6/30/2010 PERMALINK
Virgin olive oil and a Mediterranean diet fight heart disease by changing how your genes function. Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition Research Group at the Institut Municipal d'Investigacio Medica in Barcelona, Spain : Everyone knows olive oil and a Mediterranean diet are associated with a lower risk for cardiovascular disease, but until now no one has known why. Now new research has found that consumption of these foods actually changes how the genes associated with atherosclerosis function. 'Knowing which genes can be modulated by diet in a healthy way can help people select healthy diets,' said Maria Isabel Covas, D.Pharm., Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work.

6/30/2010 PERMALINK
Compound found capable of restoring noise-induced hearing loss. University of Auckland, New Zealand : Researchers have discovered that a potent new drug restores hearing after noise-induced hearing loss in rats. The landmark discovery found that injection of an agent called ‘ADAC', activates adenosine receptors in cochlear tissues, resulting in recovery of hearing function. The finding paves the way for effective non-surgical therapies to restore hearing loss after noise-induced injury. The work was done by Dr. Srdjan Vlajkovic and his team.

6/30/2010 PERMALINK
Teenage physical activity reduces risk of cognitive impairment in later life. Teenage physical activity reduces risk of cognitive impairment in later life : The key finding of a new study of over nine thousand women is that physically active at any age of life lowers the risk of cognitive impairment in late-life. However, the effect is particular pronounced for those who engage in physical activity during their teenage years.

6/29/2010 PERMALINK
Embryonic cell and adult pig islet transplants can combine to cure diabetes in rats. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis : In a step toward curing diabetes in humans, scientists have alleviated the disease in rats using transplants from both embryonic and adult pigs. The rats adopted the pig transplants as their own and produced enough insulin to control their blood sugar – all without the need for anti-rejection drugs. Using a two-step approach, the researchers first transplanted a cluster of embryonic pig pancreatic cells into diabetic rats. These cells grow to become the pancreas, which houses the islet cells that produce insulin. The embryonic cells primed the rats' immune system to accept a second implant of islets from adult pigs several weeks later.

6/28/2010 PERMALINK
New research reveals for the first time the mechanism by which memories are formed. University of Leicester : 'We found one of the key proteins involved in the process of memory and learning,' said Andrew Tobin, Professor of Cell Biology. 'This protein is present in the part of the brain in which memories are stored. We have found that in order for any memory to be laid down this protein, called the M3-muscarinic receptor, has to be activated. We have also determined that this protein undergoes a very specific change during the formation of a memory - and that this change is an essential part of memory formation. In this regard our study reveals at least one of the molecular mechanisms that are operating in the brain when we form a memory and as such this represents a major break through in our understanding of how we lay down memories.'

6/28/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists are first to measure telomeres, the chromosome caps that prevent aging. University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry : Scientists are the first to directly measure a specific region of DNA in human embryos that could be a quality marker for embryonic development. Researchers at the have measured telomeres, regions of repetitive DNA at the ends of a chromosome which protect it from deterioration. Telomeres shorten each time a cell divides and when telomere length becomes critically short, the cells die."

6/28/2010 PERMALINK
Vitamin D is a key to maintaining mental agility as you age. Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston : Metabolic pathways for vitamin D have been found in the hippocampus and cerebellum areas of the brain involved in planning, processing, and forming new memories. This suggests that vitamin D may be implicated in cognitive processes. The study to confirm this involved more than 1,000 participants receiving home care. The researchers evaluated associations between measured vitamin D blood concentrations and neuropsychological tests. Elders requiring home care have a higher risk of not getting enough vitamin D because of limited sunlight exposure and other factors. The participants, ages 65 to 99 years, were grouped by their vitamin D status, which was categorized as deficient, insufficient, or sufficient. Only 35 percent had sufficient vitamin D blood levels. They had better cognitive performance on the tests than those in the deficient and insufficient categories, particularly on measures of "executive performance," such as cognitive flexibility, perceptual complexity, and reasoning. The associations persisted after taking into consideration other variables that could also affect cognitive performance.

