Clinical Research
Mayo Clinic researchers, along with collaborators from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and University of Oslo, Norway, have discovered that a miscue of the body’s genetic repair system may cause Huntington’s disease, a fatal condition that affects 30,000 Americans annually by destroying their nervous system. Until now, no one knew how Huntington’s begins, only that it is incurable. The findings appear in the online issue of the journal Nature.
"We showed that when single-strand breaks in DNA caused by oxidative lesions were repaired, the Huntington’s gene continued to add extra…
Researchers from the University of Washington, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Merck Laboratories, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have released a study suggesting that specific laboratory and clinical tests can predict outcome of antibiotic therapy for infections in persons with diabetes.
"This study is unique in a couple of ways," said Dr. David G. Armstrong, Professor of Surgery at Scholl’s Center for Lower Extremity Ambulatory Research (CLEAR) at Rosalind Franklin University. "It comes from the largest-ever clinical trial of antibiotics for this type of…
NCurse |
This presentation is the result of 4 months of work. I know it’s never going to be perfect, but consider it as a first step on the way towards medicine 2.0. On Tuesday, I presented this work to the professors at the Department of Human Genetics of Debrecen. And I thought I should make it public in English. I can’t be grateful enough to Ves Dimov and Bob Coffield, their presentations helped me a lot.
Results of two studies funded by Project A.L.S. and appearing in today's advance online publication of Nature Neuroscience demonstrate that embryonic stem cells may provide a new tool for studying disease mechanisms and for identifying drugs to slow ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Both studies were completed by researchers participating in an ongoing collaboration with the Project A.L.S./Jenifer Estess Laboratory for Stem Cell Research, the world's first and only privately funded laboratory focused exclusively on stem cells and ALS.
The complementary studies, led by Kevin Eggan, of…
Just a few months after their landmark article in Science magazine reporting the discovery of strong links between variations in a gene that codes for a cellular receptor involved in controlling inflammation and Crohn's disease, a consortium of U.S. and Canadian researchers is reporting in today's online issue of Nature Genetics that they have discovered several more genetic variations that are strongly linked to an increased risk for the disease. The discovery of these Crohn's disease-associated genetic variants has identified several key biological pathways that will be the focus of…
Human bone marrow has been used to create early-stage sperm cells for the first time, a scientific step forward that will help researchers understand more about how sperm cells are created.
The research published in the academic journal Reproduction: Gamete Biology, was carried out in Germany* by a team of scientists led by Professor Karim Nayernia, formerly of the University of Göttingen but now of the North-east England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI), based at the Centre for Life in Newcastle upon Tyne.
How Prof Nayernia and his team cultured from human bone marrow. Credit: Newcastle…
The two most prevalent forms of genetic mental retardation, Fragile X and Down syndromes, may share a common cause, according to researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine. The problem, a crippled communication network in the brain, may also be associated with autism.
Although the genetics of the disorders are very different, the end result for the brain seems to be the same, said Daniel Madison, PhD, associate professor of molecular and cellular physiology. "It's as if you had every light in your house wired to just one or two switches, rather than having many switches that can…
Got milk? Weightlifters will want to raise a glass after a new study found that milk protein is significantly better than soy at building muscle mass.
The study, conducted by a team of researchers at McMaster University’s Department of Kinesiology, was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It compared how much muscle protein young men gained after completing a heavy weight workout followed by consumption of equivalent amounts of protein as either fluid skim milk or a soy drink.
"Our thinking going into the study was that milk would be better than soy. We…
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have decoded the genome of a bacteria normally present in the healthy human mouth that can cause a deadly heart infection if it enters the bloodstream.
The finding enables scientists to better understand the organism, Streptococcus sanguinis, and develop new strategies for treatment and infection prevention.
Transmission electron micrograph of S. sanguinis. Credit: Image courtesy of Lauren Turner/VCU.
S. sanguinis, a type of bacteria that is naturally present in the mouth, is among a variety of microorganisms responsible for the formation of…
Geneticists have discovered a new gene that may put individuals at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
The identification of the gene, called kalirin, implicates a biological mechanism never before linked to cardiovascular disease, according to the Duke researchers who led the study. Further study of this new clue could lead to novel ways to treat or even prevent the disease, the researchers said.
"The ultimate goal is to determine who will develop cardiovascular disease," said lead study investigator Liyong Wang, Ph.D., a research associate at the Duke Center for Human…