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In The Battle Against Pathogens, Humans And Chimps Share Genetic Strategy
Date: Feb-18-2013A genome-wide analysis searching for evidence of long-lived balancing selection - where the evolutionary process acts not to select the single best adaptation but to maintain genetic variation in a population - has uncovered at least six regions of the genome where humans and chimpanzees share the same combination of genetic variants. The finding published in the journal Science, suggests that in these regions, human genetic variation dates back to a common ancestor with chimpanzees millions of years ago, before the species split...
A Cell's Genome Defense Can Stymie Gene Invaders
Date: Feb-18-2013Gene wars rage inside our cells, with invading DNA regularly threatening to subvert our human blueprint. Now, building on Nobel-Prize-winning findings, UC San Francisco researchers have discovered a molecular machine that helps protect a cell's genes against these DNA interlopers. The machine, named SCANR, recognizes and targets foreign DNA. The UCSF team identified it in yeast, but given the similarity of yeast and human cells, comparable mechanisms might also be found in humans, where they might serve to lower the burden of inherited human disease and death, the researchers said...
Predicting Disease Course, Tailoring Care, By Tracking Leukemia's Genetic Evolution
Date: Feb-18-2013Tumors are not factories for the mass production of identical cancer cells, but are, in reality, patchworks of cells with different patterns of gene mutations. In a new study, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute show, more fully than ever before, how these mutations shift and evolve over time in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) - providing a strobe-like look at the genetic past, present, and future of CLL tumors...
Bacteria Producing Nitric Oxide Extend Life In Roundworms
Date: Feb-18-2013Nitric oxide, the versatile gas that helps increase blood flow, transmit nerve signals, and regulate immune function, appears to perform one more biological feat - prolonging the life of an organism and fortifying it against environmental stress, according to a new study. The study reveals that a roundworm called Caenorhabditis elegans, an animal widely used in laboratory studies of aging, lives significantly longer when fed bacteria capable of manufacturing nitric oxide...
Regulation Of Hospitals Supported By Study
Date: Feb-17-2013Hospital beds tend to get used simply because they're available - not necessarily because they're needed, according to a first-of-its-kind study that supports continued regulation of new hospitals. Michigan State University researchers examined all 1.1 million admissions at Michigan's 169 acute-care hospitals in 2010 and found a strong correlation between bed availability and use, even when accounting for myriad factors that may lead to hospitalization. These factors include nature of the ailment, health insurance coverage, access to primary care and patient mobility...
Opening The Door For Nanoscale MRI
Date: Feb-17-2013Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reveals details of living tissues, diseased organs and tumors inside the body without x-rays or surgery. What if the same technology could peer down to the level of atoms? Doctors could make visual diagnoses of a person's molecules - examining damage on a strand of DNA, watching molecules misfold, or identifying a cancer cell by the proteins on its surface. Now Dr...
HIV-Infected Russians Show Increased Sex And Drug Risk Behaviors Following Recent Marijuana Use
Date: Feb-17-2013Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University's School of Medicine (BUSM) and School of Public Health (BUSPH) have found that in Russian HIV-infected risky drinkers, marijuana use is associated with other increased risky behaviors involving drug use and sex. These findings, published online in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, may aid clinicians and public health experts in detecting individuals at a higher risk of transmitting HIV. Marijuana, otherwise known as cannabis, is the most frequently used illicit drug worldwide...
Light-Emitting Bioprobe Fits In A Single Cell
Date: Feb-17-2013Stanford study is the first to demonstrate that sophisticated, engineered light resonators can be inserted inside cells without damaging the host. The researchers say it marks a new age in which tiny lasers and light-emitting diodes yield new avenues in the study and influence of living cells. If engineers at Stanford have their way, biological research may soon be transformed by a new class of light-emitting probes small enough to be injected into individual cells without harm to the host...
Rewiring The Serotonin System
Date: Feb-17-2013An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the University of Houston has found a new way to influence the vital serotonin signaling system - possibly leading to more effective medications with fewer side effects. Scientists have linked malfunctions in serotonin signaling to a wide range of health issues, everything from depression and addictions to epilepsy and obesity and eating disorders. Much of their attention has focused on complex proteins called serotonin receptors, which are located in the cell membrane...
Clues To Childhood Respiratory Virus Revealed By Study
Date: Feb-17-2013New Vanderbilt-led research published in the New England Journal of Medicine has identified the relatively unknown human metapneumovirus (MPV) as the second most common cause of severe bronchiolitis in young children. Senior author John Williams , M.D., associate professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and a well-known expert in MPV research, said it is gratifying to offer a clearer picture of how this virus impacts children. "We found MPV is as important a cause of respiratory illness as influenza, and caused more illness than the three common types of parainfluenza virus combined...
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