Health News

The importance of the DNA architecture in controlling the activity of genes

Date: Jan-20-2014
A study conducted by Marie Kmita's team at the IRCM, in collaboration with Josee Dostie at McGill University, shows the importance of the chromatin architecture in controlling the activity of genes, especially those required for proper embryonic development. This discovery, recently published in the scientific journal PLOS Genetics, could have a significant impact on the diagnosis of genetic diseases.Each cell in the body contains a person's genetic information in the form of DNA molecules, wrapped around structures called nucleosomes.

New method to detect key indicator of heart diseases

Date: Jan-20-2014
New dye is more effective in detecting, measuring unique lipid in cell membranesA team that includes Dartmouth College researchers has discovered a new way to detect cardiolipin, a key indicator of heart diseases and some genetic disorders.The results, which appear in the journal Analytical Chemistry, may eventually help to diagnose these conditions earlier on and to provide real-time monitoring of cardiolipin levels.Cardiolipin is a unique lipid of mitochondria, the cell structures that generate energy.

Prostate cancer risk may be reduced by melatonin

Date: Jan-20-2014
Higher levels of melatonin, a hormone involved in the sleep-wake cycle, may suggest decreased risk for developing advanced prostate cancer, according to results presented at the AACR-Prostate Cancer Foundation Conference on Advances in Prostate Cancer Research, held Jan. 18-21.Melatonin is a hormone that is produced exclusively at night in the dark and is an important output of the circadian rhythm, or the body's inherent 24-hour clock. Many biological processes are regulated by the circadian rhythm, including the sleep-wake cycle.

Possible explanation for link between exercise & improved prostate cancer outcomes

Date: Jan-20-2014
Men who walked at a fast pace prior to a prostate cancer diagnosis had more regularly shaped blood vessels in their prostate tumors compared with men who walked slowly, providing a potential explanation for why exercise is linked to improved outcomes for men with prostate cancer, according to results presented at the AACR-Prostate Cancer Foundation Conference on Advances in Prostate Cancer Research, held Jan. 18-21.

Gaucher patients offered new hope

Date: Jan-20-2014
What causes brain damage and inflammation in severe cases of Gaucher disease? Little is known about the events that lead to brain pathology in some forms of the disease, and there is currently no treatment available - a bleak outlook for sufferers and their families. Now, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered a new cellular pathway implicated in Gaucher disease. Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, may offer a new therapeutic target for the management of this disease, as well as other related disorders.

Dietary fibre and how we metabolise it

Date: Jan-20-2014
We are all aware of the health benefits of "dietary fibre". But what is dietary fibre and how do we metabolise it?Research at the University of York's Structural Biology Laboratory, in collaboration with groups in Canada, the USA and Sweden, has begun to uncover how our gut bacteria metabolise the complex dietary carbohydrates found in fruits and vegetables.Trillions of bacteria live in human intestines - there are about ten times more bacterial cells in the average person's body than human ones.

How heart arrhythmia occurs

Date: Jan-20-2014
Researchers have discovered the fundamental biology of calcium waves in relation to heart arrhythmias.The findings published this month in Nature Medicine outlines the discovery of this fundamental physiological process that researchers hope will one day help design molecularly tailored medications that correct the pathophysiology.Heart arrhythmias cause the heart to beat irregularly, resulting in symptoms such as dizziness and fainting, or in severe cases, sudden arrhythmic death.

Decoded: DNA of blood-sucking worm that infects world's poor

Date: Jan-20-2014
Going barefoot in parts of Africa, Asia and South America contributes to hookworm infections, which afflict an estimated 700 million of the world's poor. The parasitic worm lives in the soil and enters the body through the feet. By feeding on victims' blood, the worms cause anemia and, in children, stunted growth and learning problems.Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St.

Neurons can use 2 different strategies when responding to sound

Date: Jan-20-2014
When listening to someone speak, we also rely on lip-reading and gestures to help us understand what the person is saying.To link these sights and sounds, the brain has to know where each stimulus is located so it can coordinate processing of related visual and auditory aspects of the scene. That's how we can single out a conversation when it's one of many going on in a room.

By exporting mitochondria, stem cells overcome damage in other cells

Date: Jan-20-2014
A research team has identified a protein that increases the transfer of mitochondria from mesenchymal stem cells to lung cells. In work published in The EMBO Journal, the researchers reveal that the delivery of mitochondria to human lung cells can rejuvenate damaged cells. The migration of mitochondria from stem cells to epithelial cells also helps to repair tissue damage and inflammation linked to asthma-like symptoms in mice.