6/28/2010 PERMALINK
For people with hypertension, eating dark chocolate can significantly reduce blood pressure. University of Adelaide : Researchers have combined the results of 15 studies into the effects of flavanols, the compounds in chocolate which cause dilation of blood vessels, on blood pressure. 'Flavanols have been shown to increase the formation of endothelial nitric oxide, which promotes vasodilation and consequently may lower blood pressure,' said Dr Karin Ried, leader of the team of researchers that conducted the analysis. 'There have, however, been conflicting results as to the real-life effects of eating chocolate. We've found that consumption can significantly, albeit modestly, reduce blood pressure for people with high blood pressure but not for people with normal blood pressure.'

6/25/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers have demonstrated the long term effectiveness of using stem cells to cure corneal blindness. University of Modena : From 1998 to 2006 the team, Graziella Pellegrini performed 125 stem cell procedures on 112 patients, all who had lost partial or complete vision due to chemical or thermal burns. Stem cells were taken from the limbus in the patient’s own eye, cultured, and then grafted back on the eye. The grafts had a success rate of 76.6% and the positive results have lasted. One patient has been followed for more than 10 years and still has healthy, restored vision.

6/25/2010 PERMALINK
Using carbon nanotubes in lithium batteries can boost battery capacity by a breakthrough 10 times. MIT : Researchers have discovered that by using carbon nanotubes for one of the battery's electrodes, they can increase the amount of power a battery can deliver from a given weight of material by up to ten times over a conventional lithium-ion battery. Such small but powerful batteries could revolutionize small personal devices, wearware and implants.

6/25/2010 PERMALINK
Ronin recruits protein 'allies' to sustain embryonic stem cell growth Baylor College of Medicine, University of Houston, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and MIT : Ronin, crucial to the self-renewal of embryonic stem cells, and a co-regulator called Hcf-1, binds to a small strand of DNA called a hyperconserved enhancer element to control a gene 'program' that stimulates growth of the stem cells and may even play a role in cancer, said a group of researchers. Dr. Thomas P. Zwaka, associate professor in the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine (STaR) Center at Baylor and others in his laboratory first identified Ronin and its role in maintaining stem cells in their undifferentiated state. Now he and his colleagues have identified the tiny strand of DNA that enables the protein with its co-regulator Hcf-1 to maintain the rapid growth that characterizes embryonic stems cells.

6/25/2010 PERMALINK
Resveratrol found in red wine may prevent some age-related blinding diseases. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis : Resveratrol, found in red wine, grapes, blueberries, peanuts and other plants, stops out-of-control blood vessel growth in the eye, according to vision researchers. The discovery has implications for preserving vision in blinding eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in Americans over 50. The formation of new blood vessels, called angiogenesis, also plays a key role in certain cancers and in atherosclerosis. Conducting experiments in mouse retinas, the researchers found that resveratrol can inhibit angiogenesis. Another surprise was the pathway through which resveratrol blocked angiogenesis.

6/24/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists grow new lungs for rats, raising hopes for engineering human transplants. University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston : For someone with a severe lung disorder, a lung transplant may be the only chance for survival. Unfortunately, matching donor lungs are rare, and many would-be recipients die waiting for transplants. Now, researchers have demonstrated a potentially revolutionary solution to this problem. By seeding mouse embryonic stem cells into rat lungs whose original cells have been destroyed. Empty lung-shaped scaffolds of structural proteins can be created on which mouse stem cells thrive and differentiate into new cells appropriate to their specific locations.

6/23/2010 PERMALINK
Data mining algorithm explains complex temporal interactions among genes Virginia Tech, New York University and the University of Milan : Biological processes such as cell division, metabolism, and development must be carefully synchronized for proper cell function. How such events are coordinated in time is a complex problem in the field of systems biology. While researchers can gather temporal data about the activity of thousands of genes simultaneously, interpreting these datasets in order to understand higher order phenomena such as cell division requires the development of new analysis tools. The mathematically rigorous data mining algorithm GOALIE (Gene Ontology based Algorithmic Logic and Invariant Extractor) reconstructs temporal models of cellular processes from gene expression data.

6/23/2010 PERMALINK
Neuroscientists say they can use brain scans to predict your future behavior better than you can. University of California - Los Angeles : Neuroscientist show in a new study that they can use brain scanning to predict whether you will use sunscreen in the next week better than you can predict whether you will do so. 'There is a very long history within psychology of people not being very good judges of what they will actually do in a future situation,' said the study's senior author, Matthew Lieberman, a professor of psychology and of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences. 'Many people decide to do things but then don't do them.' So brain scans can better predict if you really will do it than you can.

