Health News

New depths of complexity in nerve cells discovered

Date: Mar-26-2014
Research from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation reveals a new complexity to nerve cells in the brain that could affect future therapies aimed at altering mood and memory in humans.OMRF scientist Kenneth Miller, Ph.D., studied the function of a common protein (known as CaM Kinase II) in tiny roundworms called C. elegans. His research appears in the latest issue of the journal Genetics. "CaM Kinase II is very abundant in the brain, so it has been heavily studied," Miller said. "But this is the first time anybody has seen results like this.

Tracheal bioengineering should be shown to be effective and safe before further transplants

Date: Mar-26-2014
Reports of the two earliest tissue-engineered whole organ transplants using a windpipe, or trachea, created using the patient's own stem cells, were hailed as a breakthrough for regenerative medicine and widely publicized in the press. However, two leading transplant surgeons in Belgium warn of the dangers of media attention, and urge that tracheal bioengineering be demonstrated as both effective and safe before further transplants take place.

When exposed to heat and crowded environments, unfolded proteins collapse

Date: Mar-26-2014
Proteins are important molecules in our body and they fulfill a broad range of functions. For instance as enzymes they help to release energy from food and as muscle proteins they assist with motion. As antibodies they are involved in immune defence and as hormone receptors in signal transduction in cells. Until only recently it was assumed that all proteins take on a clearly defined three-dimensional structure - i.e. they fold in order to be able to assume these functions. Surprisingly, it has been shown that many important proteins occur as unfolded coils.

Low dose injections of artificial properdin provide substantial protection against septic diseases in mice

Date: Mar-26-2014
"I am really excited about this landmark discovery. We demonstrate that boosting the innate immune system can have a significant impact on the body's ability to defend itself against life-threatening infections" - Professor Wilhelm Schwaeble from the University of Leicester's Department of Infection, Immunity and InflammationResearchers at the University of Leicester have produced an artificial version of a naturally occurring protein, properdin, which has been found to successfully combat bacterial pneumonia and meningitis when tested in mice.

The breast microbiota

Date: Mar-26-2014
The female breast contains a unique population of microbes relative to the rest of the body, according to the first-ever study of the breast microbiome. That study sought to lay the groundwork for understanding how this bacterial community contributes to health and disease, says first author Camilla Urbaniak, a PhD student at the University of Western Ontario. The research was published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Gout drug may reduce risk of death

Date: Mar-26-2014
In a recently to be published study in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, researchers have found the use of the drug allopurinol was associated with a reduced risk of death in hyperuricemic (gout) patients. The study, the first in a general population, has found the overall benefit of allopurinol on survival may outweigh the impact of rare serious adverse effects.Researchers from the Section of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) contributed to this study.Gout has been associated with an increased risk of premature death.

Mice are reservoirs for tick-borne pathogens, amplify risk of Lyme disease and other tick-borne ailments

Date: Mar-26-2014
People living in northern and central parts of the U.S. are more likely to contract Lyme disease and other tick-borne ailments when white-footed mice are abundant. Mice are effective at transferring disease-causing pathogens to feeding ticks. And, according to an in-press paper in the journal Ecology, these "super hosts" appear indifferent to larval tick infestations.

Burnout a greater risk for fair bosses

Date: Mar-26-2014
Bosses who are fair make their workers happier and their companies more productive, but in the end may be burning themselves out.A new study led by Michigan State University's Russell E. Johnson found the act of carefully monitoring the fairness of workplace decisions wears down supervisors mentally and emotionally."Structured, rule-bound fairness, known as procedural justice, is a double-edged sword for managers," said Johnson, assistant professor of management. "While beneficial for their employees and the organization, it's an especially draining activity for managers.

Study strengthens the case for specialized brain mechanisms for recognizing faces

Date: Mar-26-2014
When it comes to recognizing faces, humans are extraordinarily skillful. It's no surprise - after all, from the moment humans leave the womb, the infant brains already have a preference for faces, and over the course of a lifetime, the average person sees hundreds of thousands of faces.

In an experimental model, diabetes drug shows promise in reducing Alzheimer's disease

Date: Mar-26-2014
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that the diabetic drug, pramlintide, reduces amyloid-beta peptides, a major component of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the brain and improves learning and memory in two experimental AD models. These findings, which appear online in Molecular Psychiatry, also found AD patients have a lower level of amylin in blood compared to those without this disease. These results may provide a new avenue for both treatment and diagnosis of AD.