Body | Page 4150 | Science Codex

Muscle loss in elderly linked to blood vessels' failure to dilate

GALVESTON, Texas — Why do people become physically weaker as they age? And is there any way to slow, stop, or even reverse this process, breaking the link between increasing age and frailty?

In a paper published online this Wednesday in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers present evidence that answers to both those questions can be found in the way the network of blood vessels that threads through muscles responds to the hormone insulin.

Nuclear magnetic resonance aids in drug design

A new study by a team of researchers led by Jeffrey Peng, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, is using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), to move drug design into groundbreaking consideration of the dynamic flexibility of drugs and their targets.

OU WaTER Center researchers providing solutions in developing countries

At the University of Oklahoma WATER Center, researchers are working to provide solutions in developing countries where clean, safe water is nonexistent. According to Center Director David Sabatini, 1 billion people in the world do not have a safe water supply, which leads to 2 million deaths a year.

Androgen receptor may explain male dominance in liver cancer

A University of Rochester study helps to explain why men get liver cancer more often than women and opens the door for a new treatment pathway, by showing a direct link between the androgen receptor, which is more active in men, and the hepatitis B virus as it relates to the deadly cancer.

The study is published May 19, 2010, in Science Translational Medicine, a new journal from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS.

Study pinpoints how a normally defensive immune response can help HIV

Researchers have identified how a normal response to infection, one that usually serves to limit the amount of inflammation, actually contributes to disease progression and viral persistence in HIV-infected patients.

The findings, published in the May 19 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, offer important opportunities for further research, both for treatment of long-term persistence of HIV in those who are infected and for prevention of infection in those who are not, according to the study team.

New steps toward a universal flu vaccine

Researchers at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine have developed a novel influenza vaccine that could represent the next step towards a universal influenza vaccine eliminating the need for seasonal immunizations. They report their findings today in the inaugural issue of mBio™, the first online, open-access journal published by the American Society for Microbiology.

Unexpectedly high rate of multiple strains in fungal infection

New research shows that nearly 1 in 5 cases of infection with the potentially deadly fungus Cryptococcus neoformans are caused by not one but multiple strains of the pathogen. Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the University of Minnesota Medical School report their findings today in the inaugural issue of mBio™, the first online, open-access journal published by the American Society for Microbiology.

Scientists release data on potential new treatment targets for malaria

Scientists release data on potential new treatment targets for malaria

An international team led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators today released data detailing the effectiveness of nearly 310,000 chemicals against a malaria parasite that remains one of the world's leading killers of young children.

Easily blocked signaling protein may help scientists stop parasites

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a parasite protein that has all the makings of a microbial glass jaw: it's essential, it's vulnerable and humans have nothing like it, meaning scientists can take pharmacological swings at it with minimal fear of collateral damage.

The protein, calcium dependent protein kinase 1 (CDPK1), is made by Toxoplasma gondii, the toxoplasmosis parasite; cryptosporidium, which causes diarrhea; plasmodium, which causes malaria; and other similar parasites known as apicomplexans.

Commonly used atrazine herbicide adversely affects fish reproduction

Atrazine, one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world, has been shown to affect reproduction of fish, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study.

"Concentrations of atrazine commonly found in agricultural streams and rivers caused reduced reproduction and spawning, as well as tissue abnormalities in laboratory studies with fish," said USGS scientist Donald Tillitt, the lead author of the study published in Aquatic Toxicology.

Detection of potentially deadly atrial fibrillation dramatically improved by new algorithm

Detection of potentially deadly atrial fibrillation dramatically improved by new algorithm

International Rectal Microbicide Advocates release update on new HIV prevention technology

Chicago -- International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA) will officially release its third landmark report -- "From Promise to Product: Advancing Rectal Microbicide Research and Advocacy" -- at the 2010 International Microbicides Conference in Pittsburgh, PA taking place May 22-25, 2010.

Irregular medication use puts seniors at risk for falling

Older adults increase their chances of falling by not taking their medications as directed, according to an article in the latest edition of the Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological and Medical Sciences (Volume 65A, Number 5). This new information comes from a recent study of Boston-area residents over age 70, which found that those who sometimes neglected their medications experienced a 50 percent increased rate of falls compared with those who did not.

Living wills are poor predictors of actual treatment preferences at the end of life

New Rochelle, NY, May 19, 2010—Living wills often do not represent a patient's actual treatment preferences when faced with real end-of-life circumstances and should be redesigned to guide more realistic advance decision-making, according to a study published in Journal of Palliative Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.,(www.liebertpub.com).

Scientists find protein spurs spread of prostate cancer

(PHILADELPHIA) Researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have found that Stat5, a signaling protein previously found to be key to survival of prostate cancer, is also involved in metastasis.

Their study, published in the online edition of Endocrine-Related Cancer, demonstrates in both laboratory and animal models that nuclear Stat5 over-expression leads to a deadly spread of the cancer. They add that their work with mice was unique in that it was the first time Stat5 was associated with prostate cancer metastasis processes in an animal model.