Medicine
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin, USA, report in the journal Development (dev.biologists.org) the successful generation from human embryonic stem cells of a type of cell that can make myelin, a finding that opens up new possibilities for both basic and clinical research.
The cells the researchers made are called oligodendrocytes, which are responsible for making myelin in the central nervous system. Myelin forms an insulating sheath that surrounds nerve fibres, both protecting them and speeding up the transmission of nerve impulses. Its loss or damage has serious consequences, as…
PITTSBURGH, April 9 – Stem cells collected from human corneas restore transparency and don't trigger a rejection response when injected into eyes that are scarred and hazy, according to experiments conducted in mice by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Their study will be published in the journal Stem Cells and appears online today.
The findings suggest that cell-based therapies might be an effective way to treat human corneal blindness and vision impairment due to the scarring that occurs after infection, trauma and other common eye problems, said senior…
Deficiency in vitamin D has been widely regarded as contributing to autoimmune disease, but a review appearing in Autoimmunity Reviews explains that low levels of vitamin D in patients with autoimmune disease may be a result rather than a cause of disease and that supplementing with vitamin D may actually exacerbate autoimmune disease.
Authored by a team of researchers at the California-based non-profit Autoimmunity Research Foundation, the paper goes on to point out that molecular biologists have long known that the form of vitamin D derived from food and supplements, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25…
Researchers have identified a gene that controls the rapid production and differentiation of the stem cells that produce all blood cell types -- a discovery that could eventually open the door to more streamlined treatments for leukemia and other blood cancers, in which blood cells proliferate out of control.
Additionally, in investigating the mechanisms of this gene, the scientists uncovered evidence that could lead to a protocol for bone marrow transplants that could boost the chance of a cure in some patients.
The research, led by Emmanuelle Passegué, PhD, of the University of…
LA JOLLA, Calif., April 8, 2009 -- Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have deciphered a large percentage of the total protein complement (proteome) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. pombe) fission yeast.
Laurence Brill, Khatereh Motamedchaboki, Ph.D. and lead investigator Dieter Wolf, Ph.D., developed the novel method, used to identify 4,600 proteins in the organism, using an array of sophisticated techniques. The research was published online on March 9 in the journal Methods.
"Analysis of the proteome of an organism tells us so much more than simple DNA…
[PRESS RELEASE, 8 April 2009] Many diseases derive from problems with cellular respiration, the process through which cells extract energy from nutrients. Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now discovered a new function for a protein in the mitochondrion – popularly called the cell's power station – that plays a key part in cell respiration.
Every time we take a breath, our blood transports oxygen to the mitochondria, where it is used to convert the nutrients in our food to a form of energy that the body can use. Problems with this process, which is…
If cancer cells lack a certain protein, it could be much easier for them to penetrate healthy body tissue, the first step towards forming metastases. Scientists at the Pharmacology Institute of the University of Heidelberg have discovered the previously unknown cell signal factor SCAI (suppressor of cancer cell invasion), which inhibits the movement and spread of tumor cells in laboratory tests. When the factor's functioning was disrupted, the cancer cells moved much more effectively in what are known as three-dimensional matrix systems, which imitate some of the tissue properties of the…
Reporting in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE April 8, Vincenzo Penteriani and Maria Delgado of the Estacion Biologica de Doñana, Spain, describe the evolution of white throat badges in association with dawn and dusk vocal signals in certain species of nocturnal bird, which maximise the potential for these species to communicate during hours when light is low.
Previous research has suggested that visual communication is important only for diurnal species of bird, the variety and colour of birds' feathers being one of the best examples of the evolution of visual signalling. However, at…
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered the mechanisms behind two key checkpoints in cell growth and development — factors that may ultimately allow investigators to benchmark progression of tumor cells or stop them from further development. The findings appear in the current online issue of Developmental Cell.
The team led by Edward Leof, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic biochemist, demonstrated that p21-activated kinase 2 (PAK2), a key target for cancer growth and fibrotic tissue development, is activated in one type of tissue but not another. PAK2 is a downstream component of…
As the U.S. Southwest grew warmer between 18,700 and 10,000 years ago, juniper trees vanished from what is now the Mojave Desert, robbing woodrats of their favorite food.
Now biologists have narrowed the hunt for detoxification genes that let the rodents eat the toxic creosote bushes that replaced junipers.
"It was either eat it or move out," says biologist Denise Dearing of the University of Utah, lead author of a paper detailing the results, published on-line on April 7, 2009, in the journal Molecular Ecology.
"This is an excellent example of research that bridges the fields of ecology and…