6/23/2010 PERMALINK
Human overspecialization risks extinction. NOVA Minute: Sam Bowring : Geologist Sam Bowring from MIT talks about why human overspecialization risks the extinction of our species.

6/23/2010 PERMALINK
End radio spectrum monopolies, 'cognitive radio' can give all of us as much radio bandwidth as we need. Stevens Institute of Technology : Cognitive Radio transceivers are able to jump back and forth to open frequencies intelligently, making the internet fully mobile. Millions of people could simultaneously access HD video or search the web or make voice calls over a cognitive radio system. The 'public' airwaves could truly be public, rather than being split up and parceled out as monopolies to individual corporations. Total available bandwidth explodes because cognitive radios can change parameters such as frequency across the entire spectrum, energy-usage levels, and protocols to adapt as necessary so the signal always gets through. There is no longer any need for licensed spectrum once radios are all smart bots. However, cognitive radio has the capability to work around obsolete political favor spectrum monopolies. CR RF awareness can include a database of licensed users of the slices of spectrum being analyzed, as well as their geographic coordinates. The technology can also detect spectrum users that aren't working via RF, such as TV broadcasters. "Location awareness is an important new dimension of cognitive radio," says Stevens Professor Yingying (Jennifer) Chen. As this can allow the radio's output wattage to scale to be just powerful enough to talk to a nearby device so as to generate minimal interference with others using that same frequency in a city.

6/23/2010 PERMALINK
Start up about to start testing stem cell transplants that cured rats of Macular Degeneration in humans. StemCells, Inc. : Rats genetically engineered to lose their ability to see can be cured by injections of human neural stem cells, according to new research by a startup. The company is already testing in humans the ability of stem cells to cure the fatal brain disorder Batten's disease.

6/23/2010 PERMALINK
Blind people think about manipulating tools in the same regions of the brain as do people who can see, according to a new study. University of Trento : The researchers say this adds to evidence that the brain has a fairly defined organization, while still being able to adapt to unusual conditions, such as not having any vision. 'I think the exciting implication is that the way that our brains process the world may be less dependent on our experience than previously thought,' says Bradford Z. Mahon. 'It doesn't mean experience is not important. Experience is critical for providing all of the content that we represent about the world. But how that content is organized in our brain seems to be highly constrained, and the interesting possibility is that those constraints are built in by genetics.'

6/23/2010 PERMALINK
What we can learn from how kids are educated on a shoe string in developing world slums. TED.com : Charles Leadbeater went looking for radical new forms of education. He found them in the slums of Rio and Kibera, where some of the world's poorest kids are finding transformative new ways to learn. And this informal, disruptive new kind of school, he says, is what all schools need to become.

6/22/2010 PERMALINK
The structure of your brain corresponds to your personality. University of Minnesota : Scientists have found that the size of different parts of people's brains correspond to their personalities. For example, conscientious people tend to have a bigger lateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in planning and controlling behavior.

6/22/2010 PERMALINK
Can a drug extend good health and postpone the effects of aging? David Stipp's new book The Youth Pill: Tells the story of the meteoritic rise of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals and other events in the history of antiaging research. When what had been considered a fringe field began evolving into a focused attempt to uncover the biochemistry of aging.

6/21/2010 PERMALINK
In a breakthrough, chemists create first synthetic antibodies made of plastic that can block bee venom. University of California, Irvine : Researchers have developed the first 'plastic antibodies' successfully employed in live organisms, stopping the spread of bee venom through the bloodstream of mice. Tiny polymeric particles – just 1/50,000th the width of a human hair, were designed to match and encase melittin, a peptide in bee venom that causes cells to rupture, releasing their contents. Large quantities of melittin can lead to organ failure and death. The polymer nanoparticles were prepared by 'molecular imprinting' a technique similar to plaster casting: UCI chemistry professor Kenneth Shea and project scientist Yu Hoshino linked melittin with small molecules called monomers, solidifying the two into a network of long polymer chains. After the plastic hardened, they removed the melittin, leaving nanoparticles with minuscule melittin-shaped holes.

