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Inhaled carbon dioxide increases brain acidity and evokes fear behavior: Study

Breathing carbon dioxide can trigger panic attacks, but the biological reason for this effect has not been understood. A new study by University of Iowa researchers shows that carbon dioxide increases brain acidity, which in turn activates a brain protein that plays an important role in fear and anxiety behavior.

26 Nov 2009

Cells protect themselves against viruses and bacteria with novel non-genetic mechanism

When cells are confronted with an invading virus or bacteria or exposed to an irritating chemical, they protect themselves by going off their DNA recipe and inserting the wrong amino acid into new proteins to defend them against damage, scientists have discovered.

26 Nov 2009

Protein mutation can cause a new form of heart failure

Over the course of a lifetime, the heart pumps some 250 million liters of blood through the body. In the order to do this, the muscle fibers of the heart have to be extremely durable. The research group headed by Dr. Wolfgang Rottbauer, vice chair of the Department of Medicine III at Heidelberg University Hospital (Chairman: Prof. Dr. H. A. Katus), has discovered a protein that is responsible for the stability of the smallest muscular unit, the sarcomere.

25 Nov 2009

HPA-specific shRNA holds potential as a novel therapeutic strategy for gastric cancer

Previous studies have indicated that the heparanase (HPA) is correlated with histopathological parameters and poor prognosis of gastric cancers. Although their efficiencies in inhibiting the expression of HPA, the traditional HPA inhibitors may produce nonspecific and undesirable effects. In recent years, genetic approaches targeting HPA have been regarded as a promising alternative.

25 Nov 2009

Novel way to fight UTIs: Research into Alzheimer's disease

Research into Alzheimer's disease seems an unlikely approach to yield a better way to fight urinary tract infections (UTIs), but that's what scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere recently reported.

25 Nov 2009

Roche's xCELLigence RTCA DP Instrument with CIM-Plate 16 enables real-time monitoring of cell migration

Cell migration is an important process in the development of organisms, as well as during immune surveillance and wound healing. For cancer development, the potential of cells to migrate or to grow invasively is, in addition to proliferation, the most important disease-causing factor. The inhibition of cell migration is a key target of the new anti-inflammatory therapies.

25 Nov 2009

Johnson & Johnson Focused Funding grant for research on brain cell damage in PD

‏Dr. Sarit Larisch, Head of the Cell Death Research Laboratory and senior lecturer at the University of Haifa, has been awarded the prestigious Johnson & Johnson Focused Funding grant for her research exploring the cause of brain cell damage in Parkinson's disease.

25 Nov 2009

Seven-day event focuses on nuclear medicine, molecular imaging, nanomedicine and clinical trials

SNM will hold its Conjoint Mid-Winter Meetings Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2010, at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, N.M. This year, SNM joins its annual Mid-Winter Educational Symposium with the 2010 Annual Meeting and Educational Symposium of the American College of Nuclear Medicine (ACNM), the Nanomedicine and Molecular Imaging Summit and the Clinical Trials Network Community Workshop.

25 Nov 2009

'Suicide gene E' reduces potent drug dosage in cancer patients

Researchers at the University of Granada have found a suicide gene, called 'gene E', which leads to the death of tumour cells derived from breast, lung and colon cancer, and prevents their growth. The importance of this new gene is that its use to fight cancer can reduce the potent drugs that are currently used, so that could mean more effective treatment for cancer.

25 Nov 2009

Plasma albumin levels and cardiovascular disease risk factors influenced by common genetic components

Two indicators of liver function, glutamyl transferase (GGT) and albumin (ALB) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. It is known that the variation in the plasma level of these liver related proteins is genetically influenced.

25 Nov 2009

World's largest intentional healing experiment

Adam DreamHealer's Global Intention Heals Project proved that sending healing intentions changes the physiology of someone at a distance. Over 10,000 participants sent healing intentions at a time unknown to a volunteer who was monitored by a quantitative-EEG. The data was analyzed by world experts in the USA and Canada.

25 Nov 2009

Tennessee Biotechnology Association to host workshop on biotechnology industry

The Tennessee Biotechnology Association and its Graduate Alliance are jointly hosting an afternoon of biotech, business, and law on December 7th, 2009. This event will be held at Belmont University with a reception at 5pm sponsored by i3 Research.

25 Nov 2009

Study may pave way for potential drug targets in lung cancer treatment

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the Boston University Biomedical Engineering Department have identified a number of proteins whose activation allows them to distinguish between cancer and normal cells with almost 97 percent accuracy.

25 Nov 2009

Researchers uncover atomic-level action of ring-shaped protein motors

The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS).

25 Nov 2009

Health watch: When you eat just as vital to what you eat

When you eat may be just as vital to your health as what you eat, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their experiments in mice revealed that the daily waxing and waning of thousands of genes in the liver—the body's metabolic clearinghouse—is mostly controlled by food intake and not by the body's circadian clock as conventional wisdom had it.

25 Nov 2009

Study: GSTP gene protects against bowel cancer

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have shown that deleting a single gene can increase the average number of tumours in the bowel by 50-fold, according to research published in PNAS today.

25 Nov 2009

Alpha-fetoprotein, a well-tolerated agent for treatment and prevention of breast cancer

Researchers have found that hormones produced during pregnancy induce a protein that directly inhibits the growth of breast cancer. This protein, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), may serve as a viable, well-tolerated agent for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer, according to findings published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

25 Nov 2009

Springer and ACMT collaborate to publish ‘Journal of Medical Toxicology’

Springer and the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) have signed an agreement to collaborate on the publication of the Journal of Medical Toxicology (JMT), the official journal of the ACMT, beginning in March 2010. It was previously published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

25 Nov 2009

CXCL5 molecule causes insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes in obese people

Many people who are overweight or obese develop insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes at some stage in their lives. A European research team has now discovered that obese people have large amounts of the molecule CXCL5, produced by certain cells in fatty tissue.

25 Nov 2009

Faulty enzyme may contribute to malignant brain tumour formation

Around 70 per cent of people with a type of brain tumour - called a low-grade glioma - have a faulty version of an enzyme called IDH1. The mutation is also found in a significant proportion of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia.

25 Nov 2009