Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School have discovered a previously unknown cause for a severe, early-onset form of kidney disease and renal failure in children: recessive mutations in a gene called phospholipase C epsilon or PLCE1.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) have been following a multi-state investigation by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) into recent illnesses caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhimurium believed to be associated with fresh produce.
In the wake of evidence that indicates sterol esters and plant stanol esters may reduce a person?s risk of coronary heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol levels, researchers at the University of California ? Davis say consuming ?phytosterol-enriched? cocoa-flavored snack bars as part of a balanced diet can help manage cholesterol.
This week’s New England Journal of Medicine reported that annual chest computed tomography (CT) scans on those at risk for lung cancer can detect it earlier, at a more treatable stage. In the study, more than 31,000 people in the United States and overseas underwent spiral CT scans of their chests at the beginning and again in seven to 18 months unless something was detected on the first scan.
The stickiness of human neurons may have been a key factor in why the human brain evolved beyond the brains of our primate relatives. In a study comparing the genomes of humans, chimpanzees, mice and other vertebrates, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Joint Genome Institute (JGI) found a strikingly high degree of genetic differences in DNA sequences that appear to regulate genes involved in nerve cell adhesion molecules. Cell adhesion controls many aspects of brain development including growth and structure, and enables neurons to connect with other neurons and supportive proteins. Differences in the molecular connections of human neurons compared to the neurons of chimps, mice and other animals, could help explain why the human brain is capable of far more complex cognitive functions.
This is an update of previously posted information on a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium caused by a unique molecular strain of this bacterium. This infection has no relationship to typhoid fever, which is caused by another bacterium. Persons infected with Salmonella Typhimurium typically have fever and diarrhea that resolve after about one week.
A growth factor known to be important for the survival of many types of cells stimulates rapid extension of corticospinal motor neurons — critical brain cells that connect the cerebral cortex with the spinal cord and that die in motor neuron diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease).
New Saint Louis University research that outlines the top 10 factors that encourage people to be physically active is a blueprint to design healthier communities.
New evidence to explain how a common tropical fish mends a broken heart may suggest methods for coaxing the damaged hearts of mammals to better heal, researchers report. The researchers found that the hearts of zebrafish harbor progenitor cells that spring into action to restore wounded heart muscle. Cells from a membrane layer that surrounds the heart, called the epicardium, follow suit, invading the wounded cardiac tissue and stimulating the growth of new blood vessels.
A groundbreaking study, which provides the first ever comprehensive analysis of sexual behaviour around the world, is published today in the Lancet, as part of a major series on sexual and reproductive health.