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Unrestricted availability of food can trigger overconsumption and obesity

Some of the same brain mechanisms that fuel drug addiction in humans accompany the emergence of compulsive eating behaviors and the development of obesity in animals, according to research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health.

29 Mar 2010

New ezine to help ensure regulatory and ethical compliance in research involving lab animals

A new, free weekly ezine, Lab Animal e-Alert, helps scientists whose research involves lab animals assure regulatory and ethical compliance in their use. Its format is a reader question followed by an answer from an expert.

29 Mar 2010

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca license agreement: Waiting period under Antitrust Improvements Act expires

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 relating to the license agreement between Rigel and AstraZeneca, the effectiveness of which was contingent on the expiration of the waiting period.

29 Mar 2010

Helmholtz Zentrum München, SIRION BIOTECH partner to develop new therapeutic approaches against lymphoid tumors

Helmholtz Zentrum München has launched a new cooperative project with SIRION BIOTECH GmbH in Martinsried to develop new therapeutic approaches against lymphoid tumors. With a two-year grant from the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology, the two partners will seek to further develop lentiviral vector systems to better understand the disease mechanisms of this cancer form and to devise approaches for treatment.

29 Mar 2010

High fructose corn syrup linked to skyrocketing rates of obesity

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rates of obesity in the United States have skyrocketed since the introduction of high fructose corn syrup in 1970. In that time, obesity rates have gone from 15 percent of the U.S. population to roughly one-third.

29 Mar 2010

New insights on events that lead to immortalized cells

Researchers at Umeå University can now show that cells that grow forever get this capacity through gradual changes in the expression of genes that govern the repair of DNA damage and regulate growth and cell death. The research also shows that activation of the enzyme complex telomerase, which is necessary for unlimited growth, occurs late in this process.

29 Mar 2010

Glue ear: Bacterial nasal spray may help children

Many children have long-term problems with fluid in the middle ear, and sometimes surgery is the only way to shift it. However, a bacterial nasal spray can have the same effect in some children, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

29 Mar 2010

FT and GGT enzymes can be promising targets for treatment of lung cancer

A research team at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has shown in a study that two closely related enzymes could be targets for the treatment of lung cancer. The discovery was made when the researchers blocked the production of the two enzymes in transgenic mice. This resulted in inhibition of cell growth, fewer tumours and greater survival among the mice.

29 Mar 2010

Scientists identify gene that pushes hybrid tomato plants to increase yield

Giving tomato breeders and ketchup fans something to cheer about, a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scientist and his colleagues at the Hebrew University in Israel have identified a gene that pushes hybrid tomato plants to spectacularly increase yield.

29 Mar 2010

New Prestige Antibodies powered by Atlas Antibodies added to Sigma Life Science's portfolio

Sigma® Life Science, the innovative biological products and services brand of Sigma-Aldrich®, today announced that it has added 2,200 new Prestige Antibodies® powered by Atlas Antibodies to its industry-leading portfolio.

From Atlas Antibodies 29 Mar 2010

UAB researchers discover first bio-marker for MS

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have found the first bio-marker for multiple sclerosis that might predict which patients will respond to a standard therapy and which will not.

29 Mar 2010

Two-drug combination destroys precancerous colon polyps

A two-drug combination destroys precancerous colon polyps with no effect on normal tissue, opening a new potential avenue for chemoprevention of colon cancer, a team of scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the advance online edition of the journal Nature.

29 Mar 2010

Diagnostic test for alcohol consumption: Measuring protein changes in blood

Measuring a set of protein changes in the blood linked to alcohol use may potentially lead to a more accurate diagnostic test than those currently available, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

29 Mar 2010

Study provides new clues to obesity epidemic

In a newly published study, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that the same molecular mechanisms that drive people into drug addiction are behind the compulsion to overeat, pushing people into obesity.

29 Mar 2010

Researchers develop tiny chemical sensors to diagnose disease and track its progress

Tiny chemical sensors implanted into patients could help diagnose disease and track its progress, following a development by scientists.

29 Mar 2010

ER stress response is major driver of insulin resistance, say researchers

Biologists have long known that an enzyme called the PI 3-kinase is a crucial actor in the main molecular pathway for insulin signaling in cells. Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center now have uncovered startling evidence that one of the proteins in this enzyme also drives a pathway with an opposite result-triggering a stress response that leads to insulin resistance.

29 Mar 2010

New approach may circumvent lost response in insulin due to obesity

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have identified a new strategy for treating type 2 diabetes, identifying a cellular pathway that fails when people become obese. By activating this pathway artificially, they were able to normalize blood glucose levels in severely obese and diabetic mice. Their findings will be published online by Nature Medicine on March 28.

29 Mar 2010

UCSF approach may one day be used to create new periods of plasticity in human brain

UCSF scientists report that they were able to prompt a new period of "plasticity," or capacity for change, in the neural circuitry of the visual cortex of juvenile mice. The approach, they say, might some day be used to create new periods of plasticity in the human brain that would allow for the repair of neural circuits following injury or disease.

27 Mar 2010

Pathway Genomics Genetic Health Report helps make more informed health and lifestyle decisions

You may not suffer from any form of heart disease, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, but you could have a predisposition for these conditions based on more than just your lifestyle or diet. A family history of diabetes, gout, high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol can increase one’s risk regardless of lifestyle.

27 Mar 2010

Role Tregs play in therapeutic HIV vaccines

Like a skittish driver slamming the brakes, a special class of T cells may be limiting the effectiveness of therapeutic vaccines for HIV by slowing the immune system response too soon, report University of Pittsburgh health science researchers in the current issue of PLoS ONE. Their study, the first to look at the role of regulatory T cells in therapeutic HIV vaccines, may help researchers improve the efficacy of such vaccines by devising methods to circumvent the braking mechanism of these cells.

27 Mar 2010