DENVER, Aug. 28, 2011 — With stem cells so fickle and indecisive that they make Shakespeare's Hamlet pale by comparison, scientists today described an advance in encouraging stem cells to make decisions about their fate. The technology for doing so, reported here at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), is an advance toward using stem cells in "regenerative medicine" — to grow from scratch organs for transplants and tissues for treating diseases.
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MADISON — Ever since scientists first began growing human cells in lab dishes in 1952, they have focused on improving the chemical soup that feeds the cells and helps regulate their growth. But surfaces also matter, says Laura Kiessling, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who observes that living cells are normally in contact with each other and with a structure called the extracellular matrix, not just with the dissolved chemicals in their surroundings.
DENVER, Aug. 28, 2011 — Using a modern version of open-wide-and-keep-this-under-your-tongue, scientists today reported taking the temperature of individual cells in the human body, and finding for the first time that temperatures inside do not adhere to the familiar 98.6 degree Fahrenheit norm. They presented the research at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), being held here this week.
Research on Mt. Everest climbers is adding to the evidence that an amino acid called leucine — found in foods, dietary supplements, energy bars and other products — may help people burn fat during periods of food restriction, such as climbing at high altitude, while keeping their muscle tissue. It was one of two studies on the elite corps of men and women who have tackled the highest peak on Earth reported today at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
An international team of researchers led by Imperial College London has identified six new genetic variants associated with type-2 diabetes in South Asians. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, give scientists new leads in the search for diagnostic markers and drug targets to prevent and treat this major disease.
A molecule which can stop the formation of long protein strands, known as amyloid fibrils, that cause joint pain in kidney dialysis patients has been identified by researchers at the University of Leeds.
The discovery could lead to new methods to identify drugs to prevent, treat or halt the progression of other conditions in which amyloid fibrils play a part, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Type II diabetes.
Scientists have found that individuals who carry a mutation in a gene called BAP1 are susceptible to developing two forms of cancer – mesothelioma, and melanoma of the eye. Additionally, when these individuals are exposed to asbestos or similar mineral fibers, their risk of developing mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen, may be markedly increased.
KANSAS CITY, MO -- Most cells rely on structural tethers to position chromosomes in preparation for cell division. Not so oocytes. Instead, a powerful intracellular stream pushes chromosomes far-off the center in preparation for the highly asymmetric cell division that completes oocyte maturation upon fertilization of the egg, report researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
(Toronto – Aug. 28, 2011) –Cancer scientists have long debated whether all cells within a tumour are equal or whether some cancer cells are more potent - a question that has been highly investigated in experimental models in the last decade.
August 29, 2011, Shenzhen, China –The Institute of Vegetables and Flowers Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, announced today that they were among the research organizations comprising the Brassica rapa Genome Sequencing Project Consortium (BrGSPC) that completed the genome sequence and analysis of the mesopolyploid crop B. rapa, a Chinese cabbage. The findings are published online today in Nature Genetics.
Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have discovered that a mysterious class of large RNAs plays a central role in embryonic development, contrary to the dogma that proteins alone are the master regulators of this process. The research, published online August 28 in the journal Nature, reveals that these RNAs orchestrate the fate of embryonic stem (ES) cells by keeping them in their fledgling state or directing them along the path to cell specialization.
STANFORD, Calif. — Reconnecting severed blood vessels is mostly done the same way today — with sutures — as it was 100 years ago, when the French surgeon Alexis Carrel won a Nobel Prize for advancing the technique. Now, a team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has developed a sutureless method that appears to be a faster, safer and easier alternative.
The death rate among patients prescribed a statin in a major trial that ended in 2003 is still lower than those given a placebo, even though most participants in both groups have been taking statins ever since. ASCOT, the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial, was stopped early because the statin was so effective at preventing heart attacks and strokes, but a new analysis has shown that eight years on, the most significant difference between the groups is a reduction in deaths from infection and respiratory illness.
The same trait that makes a rare immune cell invaluable in fighting some infections also can be exploited by other diseases to cause harm, two new studies show.
In papers published online in Immunity, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reveal that the cells, known as CD8 alpha+ dendritic cells (CD8a+ DCs), can help the body beat back infection by a common parasite, but the same cells can be hijacked by a bacterium to decimate the body's defenses.
Spite evolves in close quarters, according to research led by Fredrik Inglis of the University of Oxford and ETH, Zurich.
Inglis and his team studied a bacterial species in which individuals sometimes explode, releasing a toxin into the environment that is deadly to competing bacteria.
This kamikaze-like behavior is a bit of an evolutionary mystery. How could a behavior in which an individual gives up its chance to reproduce evolve?