University of Manchester researchers have identified a genetic variant in a region on chromosome 6 that is associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the most common inflammatory arthritis affecting 387,000 people in the UK.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have evidence to explain why the supposedly natural act of aging is by itself a very potent risk factor for life-threatening heart failure.
Two common dietary molecules found in legumes and bran could protect DNA from the harmful effects of radiation, researchers from the University of Maryland report. Inositol and inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) protected both human skin cells and a skin cancer-prone mouse from exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation, the damaging radiation found in sunlight, the team reported today at the American Association for Cancer Research Centennial Conference on Translational Cancer Medicine.
Curcumin, the yellowish component of turmeric that gives curry its flavor, has long been noted for its potential anti-cancer properties. Researchers from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, report on an apparent improvement upon nature: two molecular analogues of curcumin that demonstrate even greater tumor suppressive properties.
An international team of scientists, supported in part by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced that its systematic effort to map the genomic changes underlying lung cancer has uncovered a critical gene alteration not previously linked to any form of cancer. The research, published in the advance online issue of the journal Nature, also revealed more than 50 genomic regions that are frequently gained or lost in lung adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer in the United States.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded an interdisciplinary team of five Stevens Institute of Technology researchers a four-year, $1 million grant to develop “smart, self-assembling nano-biomaterials that can control whether bacteria will adhere to synthetic surfaces, allowing for carefully targeted control over microscopic processes that occur within the human body.
SMA is the second most prevalent genetic cause of infant death in the UK, after cystic fibrosis. Studies show that between 1:50 and 1:34 of the population are carriers of the disease, and that it affects in the region of 1:10,000 children born in the UK. In the USA, 1:40 are carriers and 1:6,000 children are affected by the disease.
When a host cell is infected with HIV, the virus brings its own genetic material into the host cell. This cell then replicates, reads the viral RNA, and uses it as a blueprint to produce more viral proteins. Complete viruses are then released to attack the next cells.
Platinum complexes such as the well-known cisplatin are powerful antitumor medications. They cross the cell membrane and reach the nucleus, where they attach to DNA and stop cell growth. But how does cisplatin get to the nucleus? Italian researchers have now proven that a copper transport protein may play a critical role. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, they present their hypothesis about the transport mechanism.
The role of endosonography (ES) in digestive diseases is expanding gradually from diagnostic applications to therapeutic ones. The feasibility of ES-guided cholangiopancreatography was first reported by Harada et al. (pancreatography) and Wiersema et al. (cholangiography) in 1995 and 1996, respectively. Several reports on the application of ESBD for a therapeutic purpose have been published since 2001. However, there have been no reports as to the influence of this technique on the gut wall, the bile duct, and the intervening tissues.