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| Scripps Florida scientists develop a process to disrupt hepatitis C virion production |
| HCV is a significant human pathogen, infecting more than three percent of the world’s population. The incidence of infection in the United States has been estimated to be as high as 4 million cases. In the March issue of the journal PLoS Pathogens, Timothy Tellinghuisen, an assistant professor in the Department of Infectology at Scripps Florida, and his colleagues describe how they used mutations of the viral NS5A phosphoprotein to disrupt virus particle production at an early stage of assembly. NS5A has long been proposed as a regulator of events in the HCV life cycle, but exactly how it orchestrates these events has been unclear. |
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| STEM CELLS CAN GROW INTO SPERM |
| Stem cells can be coaxed into forming sperm that can potentially fertilise eggs, according to U.S. research. |
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| BONE MARROW FUSION WITH NERVE CELLS MAY REPAIR DAMAGE, STANFORD RESEARCHERS SAY. |
| Bone marrow cells can fuse with specialized brain cells, possibly bolstering the brain cells or repairing damage, according to research from the Stanford University School of Medicine. This finding helps resolve an ongoing debate: Do adult stem cells transform from bone marrow cells into other cell types, such as brain, muscle or liver cells, or do they fuse with those cells to form a single entity with two nuclei? The research shows that for complex brain cells called Purkinje cells, fusion is the normal pathway. |
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| GENE THAT HALTS OVARIAN CANCER DISCOVERED |
| A gene that stops the development of ovarian cancer and which could pave the way for the development of new drugs against the deadly disease has been discovered. |
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| VACCINE AGAINST MAD COW DISEASE NOW POSSIBLE |
| A new antibody capable of locking onto the prion proteins that cause brain-wasting mad cow disease - and similar human ailments - has been developed by researchers, allowing early diagnosis and maybe even a vaccine. |
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| MULE CLONING SHEDS LIGHT ON CANCER, AGEING. |
| The first successful cloning of a mule has unexpectedly shed light on human cancers and other age-related diseases, as well as making possible the cloning of champion horses. |
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| ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE LINKED TO CHEMICAL DEFICIT |
| Anxiety has long been linked to substance abuse. It is the key psychological factor driving the impulse to drink alcohol and one of the first symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. |
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| NEW HINTS INTO DEVELOPMENT OF OSTEOPOROSIS |
| Defects in a protein called alphaV beta3 ntegrin appear to contribute to the development of osteoporosis, and these effects can be reversed by enhancing a protein called macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. |
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| SCIENTISTS DISCOVER HOW TO GROW CELLS THAT SUPPRESS IMMUNE RESPONSES |
| Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered how to grow a little-understood type of human immune cell. The cells, known as T-regulatory cells type 1 (Tr1), are thought to turn off unnecessary immune reactions and to block the action of immune cells that otherwise would attack the body and cause dangerous inflammation. The findings are reported in the Jan. 23 issue of the journal Nature. |
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| ECZEMA PATIENTS LACK NATURAL ANTIBIOTIC IN SKIN |
| Researchers at National Jewish Medical and Research Center report in the October 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that patients with atopic dermatitis, also known as eczema, are susceptible to bacterial infections of their skin because they fail to produce effective amounts of two antimicrobial peptides. The findings demonstrate for the first time the clinical significance of these peptides in humans, and suggest that a medication containing or inducing the peptides may one day be used to fight the infections that plague millions of atopic dermatitis patients. The accompanying editorial in the journal called it a "seminal study." |
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| GENE FOUND THAT HELPS NERVE CELLS SURVIVE BY PREVENTING CELL SUICIDE |
| Why do some nerve cells survive and regrow after injury while others shrink away and die? A new discovery by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) shows that the expression of a particular gene may be responsible for protecting neurons from death. The results, published in the September 26 issue of Neuron, could lead the way for new treatment strategies for a variety of neurological diseases. |
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| ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE MAY ORIGINATE IN THE BRAIN'S WHITE MATTER |
| Changes in the brain's white matter may play a major role in the onset of Alzheimer's disease, whose baffling origin has traditionally been blamed on the gray matter. The new findings could provide a fresh direction for Alzheimer's research in this neglected part of the brain, offering the potential for early diagnosis and enhanced therapies. |
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| TECHNIQUE TO INDUCE CANCER CELLS TO 'COMMIT SUICIDE' DEVELOPED BY HEBREW UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS |
