Health News

Stem cell breakthrough could set up future transplant therapies

Date: Oct-14-2013
A new method for creating stem cells for the human liver and pancreas, which could enable both cell types to be grown in sufficient quantities for clinical use, has been developed by scientists. Using the technique, researchers have for the first time been able to grow a pure, self-renewing population of stem cells specific to the human foregut, the upper section of the human digestive system. These so-called "Foregut stem cells" could then be developed further to produce liver or pancreatic cells...

Protection from UV rays provided by circadian rhythms in skin stem cells

Date: Oct-14-2013
Human skin must cope with UV radiation from the sun and other harmful environmental factors that fluctuate in a circadian manner. A study published by Cell Press in the journal Cell Stem Cell has revealed that human skin stem cells deal with these cyclical threats by carrying out different functions depending on the time of day. By activating genes involved in UV protection during the day, these cells protect themselves against radiation-induced DNA damage. The findings could pave the way for new strategies to prevent premature aging and cancer in humans...

Potential new approach to treating sickle cell disease

Date: Oct-14-2013
A research team from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and other institutions has discovered a new genetic target for potential therapy of sickle cell disease (SCD). The target, called an enhancer, controls a molecular switch in red blood cells called BCL11A that, in turn, regulates hemoglobin production. The researchers - led by Daniel Bauer, MD, PhD, and Stuart Orkin, MD, of Dana-Farber/Boston Children's - reported their findings in Science...

Genes protect themselves against being silenced

Date: Oct-14-2013
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have settled a century-old debate over whether occurrence of DNA methylation acts to silence gene expression, or if genes are turned off by other means before they are methylated. As explicated today in the journal Nature, methylation in fact enforces gene silencing, and it is levels of a newly identified form of RNA produced by individual genes that determines whether they are turned off by the addition of a methyl (CH3) group by the enzyme DNA methylase 1 (DNMT1)...

In phase 2 trials new hepatitis C drug shows potential

Date: Oct-14-2013
The addition of danoprevir to the current treatment regimen for patients with hepatitis C leads to high rates of remission, according to a new article in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. The current standard of care for hepatitis C patients includes a combination of peginterferon and ribavirin...

Potential new targets discovered for anti-inflammatory therapies

Date: Oct-14-2013
A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has identified key signaling proteins in the inflammation process that contribute to the development of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, sepsis and inflammatory bowel diseases. The finding highlights possible new ways of treating these inflammation disorders, which sicken or kill millions of people around the world each year...

"Artificial nose" can sniff out solvent gases

Date: Oct-14-2013
Rice University scientists took a lesson from craftsmen of old to assemble microscopic compounds that warn of the presence of dangerous fumes from solvents. The researchers combined a common mineral, zeolite, with a metallic compound based on rhenium to make an "artificial nose" that can sniff out solvent gases. They found that in the presence of the compound, each gas had a photoluminescent "fingerprint" with a specific intensity, lifetime and color. Rice chemist Angel Martí and his students reported their results this month in the journal Angewandte Chemie...

Mountaintop coal mining may increase risk for depression

Date: Oct-14-2013
People who live among the destructive environmental effects of mountaintop coal mining face an increased risk of major depression. The results of a study conducted in the coal mining regions of Central Appalachia that explored the relationship between psychological health and environmental degradation are published in Ecopsychology, a peer-reviewed, online journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Ecopsychology website...

Researchers seek ways to optimise research which targets AMA1, aiming to improve treatments for malaria, toxoplasmosis

Date: Oct-14-2013
This work, published on the website of Nature Communications, concerns the role of one protein which is common to these parasites. Called AMA1, it has been at the heart of many years' research on upgrading treatments, such as trying out vaccination against malaria. However, the present authors have reservations about the success of therapeutic strategies which rely solely on the blockage of AMA1, by demonstrating that the malaria and toxoplasmosis parasites, without the protein, can develop normally...

Intestinal barrier sleeves, a promising approach for the treatment of obesity and diabetes

Date: Oct-14-2013
Scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen in cooperation with the University of Cincinnati, USA, have discovered that the placement of a non-permeable tube in the small intestine leads to reduced nutrient absorption and consequently to reduced obesity and enhanced glucose metabolism. These findings are published in the current issue of the British medical journal Gut. Bariatric surgeries, such as a gastric bypass, are currently the most effective anti-obesity therapies. They also lead to a reduced insulin resistance...