The first commercially available treatment in the United States for patients with late-onset Pompe disease was administered today (Wednesday, June 16) at the University of Florida.
Pompe disease is a rare form of muscular dystrophy and has been the focus of a research program at UF for more than 10 years. It is now part of expanded efforts in neuromuscular disease research.
New Haven, Conn.—Paleontologists have discovered the oldest mammalian tooth marks yet on the bones of ancient animals, including several large dinosaurs, they report in the journal Paleontology.
Scientists have found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in seven species of sharks and redfish captured in waters off Belize, Florida, Louisiana and Massachusetts. Most of these wild, free-swimming fish harbored several drug-resistant bacterial strains.
Despite many research advances, ovarian cancer remains lethal in a majority of cases, due to late diagnosis of the disease. In a new study, Dr. Joshua LaBaer of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, along with Arturo Ramirez and Paul Lampe, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, used a novel method for identifying biomarkers—proteins in blood that can identify ovarian cancer before symptoms appear.
Tampa, Fla. (June 16, 2010) – A research team from McGill University (Canada) report a beneficial effect on cardiac function in mouse models when implanted monocytes - a type of white blood cell that is part of the immune system - helped preserve cardiac function following a heart attack (myocardial infarction).
Their study, published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (19:4), is now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/.
A multi-institutional research team has found that rare variants in the gene coding an enzyme that controls the activity of a key immune cell occur more frequently in individuals with autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. Their report, which will appear in the journal Nature and is receiving early online release, identifies a pathway that could be a therapeutic target and may present a model for future investigations of the role of rare gene variants in common disorders.
STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a new group of proteins involved in determining the life span of laboratory roundworms. Blocking the expression of one member of the group can extend the worm's life span by up to 30 percent. Because the proteins work in the worms' reproductive systems, the research represents yet another intriguing link between longevity and fertility.
New research reveals that when two parts of the Earth's crust break apart, this does not always cause massive volcanic eruptions. The study, published today in the journal Nature, explains why some parts of the world saw massive volcanic eruptions millions of years ago and others did not.
An experimental vaccine developed to prevent outbreaks of Marburg hemorrhagic fever continues to show promise in monkeys as an emergency treatment for accidental exposures to the virus that causes the disease. There is no licensed treatment for Marburg infection, which has a high fatality rate.
The world is a cooler, wetter place because of flowering plants, according to new climate simulation results published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The effect is especially pronounced in the Amazon basin, where replacing flowering plants with non-flowering varieties would result in an 80 percent decrease in the area covered by ever-wet rainforest.
Researchers at National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have identified the precise protein fragment, or peptide, that can trigger diabetes in mice. The finding, published in the June 15, 2010, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports an emerging theory about the origins of autoimmunity, and may lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in humans.
Contrary to marketing claims, paying a premium price for free-range eggs is not making you healthier, say scientists who have found that free-range eggs in Taiwan contain at least five times higher levels of certain pollutants than regular eggs. Their findings appear in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Montreal, June 16, 2010 – A team of researchers from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Université de Montréal have defined for the first time the mechanism behind three cancer-causing genes in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Published in the journal Genes and Development, the findings offer insight on the complex interaction between the genes and their contributions to leukemia, thereby providing the foundation for the design of targeted therapies.
In an effort to assess ties between birds' feeding habits and the spread of nonnative invasive plants, researchers provided ornithologists from four U.S. states with questionnaires on daily bird-plant encounters. The 1,143 unique interactions reported by the birders laid the groundwork for a study on the role of native birds in the seed dispersal of invasive plants throughout the U.S.
