ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A team of University of Michigan scientists has found that suppressing a newly discovered gene lengthens the lifespan of roundworms. Scientists who study aging have long known that significantly restricting food intake makes animals live longer. But the goal is to find less drastic ways to achieve the same effect in humans someday. The U-M results offer promising early evidence that scientists may succeed at finding targets for drugs that someday could allow people to live longer, healthier lives.
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A combination of Chinese herbs in use for more than 1,800 years reduced the gastrointestinal side effects of chemotherapy in mice, while actually enhancing the effects of the cancer treatment, Yale University researchers report.
A gender-specific total knee prosthesis was developed to more closely match the anatomy of the female knee, aiming to be a better fit resulting in better outcomes for women. However, a recent study in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) found that 85 women who received a gender-specific implant in one knee and a standard prosthesis in the other knee found no clinical benefits of the gender-specific knee.
SALT LAKE CITY—Following up a pioneering 2007 proof-of-concept study, a University of Utah biochemist and colleagues have developed a promising new anti-HIV drug candidate, PIE12-trimer, that prevents HIV from attacking human cells.
FINDINGS: The genes that are responsible for maintaining each cell type form DNA loops that link control elements for these genes. This surprising genome structure is generated and reinforced by two essential protein complexes that bridge the loops and contribute to proper gene regulation.
Scientists have reprogrammed stem cells from a key organ in the immune system in a development that could have implications for tissue regeneration.
Their research shows that it is possible to convert one stem type to another without the need for genetic modification.
Researchers, who used rat models, grew stem cells from the thymus - an organ important for our immune systems – in the laboratory using conditions for growing hair follicle skin stem cells.
(WASHINGTON, August 18, 2010) – Although hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) cures many blood diseases, two-thirds of long-term survivors report at least one chronic health condition after the procedure, according to a recent study published online in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology.
Overweight American children and adolescents have become fatter over the last decade, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and National Institute on Aging (NIA). They examined adiposity shifts across socio-demographic groups over time and found U.S. children and adolescents had significantly increased adiposity measures such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and triceps skinfold thickness (TST). The increases in adiposity were more pronounced in some sex-ethnic groups such as black girls.
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have developed a novel 3-D imaging approach that may improve the accuracy of treatment for ventricular tachycardia, a potentially life-threatening heart rhythm disorder that causes the heart to beat too fast. The new approach couples CT (computed tomography) images with conventional ablation techniques to eliminate erratic electrical circuits in the heart that produce arrhythmias.
Blocking thoughts of cigarettes helps reduce smokers' intake at first, but means they smoke more than usual when they stop suppressing, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The study was carried out by researchers at St. George's, University of London and the University of Hertfordshire.
DALLAS – Aug. 19, 2010 – A pediatric urologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center has pioneered a successful surgical procedure for young girls who have absent or malformed vaginas, a condition that affects about one in 4,000 females.
Unknown causes and certain genetic disorders can cause girls to be born with these defects, along with other birth defects that can accompany the vaginal problems, including abnormal neck, absent or malformed uterus and fallopian tubes, absent kidneys or abnormal external genitals.
Australian researchers are a step closer to understanding the rapid decline of our coral reefs, thanks to a breakthrough study linking coral immunity with its susceptibility to bleaching and disease.
The discovery was made by Caroline Palmer, Bette Willis and John Bythell, scientists from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University (Queensland) and Newcastle University (UK).
Are there too many stem cell research journals?
This question has been posed by Drs. Paul Sanberg and Cesar Borlongan of the Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida. Their article appears in the current issue of Stem Cell Reviews and Reports.
Both Sanberg and Borlongan are concerned about the quality of the science being published in the proliferating stem cell journals.