Defects on cell-surface sugars may promote the short-term inflammation and long-term neurodegeneration that occurs in the central nervous system of multiple sclerosis patients, according to University of California, Irvine researchers.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have demonstrated the potential of a new strategy for genetic modification of large animals. The method employs a harmless gene therapy virus that transfers a genetic modification to male reproductive cells, which is then passed naturally on to offspring.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins recently discovered that a chemical chain reaction that controls organ size in animals ranging from insects to humans could mean the difference between normal growth and cancer.
It may seem that therapy and law do not share a common bond, but one University of Arizona law professor is making that connection by developing a body of knowledge to prove that legal proceedings can be calming and supportive.
Immune cells from “cancer-resistant” people are to be injected into those with cancer to help fight the disease. Zheng Cui at Wake Forest University of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and his colleagues have received permission from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to screen people for their ability to ward off cancer.
Despite the huge publicity generated by a 2002 study on the potential dangers of hormone therapy for postmenopausal women, new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine found that only 29 percent of women surveyed knew about the study two years later.
Patients who received hemodialysis at night six times a week for treatment of end-stage kidney disease had improvements on certain outcomes, including reduced need for blood pressure medications and improvement in selected quality of life measures, compared to patients who received conventional hemodialysis three times weekly, according to an article in the September 19 issue of JAMA.
Uncontrolled patients with type 2 diabetes treated with metformin, one of the most prescribed oral medicines for this disease, were four times more likely to achieve recommended blood sugar control levels by adding Galvus® (vildagliptin) to their treatment compared to those who added a placebo, according to new clinical data[1].
Scientists have discovered how the gene mutation responsible for fragile X syndrome — the most common inherited form of mental retardation — alters the way brain cells communicate. In neurons cultured from laboratory rats, the scientists also were able to reverse the effects of the mutation using a drug targeted to the specific site in an upstream pathway of the defect. The finding could lead to the development of human therapies for this previously untreatable condition.
RNA interference, a natural mechanism that inhibits the gene expression of individual genes in eukaryotic cells, is a major topic in modern biology. However, their potential was usable to only a limited extent in mammals because the mechanism for the uptake of small RNAs was unknown up to now. ETH Zurich biologists have now clarified this, which also opens the door for therapies based on this mechanism.