| A new technique for tricking cancer cells into "committing suicide" and thus preventing their spread has been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Their work is described in the September issue of Nature Biotechnology, which was published this week in its Internet version. |
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| DRUG WRECKS THE POWER PLANTS OF CANCER CELLS |
| Researchers have identified a compound that selectively kills tumor cells by destroying their metabolic power plants. The researchers believe that the compound, code-named F16, could serve as a model for a targeted chemotherapy with low toxicity. |
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| SNAIL VENOM HERALDS NEW ERA OF PAIN TREATMENT |
| Australian scientists have taken out a full patent on a novel compound from a toxic marine snail that could be a godsend to sufferers of chronic pain. |
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| 'TROJAN HORSE' TECHNOLOGY DESTROYS BLOOD SUPPLY TO CANCER TUMORS IN MICE |
| Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have demonstrated in mice that a new drug formed by linking a vascular endothelial growth factor to a toxin will target and destroy the blood vessels supplying a malignant tumor. |
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| PEPTIDE PROMOTES NEW GROWTH IN INJURED SPINAL CORDS |
| Yale researchers have developed a synthetic peptide that promotes new nerve fiber growth in the damaged spinal cords of laboratory rats and allows them to walk better, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature. |
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| 'NATURE' REPORT: RESEARCHERS GENETICALLY ALTER MOSQUITOES TO IMPAIR MALARIA TRANSMISSION |
| Malaria kills about 2 million people annually, mostly African children under the age of 5. While conventional approaches to controlling the disease have been ineffective, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine researchers are developing a genetically altered mosquito that one day could be added to the arsenal in the war against the disease. |
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| GENETIC LINK TO ENDOMETRIOSIS – UNIQUE ICELANDIC STUDY PROVIDES FURTHER PROOF |
| A woman has more than five times the normal risk of developing endometriosis if her sister has the disease, according to research published today (Thursday 28 February) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal, Human Reproduction* (full-text article). |
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| RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY GENE IN RARE FORM OF EPILEPSY. FINDINGS MAY PROVIDE NOVEL INSIGHTS INTO MORE COMMON EPILEPSY. |
| Columbia Health Sciences researchers have identified a gene implicated in a rare form of epilepsy, a finding that could provide insights into the cause of common epilepsy. |
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| IS THIS THE CELL THAT COULD REVOLUTIONISE MEDICINE? |
| IT MIGHT turn out to be the most important cell ever discovered. It's a stem cell found in adults that can turn into every single tissue in the body.
Until now, only stem cells from early embryos were thought to be able to do this. If the finding is confirmed, it will mean cells from your own body could one day be turned into all sorts of perfectly matched replacement tissues and even organs. |
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| REQUIRED ACTIVATION 'CASCADE' IDENTIFIED FOR P53 TUMOR-SUPPRESSOR PROTEIN |
| The innocuously named protein p53 is among the most vital of molecules for regulating cell growth in the human body, and it represents one of the body's leading defenses against the uncontrolled growth of cancers as a result. Damaged variants of the tumor-suppressor p53 protein have been found in more than half of human cancers. |
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| ANIMAL STUDY FIND EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS CAN REPAIR HEART MUSCLE |
| Transplantation of embryonic stem cells can help repair injured heart muscle and improve cardiac function following heart attacks and the development of congestive heart failure (CHF), according to the results of an animal study conducted at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. |
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| RESEARCHERS DISTINGUISH NEW TYPE OF LEUKEMIA |
| Researchers who have studied the activity of thousands of genes in a drug-resistant form of childhood leukemia are now proposing that the disease be called mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) because it is a distinct disease, and not a subtype of the more prevalent acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). |
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| YALE RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW MOLECULE THAT ERADICATES CANCER BY DESTROYING TUMOR BLOOD VESSELS |
| Researchers at Yale have developed a new molecule they call "icon" that targets blood vessels in tumors for destruction by the immune system without harming vessels in normal tissues. |
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| HARMLESS VIRUS PREVENTS HIV VARIANT FROM SPREADING IN HUMAN TISSUE BLOCKS |
| Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), a common virus that is apparently harmless in adults, appears to prevent a form of the AIDS virus from reproducing in laboratory cultures of human tissue, according to a study published in the November issue of Nature Medicine. |
