Health News

Boundary Stops Molecule Right Where It Needs To Be

Date: May-28-2012
A molecule responsible for the proper formation of a key portion of the nervous system finds its way to the proper place not because it is actively recruited, but instead because it can't go anywhere else. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have identified a distal axonal cytoskeleton as the boundary that makes sure AnkyrinG clusters where it needs to so it can perform properly. The findings appear in the current edition of Cell. "It has been known that AnkyrinG is needed for the axon initial segment to form. Without the axon initial segment there would be no output of information...

Researchers Identify Protein Necessary For Behavioral Flexibility

Date: May-28-2012
Researchers have identified a protein necessary to maintain behavioral flexibility, which allows us to modify our behaviors to adjust to circumstances that are similar, but not identical, to previous experiences. Their findings, which appear in the journal Cell Reports, may offer new insights into addressing autism and schizophrenia - afflictions marked by impaired behavioral flexibility. Our stored memories from previous experiences allow us to repeat certain tasks. For instance, after driving to a particular location, we recall the route the next time we make that trip. However, sometimes...

Study Shows: Persistent Sensory Experience Is Good For The Aging Brain

Date: May-28-2012
Despite a long-held scientific belief that much of the wiring of the brain is fixed by the time of adolescence, a new study shows that changes in sensory experience can cause massive rewiring of the brain, even as one ages. In addition, the study found that this rewiring involves fibers that supply the primary input to the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for sensory perception, motor control and cognition. These findings promise to open new avenues of research on brain remodeling and aging. Published in the May 24, 2012 issue of Neuron, the study was conducted by...

Cancer Stem Cells Self-Renewal Capacity Is Independent Of Their Ability To Initiate Leukemia

Date: May-28-2012
In leukemia, specialized cells called cancer stem cells are thought to proliferate to generate tumor cells. These cancer stem cells are rare in the tumor population and have unique properties from other tumor cells, including increased resistance to conventional drug therapy. Defects in regulating the mammalian target of rapamycin mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1), formed by several proteins including mTOR and Raptor, are common in leukemia. Although ablation of mTOR and Raptor have shown that mTORC1 is indispensable for normal cell proliferation and survival during embryogenesis, the role of mTORC1 in...

Nuisance Seaweed Found To Produce Compounds With Biomedical Potential

Date: May-28-2012
Scripps-led analysis of tiny marine organisms indicates early promise in areas ranging from inflammation to skin conditions A seaweed considered a threat to the healthy growth of coral reefs in Hawaii may possess the ability to produce substances that could one day treat human diseases, a new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has revealed. An analysis led by Hyukjae Choi, a postdoctoral researcher in William Gerwick's laboratory at Scripps, has shown that the seaweed, a tiny photosynthetic organism known as a "cyanobacterium," produces chemical...

Healing The Voice: New American Chemical Society Video On Synthetic Vocal Cords

Date: May-27-2012
An effort to develop synthetic vocal cords to heal the voices of people with scarred natural vocal tissues is the topic of the latest episode of the American Chemical Society's (ACS') Bytesize Science series. The video is available here. Filmed in the lab of 2012 ACS Priestley Medalist and David H. Koch Institute Professor Robert S. Langer, Ph.D., at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the video highlights the development of a flexible polymer material that mimics the traits of human vocal cords. The video begins with a segment on Julie Andrews, who lost her singing voice in 1997...

London Researcher Calls For New Approach To Regulating Probiotics

Date: May-27-2012
In the Nature scientific journal Dr. Gregor Reid, Director of the Canadian R&D Centre for Probiotics at Lawson Health Research Institute and a scientist at Western University, calls for a Category Tree system to be implemented in the United States and Europe to better inform consumers about probiotics. Globally, the market for probiotics (beneficial microorganisms) exceeds $30 billion; however, consumers have little way of knowing which products have been tested in humans and what they do for health. Furthermore, the regulatory system in the US maintains that any product that claims to impact...

Exercise Does Not Improve Lipoprotein Levels In Obese Patients With Fatty Liver Disease

Date: May-27-2012
New research found that moderate exercise does not improve lipoprotein concentrations in obese patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Results published in the June issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, report that moderate physical activity produces only a small decrease in triglyceride and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels. Obesity is a rampant health concern worldwide. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2008 that 1.5 billion people, age 20 and older, were overweight, and of these, 200 million men...

Why People Can Develop Life-Threatening Allergies After Receiving Treatment For Conditions Such As Epilepsy And AIDS Discovered

Date: May-27-2012
The finding could lead to the development of a diagnostic test to determine drug hypersensitivity. The study published in the journal Nature, revealed how some drugs inadvertently target the immune system to alter how the body's immune system perceives it's own tissues, making them look foreign. The immune system then attacks the foreign nature of the tissues as if they were incompatible transplants. The study showed the biological mechanisms by which a person's exact tissue type determined whether they would develop the drug allergy or not. Professor James McCluskey of the Department of...

No New Neurons In The Human Olfactory Bulb Created After Birth

Date: May-27-2012
Research from Karolinska Institutet shows that the human olfactory bulb - a structure in the brain that processes sensory input from the nose - differs from that of other mammals in that no new neurons are formed in this area after birth. The discovery, which is published in the scientific journal Neuron, is based on the age-determination of the cells using the carbon-14 method, and might explain why the human sense of smell is normally much worse than that of other animals. "I've never been so astonished by a scientific discovery," says lead investigator Jonas Frisén, Tobias Foundation...