Revolutionary ultrasonic nanotechnology that could allow scientists to see inside a patient’s individual cells to help diagnose serious illnesses is being developed by researchers at The University of Nottingham. The new technique would utilise ultrasound technology - more commonly used to look at whole bodies such as fetal scanners - to look inside cells. The components of the new technology would be many thousand times smaller than current systems.
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Could the salamander’s natural ability to grow back severed appendages lead to a scientific breakthrough for humans who have lost limbs? With the help of a $6.25 million U.S. Department of Defense grant, Tulane University professor Ken Muneoka, the John L.
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Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine, working with biochemists, geneticists and clinicians at the University of Bern, Switzerland and in the United Kingdom, have discovered an enzyme that has a key role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The team, co-led by Judith Bond, Ph.D.
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Mice lacking the fat hormone leptin or the ability to respond to it become morbidly obese and severely diabetic - not to mention downright sluggish. Now, a new study in the June Cell Metabolism shows that blood sugar control in those animals can be completely restored by returning leptin sensitivity to a single class of neurons in the brain, which account for only a small fraction of those that normally carry the hormone receptors.
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By inserting a molecular shunt into the livers of mice, researchers have shown they can make the animals burn more fat. That so-called glycoxylate shunt consists of two metabolic enzymes normally found in bacteria and plants, but not in mammals, according to the report in the June issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication. “It’s an additional channel for burning fat to control obesity,” said James Liao of the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Brain cells, or neurons, transmit electrical signals efficiently only when they recycle tiny cellular sacs that store signaling chemicals called neurotransmitters. When a neuron is stimulated, the sacs are expelled into the synapse - the tiny junction between nerve cells - where they release the chemicals, which neighboring cells in turn soak up.
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PharmaPendium, Elsevier’s online resource for authoritative preclinical, clinical and post-marketing drug information, has significantly expanded its coverage of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval documents with the launch of the FDA Classic Collection. This collection contains all available historical FDA approval documents up to and including those issued in 1991 - all indexed and made searchable for the first time in history.
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A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University researchers reports that amniotic fluid surrounding Down syndrome fetuses shows oxidative stress, a condition that could harm fetal cells and play a role in affected individuals. The results demonstrate secondary adverse consequences of Down syndrome and suggest potential prenatal therapies. Diana Bianchi, M.D.
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CuraGen Corporation (Nasdaq: CRGN) reported three data presentations from its ongoing clinical trials of CR011-vcMMAE, an antibody-drug conjugate that targets GPNMB, in patients with advanced breast cancer and melanoma at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, Florida.
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Prometheus Laboratories Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostic company, announced new findings regarding a correlation between an important serologic marker used in the detection of Crohn’s disease and particular genetic markers in patients at risk for celiac disease. In an oral presentation yesterday at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in Chicago, Prometheus reported a statistically significant correlation between antibodies to the flagellin CBir1 and HLA haplotypes DQ2.
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