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| LEPTIN AND OBESITY: ALL IN THE HEAD? |
| In the absence of leptin signaling, mice, like humans, grow extremely obese and develop many of the common sequellae of obesity in humans, such as diabetes and steatosis of the liver. Introduction of leptin directly into the hypothalamus potently reverses the overeating and obesity seen in leptin-deficient animals. |
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| LOSS OF NEW CELL GROWTH GENE LINKED TO CERTAIN HUMAN CANCERS |
| Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have found that the loss of a recently discovered gene involved in cell growth may play an important role in the progression of some human cancers. The gene, called Cables, was discovered by the MGH team last year, and the latest results are published in the October 1 issue of Cancer Research. |
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| HOW BACTERIA HARDEN THEIR ‘ARMOR’ |
| Duke biochemists have identified a key chemical reaction by which some important virulent bacteria alter their outer coat to make it antibiotic-resistant. The scientists say that their finding could lead to drugs to block such protective alteration, preventing bacteria from developing resistance. |
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| UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER SPEARHEADS GIANT LEAP FORWARD IN MEDICINE |
| Researchers at the University of Ulster have uncovered a vital weapon in the fight against killer conditions like cancer and heart disease – frog venom. |
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| GENE THERAPY MAY BE A TOOL TO PREVENT BLINDNESS |
| Reduces blinding blood vessel growth by up to 90 percent in laboratory mice. Gene therapy may one day be used to halt or even prevent the overgrowth of blood vessels in the eye that blinds patients with macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, according to two recent studies led by researchers at Johns Hopkins' Wilmer Eye Institute. |
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| GENES EXPLAIN WHY MEN ARE TALLER |
| Over 4cm of men's height is due to the combination of just two genes, according to a new study undertaken at the University of Melbourne.
The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism this week, identifies one gene on chromosome 15 and one on the Y chromosome as contributors to height in men. These genes may also help explain why men are taller than women. |
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| MOTHERS TRANSMIT DNA THROUGH DAUGHTERS ONLY |
| Scientists have argued whether or not the often-studied mitochondrial DNA molecule is clonally inherited. It is with assuming clonal inheritance this type of DNA has been used to track the origin of modern human as well as to draw pictures of genetic relationships among other animals and plants. |
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| WHEN ANTIBODIES TURN AGAINST YOU |
| Australian immunologists have found that the Ross River virus uses antibodies, which normally neutralise viral invaders, to its own advantage. |
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| YALE RESEARCHERS DISCOVER A GENETIC CAUSE OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE |
| Researchers at Yale studying a rare inherited form of hypertension have discovered mutations in two different genes that can cause this disease, clearing the way for new medications to treat both the rare and common forms of high blood pressure. |
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| REGENERATION IN THE MAMMALIAN HEART DEMONSTRATED BY WISTAR RESEARCHERS |
| Mammalian heart tissue may be capable of regenerating itself after serious injury, according to a new study by researchers at The Wistar Institute. Experiments with a strain of laboratory mice known as MRL mice detailed their potent ability to renew damaged heart tissue with minimal scarring. |
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| GENOME ANALYSIS OF PATHOGENIC AND WEAK-ACTING GASTRITIS BACTERIA |
| Intestinal infections caused by a Helicobacter pyroli bacterium might lead to the origination of intestine illnesses and in some cases - even to the development of oncogenetic diseases. |
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| SECRETS OF CANCER CELLS IMMORTALITY HAVE BEEN FOUND |
| The capability of a cancer cell to divide endlessly makes it practically immortal. British researchers identified a protein molecule which appr. 10 per cent of all malignant cells use to reach the state of immortality. Blocking this molecule, it’ll become possible to stop further division of cancer cells. |
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| GENE THERAPY TO TREAT HEART DISEASE IS BEING TESTED ON ANIMALS |
| Philadelphia. Someday, weak-heart people will be able to use gene therapy to prevent further deterioration of a coronary artery condition. Gene therapy is also hoped to assist in treating major heart diseases.
Tests on pigs conducted by Mr. Levi, a researcher from Philadelphian Child's Hospital (PChH), have shown that the DNA genes added with stents can successfully be fixed to artery wall of tested animals. |
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| A NEW STEP FORWARD IN THE TECHNOLOGY OF MAN’S ORGANS PLANTING |
| A long-awaiting dream of all patients and surgeons, the possibility of growing the organs people need, is coming up. But for the time being, people have to wait for someone’s death to take the required organs for transplantation... |
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