Health :: Floating and spiky
A team of researchers has used computer simulations to explain how cells adhere so firmly to blood vessel walls.
Health
Brain Cancer :: Researchers study effects of Aricept in pediatric brain cancer survivors
A pediatric oncologist at Brenner Children’s Hospital is evaluating whether a drug typically used to treat Alzheimer’s patients will help brain cancer survivors avoid the learning and memory problems that are common after radiation therapy.
DNA :: Penn researcher shows that DNA gets kinky easily at the nanoscale
Physicists from the University of Pennsylvania tackle the fundamental question of how DNA can seemingly violate physics. That is, if DNA is such a rigid molecule, how can it bend and coil without requiring large amounts of force? They used a technique called atomic force microscopy to determine that DNA is much more flexible than previously believed when examined over nano-sized lengths
Health :: Growth factor stimulates rapid extension of key motor neurons in brain
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).
Skin Cancer :: Signal protein shows promise for blocking tumor promoters in skin cells
A protein with the ironic name “Srcasm” can counteract the effects of tumor-promoting molecules in skin cells, according to new research by investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Using animal models, the researchers discovered that Srcasm acts like a brake in epithelial cells, preventing uncontrolled cell growth caused by a family of proteins called Src kinases. This finding, published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, suggests a target for future gene therapy to treat skin, head, neck, colon, and breast cancers.
HIV :: Early-stage immune system control of HIV may depend on inherited factors
How well an individual’s immune system controls HIV during the earliest phases of infection appears to depend on both the specific versions of key immune-system molecules called HLA Class I that have been inherited, as well as on the fragments of viral protein those molecules display to the T lymphocytes that usually destroy infected cells. In a report in the November issue of PLOS Medicine, researchers from the Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (PARC/MGH) report that specific HLA Class I/HIV viral fragment combinations are associated with a more powerful antiviral response, findings that may help develop vaccines against HIV.
Health :: Park your car and walk to store, school, work
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.
Health :: Space sunshade might be feasible in global warming emergency
Developing renewable energy is the only permanent solution to global warming, University of Arizona astronomer Roger Angel concludes. But should Earth be faced with an abrupt climate crisis, a space sunshade is a technically feasible solution.
Alzheimer’s Disease :: Alzheimer’s disease diagnosed 100 years ago today – Nov. 3rd
One hundred years after the first diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease Nov. 3, 1906, researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, are focusing on neuroscience, immunology and vaccine research to better understand how AD develops and progresses as well as to advance the treatment and prevention of this progressive brain disorder. AD, which currently affects 20 million Americans, gradually destroys memory and the ability to learn, reason, make judgments and communicate.
Education :: Giving hope back to disabled veterans
Kent State University, in partnership with the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center, has created a program that offers veterans the opportunity to take control of their future by obtaining entirely online degrees suited to their educational, physical and mental needs.