliser ACR16 - might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action. Researchers have found that at very low concentrations, ACR16 binds to the sigma-1 receptor, a protein in the brain important to neuronal function and survival.

24 Feb 2012

Combined bioactive peptides successfully stimulate wound healing

Researchers have combined bioactive peptides to successfully stimulate wound healing. The in vitro and in vivo study, published today in PLoS ONE, demonstrates that the combination of two peptides stimulates the growth of blood vessels and promotes re-growth of tissue. Further development of these peptides could lead to a new treatment for chronic and acute wounds.

24 Feb 2012

Evolutionary forces encourage diversity in the active surfaces of venomous toxins

For snakes, spiders, and other venomous creatures, the "business end," or active part, of a toxin is the area on the surface of a protein that is most likely to undergo rapid evolution in response to environmental constraints, say researchers from Ben Gurion University in Israel.

24 Feb 2012

Fetus protecting enzyme also prevents autoimmune diseases

Cells that die naturally generate a lot of internal debris that can trigger the immune system to attack the body, leading to diseases such as lupus.

24 Feb 2012

New Huntington's drug might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action

24 Feb 2012

Researchers uncover how phytoplankton release powerful toxins into environment

Each year, phytoplankton blooms known as "red tides" kill millions of fish and other marine organisms and blanket vast areas of coastal water around the world. Though the precise causes of red tides remain a mystery, a team of researchers in the United States and Spain has solved one of the main riddles about these ecological disasters by uncovering the specific mechanism that triggers phytoplankton to release their powerful toxins into the environment.

24 Feb 2012

Study evaluates how environmental triggers might alter epigenetics of CFS

A University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) researcher is examining how environmental triggers might alter gene function in people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The research could lead to better insights into the disease and eventually to new treatments.

24 Feb 2012

Article in journal Science proposes new look on killer diseases

The immune system protects from infections by detecting and eliminating invading pathogens. These two strategies form the basis of conventional clinical approaches in the fight against infectious diseases.

24 Feb 2012

Study aims to develop noninvasive method to analyze interstitial cystitis

A pilot study led by University of Kentucky researchers shows that the gene expression analysis of urine sediment could provide a noninvasive way to analyze interstitial cystitis in some patients.

24 Feb 2012

Bath salts mimic effects of two powerful narcotics

The street drug commonly referred to as "bath salts" is one of a growing list of synthetic and unevenly regulated narcotics that are found across the United States and on the Internet. New research on this potent drug paints an alarming picture, revealing that bath salts pack a powerful double punch, producing combined effects similar to both methamphetamine (METH) and cocaine.

24 Feb 2012

Nicotine can contribute to atherosclerosis

Cigarette smoke has long been considered the main risk factor for heart disease. But new research from Brown University in Providence, R.I., shows that nicotine itself, a component of cigarette smoke, can contribute to the disease process by changing cell structure in a way that promotes migration and invasion of the smooth muscle cells that line blood vessels.

24 Feb 2012

UM scientists discover high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins

Sharks are among the most threatened of marine species worldwide due to unsustainable overfishing. Sharks are primarily killed for their fins alone, to fuel the growing demand for shark fin soup, which is an Asia delicacy. A new study by University of Miami (UM) scientists in the journal Marine Drugs has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig Disease.

24 Feb 2012

UBC develops algorithm to predict how and when proteins misfold

Several neurodegenerative diseases - including Alzheimer's and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) - are caused when the body's own proteins fold incorrectly, recruit and convert healthy proteins to the misfolded form, and aggregate in large clumps that gum up the works of the nervous system. "For Star Trek fans, this is like the Borg, a fictional race of cyborgs that abduct and assimilate humans and other species," says Steven Plotkin, a biophysicist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver who studies the process of protein misfolding.

24 Feb 2012

Unfolded end of Colicin N protein can kill antibiotic-resistant microbes

When bacteria wage a turf war, some of the combatants have an extra weapon. Certain strains of the bacteria E. coli produce proteins that kill competing E. coli and other like microbes, and researchers from Newcastle University in England have recently discovered something surprising about one of these lethal proteins: even after the toxic folded portion of the protein is removed, the unfolded end is still deadly.

24 Feb 2012

New experiments may provide insights into possible modes of heart damage from alcohol

Beyond the personal tragedy of chronic alcoholism there is heartbreak in the biological sense, too. Scientists know severe alcoholism stresses the heart and that mitochondria, the cellular energy factories, are especially vulnerable to dysfunction. But they don't know the precise mechanism.

24 Feb 2012

Scientists identify specific pathways behind breast cell's transformation into cancer

Although it's widely accepted that inflammation is a critical underlying factor in a range of diseases, including the progression of cancer, little is known about its role when normal cells become tumor cells. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on exactly how the activation of a pair of inflammatory signaling pathways leads to the transformation of normal breast cells to cancer cells.

24 Feb 2012

UA researchers identify the likely culprit of epilepsy

Only 10 years ago, deciphering the genetic information from one individual in a matter of weeks to find a certain disease-causing genetic mutation would have been written off as science fiction. It was the time of the Human Genome Project, and it had taken armies of sequencing robots working around the clock for almost a decade to unravel the complete sequence of the human genetic code - referred to as the genome - by churning out the DNA alphabet letter by letter.

24 Feb 2012

Scientists decode two new blood types

You probably know your blood type: A, B, AB or O. You may even know if you're Rhesus positive or negative. But how about the Langereis blood type? Or the Junior blood type? Positive or negative? Most people have never even heard of these.

24 Feb 2012