Tuberculosis :: NHS given extra support in the fight against TB
The Department of Health today announced extra help for the NHS in tackling the spread of TB. From today, NHS commissioners will be able to access on-line the Department’s ‘TB Toolkit’.
Laboratory
Psychology :: The perks and pitfalls of pride
Pride has perplexed philosophers and theologians for centuries, and it is an especially paradoxical emotion in American culture. We applaud rugged individualism, self-reliance and personal excellence, but too much pride can easily tip the balance toward vanity, haughtiness and self-love.
DNA :: Exploring the dark matter of the genome
“Junk DNA” is what biologists used to call heterochromatin, the highly repetitive, gene-poor DNA concentrated near the centromeres and telomeres of chromosomes. With the publication of version 5.1 of the genome of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, led by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and their colleagues, the term “junk” will be heard less often. Heterochromatin, it appears, is crucial to genome maintenance and cell biology.
Cancer :: CSHL scientists successfully target tumor microenvironment to stop cancer growth
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) researchers led by Daniel Nolan and Assistant Professor Vivek Mittal have found that bone marrow (BM) derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play a critical role in the early stages of tumor progression and that eliminating EPCs stops cancer growth.
Vitamin A :: A potential role for retinoic acid in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases
An important finding, which could eventually lead to a new therapeutic approach for treating autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, psoriasis and others, was announced today by researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology. The studies, conducted in laboratory mice, demonstrated the role of retinoic acid, a substance derived when vitamin A is broken down in the body, in regulating inflammation.
Alzheimer’s Disease :: A possible mechanistic link between stress and the development of Alzheimer tangles
Subjecting mice to repeated emotional stress, the kind we experience in everyday life, may contribute to the accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Stem Cell :: University of Pittsburgh researchers culture blood-forming stem cells from human fat tissue
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have successfully isolated and cultured human hematopoietic stem cells from fat, or adipose, tissue, suggesting that they have found another important source of cells for reconstituting the bone marrow of patients undergoing intensive radiation therapy for blood cancers.
HIV :: Mucosal-surface immune function discoveries could boost vaccine research
In a finding that could have important implications for HIV vaccine research, new research at Weill Cornell Medical College illuminates the ways in which the body prevents its mucosal surfaces from being overwhelmed by bacteria.
Multiple Sclerosis :: Stanford researchers clarify protein’s role in multiple sclerosis
A protein found primarily in the lens of the eye could be the critical “tipping point” in the spiral of inflammation and damage that occurs in multiple sclerosis, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine report.
Genome :: New findings challenge established views about human genome
The ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE), an international research consortium organised by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today published the results of its exhaustive, four-year effort to build a “parts list” of all biologically functional elements in 1 percent of the human genome in the journal Nature.