SAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 2010 — Using adult stem cells, researchers have created functional blood vessels that could one day replace synthetic grafts often required in various vascular bypass surgeries, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Annual Conference 2010.
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Avian influenza (H5N1) outbreaks in Europe during the winter of 2005-2006 occurred at the edge of cold weather fronts, according to researchers from Princeton University and the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Their results, published April 8 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, show that these outbreaks were driven by aggregated movements of wild waterbirds away from areas of frozen water.
Hamilton, ON (April 5, 2010) –Women are susceptible to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but scientists have been puzzled as to how it finds its way into the female reproductive tract.
One theory has been that trauma, such as a little tear during intercourse, causes HIV to cross epithelial cells – the protective barrier that keeps out infection. There is also the suggestion an unknown mechanism is at work.
For the first time, researchers at McMaster University have discovered the culprit could be HIV itself and what the virus does when it binds to epithelial cells.
Montréal, April 8, 2010 – The discovery by Dr. Éric A. Cohen's team at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal, could potentially lead to the development of new strategies to combat the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), the causal agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In their article published in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, Dr. Cohen's team explains how the Vpu viral protein prevents the expression of Tetherin, a host factor inhibiting HIV-1 release, on the surface of infected cells.
LOS ANGELES (EMBARGOED UNTIL APRIL 8, AT 4 PM EASTERN) –Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have found in animals that infusing cardiac-derived stem cells with micro-size particles of iron and then using a magnet to guide those stem cells to the area of the heart damaged in a heart attack boosts the heart's retention of those cells and could increase the therapeutic benefit of stem cell therapy for heart disease.
SALT LAKE CITY—After receiving only the fourth U.S. implant of a new-generation, Utah-made ventricular assist (VAD ) device, an Idaho man with heart failure is looking forward to resuming an active life following an operation on March 17 at University of Utah Hospital.
Douglas Wiley, Kuna, Idaho, received the Levacor™ VAD as part of national clinical trial under way at the University and is anxious to give his new VAD a real-world tryout. "I can't wait to get back on my motorcycle," the 44-year-old says.
Social influence plays a substantial role in the surging number of autism diagnoses, according to a study published in the American Journal of Sociology.
CLEVELAND ––Maria Pagano, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has established an empirical model to quantify and gauge an alcohol addicts' level of engagement in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)-related helping (AAH). The instrument validity study, "Running Head: Service to Others in Sobriety," is published in the spring 2010 issue of Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (April 8, 2010) – Using T cells primed for the infectious disease toxoplasmosis, Whitehead Institute researchers have created novel mouse models of the immune system that more accurately reflect how immune cells actually respond to pathogens in their presence.
"These models have a lot of potential," says Oktay Kirak, who is a postdoctoral researcher in the labs of Whitehead Members Hidde Ploegh and Rudolf Jaenisch. "It allows us to study both the biology of T cells as well as their role in toxoplasmosis."
For the first time scientists have put a figure on how much it would cost to learn about the conservation status of millions of species, some of which have yet to be identified. The price tag is US$60 million, according to a team of scientists, including those from IUCN and Conservation International, who presented their case in this week's Science magazine in an article called "The Barometer of Life."
Santa Barbara, Calif., April 8, 2010 – Researchers have shown that a peptide (a chain of amino acids) called iRGD helps co-administered drugs penetrate deeply into tumor tissue. The peptide has been shown to substantially increase treatment efficacy against human breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers in mice, achieving the same therapeutic effect as a normal dose with one-third as much of the drug.
An international team of scientists has described a new fossil find and a new species of hominid, Australopithecus sediba, thought to be at least 2 million years old in an area of South Africa known as the Cradle of Humankind.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Dan Farber's work involved describing the geological, geochronological, geomorphological and faunal context of the Malapa site - which holds the fossils of an adult and a juvenile of the new species. The research appears in a pair of papers in the April 9 issue of the journal, Science.
A cache of cuneiform tablets unearthed by a team led by a University of Toronto archaeologist has been found to contain a largely intact Assyrian treaty from the early 7th century BCE.
A new study, published online April 8 by Cell Press in the journal Immunity, describes a unique therapeutic "nanovaccine" that successfully reverses diabetes in a mouse model of the disease. In addition to providing new insight into diabetes, the research also reveals an aspect of the pathogenesis of the autoimmune response that may provide a therapeutic strategy for multiple autoimmune disorders.
NEW YORK, April 8, 2010 -- Using a sophisticated nanotechnology-based "vaccine," researchers were able to successfully cure mice with type 1 diabetes and slow the onset of the disease in mice at risk for the disease. The study, co-funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, provides new and important insights into understanding how to stop the immune attack that causes type 1 diabetes, and could even have implications for other autoimmune diseases.