Medicine

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Based on research that reveals new insight into mechanisms that allow invasive tumor cells to move, researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have a new understanding about how to stop cancer from spreading. A cancer that spreads elsewhere in the body, known as metastasis, is the process that most often leads to death from the disease. In the March 29 online issue of Nature Cell Biology, researchers say that a molecule known as protein kinase D1 (PKD1) is key to the ability of a tumor cell to "remodel" its structure, enabling it to migrate and invade. The…

The study's findings appear to echo the insect worlds portrayed in the animated films Antz and Bee Movie, in which the characters live in rigidly conformist societies. Scientists from the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford reached their conclusion by creating a mathematical model to study the manner in which cooperative groups of animals, known as superorganisms, evolve. The study identifies that there are two scenarios in which a group can act as a unit. The first is when all the members are very closely related, and carry the same genes, so ensuring their genes are passed on to the next…

Waltham, MA—In a new study this week in Nature, researchers at Brandeis University and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Cambridge, U.K.) for the first time shed light on a crucial step in the complex process by which human genetic information is transmitted to action in the human cell and frequently at which point genetic disease develops in humans. The scientists report that they were able to crystallize a very large complex of a macromolecular "machine" in the human cell and determine its structure or what it actually looks like, thereby zeroing in on the process of genetic…

When tiny semipalmated sandpipers embark on their annual odyssey from the Canadian Arctic to their winter residences in South America, they set out on one of the world's longest migrations. On the way, the tiny birds stop off at the Bay of Fundy on the Canadian east coast, where they spend two weeks gorging on a superfood, Corophium volutator (mud shrimps), which have some of the highest levels of n-3 fatty acids (better known as omega-3 fatty acids) of any marine animal. According to Jean-Michel Weber from the University of Ottawa, omega-3 fatty acids have some rather astonishing effects.…

Genes taken from fireflies and jellyfish are literally shedding light on possible causes of infertility and autoimmune diseases in humans. Scientists are using the luminescent and florescent genes to illuminate cells that produce a hormone linked to conditions, which include rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The technique will help scientists track the production of the hormone prolactin, which is crucial in ensuring supplies of breast milk in nursing mothers but can be overproduced by some pituitary tumours, causing infertility. Prolactin has been linked to more than 300 biological functions…

Blacksburg, Va. – Researchers have unveiled the evolutionary origin of the different chromosomal architectures found in three species of Agrobacterium. A comprehensive comparison of the Agrobacterium sequence information with the genome sequences of other bacteria suggests a general model for how second chromosomes are formed in bacteria.* Agrobacteria are members of the Rhizobiaceae family, which also includes the benign, nitrogen-fixing organisms Rhizobium and Sinorhizobium. Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 is the workhorse of the plant biotechnology science and industry, thanks to its ability…

Grand Rapids, Mich. (March 25, 2009) – Researchers at Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) have determined that the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) does not require transcriptional coactivators for viral gene expression early in the infection process. The finding is significant in determining that, in contradiction to earlier models, chemical inhibitors of these cellular proteins are not likely to serve as useful antiviral drugs. Researchers sought to determine how herpes simplex virus "turns on" its viral genes during the first stages of infection. Specifically, they tested whether the…

Researchers at the Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana have discovered that the HIV-1 protease inhibitors (PIs), such as nelfinavir included in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 patients, induce deleterious effects on insulin secretion mediated through the oxidative stress pathway. They report a significant decrease in the levels of the antioxidants, cytosolic superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) and glutathione, whereas mitochondrial SOD levels remained unaffected in pancreatic beta-cells (INS-1 cells) exposed to nelfinavir.…

Stanford, CA— Photosynthesis produces the food that we eat and the oxygen that we breathe ― could it also help satisfy our future energy needs by producing clean-burning hydrogen? Researchers studying a hydrogen-producing, single-celled green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, have unmasked a previously unknown fermentation pathway that may open up possibilities for increasing hydrogen production. C. reinhartii, a common inhabitant of soils, naturally produces small quantities of hydrogen when deprived of oxygen. Like yeast and other microbes, under anaerobic conditions this alga generates its…

Tobacco isn't famous for its health benefits. But now scientists have succeeded in using genetically modified tobacco plants to produce medicines for several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including diabetes. The research is published in the open access journal BMC Biotechnology. A large team of scientists from several European research organizations have participated in the study as part of the Pharma-Planta project (http://www.pharma-planta.org/). Led by Professor Mario Pezzotti at the University of Verona, they set out to create transgenic tobacco plants that would produce…