While children of all ethnicities can contract Kawasaki disease (KD), a study led by researchers at the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego finds that Filipino children with KD are at a higher risk for inflammation of the blood vessels of the heart than those of other Asian and non-Asian backgrounds. Nearly 24 percent of Filipino children with KD in San Diego County were found to have aneurysms compared to 10.5 percent of children of other Asian descent.
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Over the past decades, researchers seeking to understand molecular mechanisms underlying various diseases, notably cancer, have taken advantage of DNA microarrays to interrogate tissues specimen of patients for the expression status of thousands of genes at once. Jointly, such gene expression status of each gene in the genome, measured as the level of their transcripts, constitutes the gene expression profile.
Researchers at Columbia Engineering have established a new method to patch a damaged heart using a tissue-engineering platform that enables heart tissue to repair itself. This breakthrough, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is an important step forward in combating cardiovascular disease, one of the most serious health problems of our day.
Over the past decades, researchers seeking to understand molecular mechanisms underlying various diseases, notably cancer, have taken advantage of DNA microarrays to interrogate tissues specimen of patients for the expression status of thousands of genes at once. Jointly, such gene expression status of each gene in the genome, measured as the level of their transcripts, constitutes the gene expression profile.
LA JOLLA, CA – May 6, 2011 – Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have found a temperature-sensing protein within immune cells that, when tripped, allows calcium to pour in and activate an immune response. This process can occur as temperature rises, such as during a fever, or when it falls—such as when immune cells are "called" from the body's warm interior to a site of injury on cooler skin.
A new strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria associated with exposure to livestock was recently discovered in one Iowa child care worker who reported no contact with livestock, according to University of Iowa researchers.
An international panel of experts from The Heart Rhythm Society and the European Heart Rhythm Association issued new guideline recommendations for all health care professionals about cardiovascular genetic testing at the Heart Rhythm Society's 32nd Annual Scientific Sessions.
The May issue of JAMIA, the top-ranked journal reporting on informatics in biomedical and health informatics, features new scientific research—in print and online—on healthcare's hottest HIT-related topics, written by prominent experts working in health and biomedicine. Editor-in chief Lucila Ocho-Machado bullets some of the rich content in the newly released, current issue:
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – From a bucket of seawater, scientists have unlocked information that may lead to deeper understanding of organisms as different as coral reefs and human disease. By analyzing genomes of a tiny, single-celled marine animal, they have demonstrated a possible way to address diverse questions such as how diseased cells differ from neighboring healthy cells and what it is about some Antarctic algae that allows them to live in warming waters while other algae die out.
Latest insights into immunity to HIV could help to develop a vaccine to build antibodies' defences against the disease, a University of Melbourne, Australia study has found.
By investigating the action of the human antibodies called ADCC, in people with HIV, researchers were able to identify that the virus evolves to evade or 'escape' the antibodies.
New research paves way for the nanoscale self-assembly of organic building blocks, a promising new route towards the next generation of ultra-small electronic devices.
DALLAS – May 6, 2011 – Cancer researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center are helping unlock the cellular-level function of the telomerase enzyme, which is linked to the disease's growth.
Their latest findings, published today in Molecular Cell, demonstrate that telomerase repairs chromosomes in one of two ways – depending on whether a cell is dividing normally or if the cell is under stress from enzyme inhibition – and could lead to new or improved cancer-fighting therapies that promote inhibition of this enzyme.
El Niño and its partner La Niña, the warm and cold phases in the eastern half of the tropical Pacific, play havoc with climate worldwide. Predicting El Niño events more than several months ahead is now routine, but predicting how it will change in a warming world has been hampered by the short instrumental record.
Sticking their necks out for evolution: Why sloths and manatees have unusually long (or short) necks
As a rule all mammals have the same number of vertebrae in their necks regardless of whether they are a giraffe, a mouse, or a human. But both sloths and manatees are exceptions to this rule having abnormal numbers of cervical vertebrae. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal EvoDevo shows how such different species have evolved their unusual necks.
Exposure to even moderate levels of arsenic in drinking water is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, especially among smokers, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
Arsenic is a natural element of the Earth's crust and high concentrations in groundwater pose a public health threat to millions of people worldwide.