Body

DALLAS - Feb. 16, 2016 - Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified synthetic RNA and DNA that reverses the protein deficiency causing Friedreich's ataxia, a neurological disease for which there is currently no cure.

Friedreich's ataxia results from modifications to DNA sequences that prevent cells from producing enough of a needed protein called frataxin. The lack of frataxin can result in a variety of problems that include loss of muscle control, fatigue, vision or hearing impairment, slurred speech, and serious heart conditions.

First it was your fingerprint that gave the game away and then DNA analysis transformed forensic science. But 'watch your step' because an expert in the School of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Nottingham has developed a new technique which could lead to a 'step change' in forensic footwear imaging.

Researchers at Washington State University in Spokane have identified a potential new approach to combating the joint pain, inflammation and tissue damage caused by rheumatoid arthritis.

Their discovery is featured on the cover of Arthritis and Rheumatology, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology, in print Tuesday, Feb 16.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a debilitating autoimmune disorder that mostly affects the small joints of the hands and feet. It causes painful swelling that progresses into cartilage damage, bone erosion and joint deformity.

DNA, RNA, protein -- the end. Or is it? Until recently, the pattern used to encode genetic information into our cells was considered to be relatively straightforward: four letters (A,G,C,T) for DNA and four (A,G,C,U) for RNA. This equation, however, turned out to be oversimplified -- RNA was holding out.

Older people who undergo cancer surgery are more likely than their younger counterparts to experience injuries and health issues such as falling down, breaking bones, dehydration, bed sores, failure to thrive and delirium. These age-related issues may lead to longer hospital stays, increased health care costs and a greater risk of death, a UCLA study found.

- The use of certain traditional chemotherapy drugs may expand the number of tumors that respond to one of today's most promising cancer therapies - immune checkpoint blockade. Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Systems Biology report in the Feb. 16 issue of the journal Immunity that inducing the infiltration of cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) - immune cells that kill cancer cells and cells that are infected or in other ways damaged - into lung tumors sensitized otherwise unresponsive tumors to checkpoint blockade in animal models.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., February 16, 2015--A paper in the latest issue of the journal Nature suggests a common ancestor of apes and humans, Chororapithecus abyssinicus, evolved in Africa, not Eurasia, two million years earlier than previously thought.

ONC201, an anti-cancer drug that triggers cell death in various tumor types, may have clinical potential for some blood cancers including mantel cell lymphoma (MCL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a recent clinical study.

Mothers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often experience stress and suffer from sleep deprivation. Sacrifices almost always follow as they abandon professional careers and personal ambitions, believing that care for their children "comes first."

New research demonstrates how climate change and the immune reaction of the infected individual can affect the long-term and seasonal dynamics of parasite infections. The study, led by Penn State University scientists, assessed the infection dynamics of two species of soil-transmitted parasites in a population of rabbits in Scotland every month for 23 years. The study's results could lead to new strategies for the treatment and prevention of infections from similar parasites in humans, livestock, and wildlife.

Breast cancers which are particularly complex and diverse, as judged by a test used in ecology to analyse species of animals and plants, are particularly likely to progress and lead to death, a new study shows.

The test could be used in the clinic to assess how likely women's breast cancers are to be aggressive, and to help tailor treatment accordingly.

Philadelphia, PA (February 16, 2016) - Oncoceutics, Inc. announced the publication of companion research articles in the American Association for the Advancement of Science journal Science Signaling that describe ONC201's ability to uniquely activate the integrated stress response, a powerful anti-cancer signaling pathway. The companion articles from leading groups at MD Anderson Cancer Center and Fox Chase Cancer Center, headed by Drs.

Broad vaccination with newly available monovalent hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) vaccines will decrease HFMD incidence in China, according to predictions from an epidemiologic model published this week in PLOS Medicine. The study, conducted by Saki Takahashi and Bryan T.

URBANA, Ill. - Some humanitarian organizations facilitate livestock donations to poor households in developing countries, but does giving a cow, a pair of oxen, or a herd of goats to a poor household really benefit the recipients? A recent University of Illinois study says it does.

Boston - With every heart attack, billions of cardiomyocytes, the contracting heart muscle cells that make the heart pump time after time over a lifetime, are lost which can lead to heart failure or injury. Stem cell-based replacement strategies could open new and much needed therapeutic avenues. Such approaches, using either patient-derived or donor-derived stem cells, have been taken in clinical trials but thus far have not fulfilled their early promises.