6/21/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers develop gene therapy that can reverse type 1 diabetes in mice. Baylor College of Medicine in Houston : Using gene therapy, a team from of researchers tried to counter the two defects that cause Type 1 diabetes: autoimmune attack and destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells. They used nonobese diabetic mice, which spontaneously develop diabetes due to autoimmunity, just as humans do with Type 1 diabetes. 'A single treatment cured about 50 percent of the diabetic mice, restoring their blood sugar to normal so that they no longer need insulin injections,' said study co-author Lawrence Chan, MD, DSc, chief of Baylor's diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism division. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body's immune system attacks and destroys the beta cells in the pancreas, the insulin "factory" of the body. The resulting near-complete deficiency of insulin—the hormone that controls blood sugar—leads to a buildup of high blood sugar and thus diabetes.

6/18/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists are creating collections of reprogrammed stem cells to use for transplants and drug testing. Center for Regenerative Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla : One of the great benefits of cell reprogramming--converting adult cells into stem cells--is the ability to capture an individual's genetic diversity. Scientists are now using this technology, known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell reprogramming, to create banks of stem cells from different people. The banks will be used to test the toxicity of different drugs using cells from people of different ethnicities, and could potentially supply cells for tissue replacement therapies. Researchers presented details of their efforts at the International Society for Stem Cell Research conference in San Francisco this week.

6/17/2010 PERMALINK
Group of stem cell researchers to work to smoke out stem cell charlatans. The International Society for Stem Cell Research : Stem cell researchers group plans to evaluate the claims of clinics offering experimental stem cell treatments to route out those of dubious value. From spinal cord injury in China to heart disease in Thailand, desperate patients trolling the internet can find a number of clinics and companies offering purported stem cell therapies of dubious value and great expense. According to Irving Weissman, president of the non-profit International Society for Stem Cell Research, there are more than 200 purveyors of such treatments. 'This is not rare, it's common and it's our responsibility to fix it,' said Weissman, a physician and biologist at Stanford University, in his opening address at the society's annual meeting in San Francisco this week.

6/17/2010 PERMALINK
Stem cell recipient developed mysterious masses at injection sites. Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and the University of Toronto : Stem cell therapy holds great clinical potential for a variety of diseases. Therapy using stem cells from the blood has generally been viewed as safe, and researchers have planned clinical trials to expand this type of therapy to treat different conditions. However, a new report indicates that a previously undescribed complication may result. The case involves an adult patient with severe kidney disease, who was treated at a private clinic by direct injection of her own stem cells into her kidneys. After a few months, one kidney developed bleeding and required removal. Analysis of the kidney found that the patient had not benefitted from the treatment but, rather, had developed masses called angiomyeloproliferative lesions at the injection sites composed of a mixture of blood vessels and bone marrow cells. The remaining kidney eventually failed, and the patient ultimately died from an infection.

6/17/2010 PERMALINK
Unlocking genetic disease with next-generation sequencing. Duke University and Johns Hopkins : Using new, whole-genome sequencing technology coupled with classic methods of genetic investigation, scientists have discovered two mutations in the same gene that seem to cause metachondromatosis in humans. This is a rare, heritable disease that leads to bony growths, mostly on the hands and feet.

6/17/2010 PERMALINK
A single bacteria in your gut can trigger arthritis in genetically susceptible individuals. Harvard Medical School and New York University : A single species of bacteria that lives in your gut is able to trigger a cascade of your immune responses that can ultimately result in the development of arthritis. Your gut is filled with thousands of species of bacteria, many of which are helpful and aid in the development of a normal, healthy immune system. Gut-residing bacteria can also play a role in disorders of your immune system, especially autoimmune disorders in which your body attacks its own cells. It turns out that rheumatoid arthritis is one such disorder. Researchers in the laboratories of Christophe Benoist and Diane Mathis at Harvard and Dan Littman at NYU this discovery while working in mice prone to arthritis. 'In the absence of all bacteria, these mice didn't develop arthritis, but the introduction of a single bacterium was enough to jump-start the immune process that leads to development of the disease,' says Mathis.

6/17/2010 PERMALINK
Quantum dots can boost solar cell maximum efficiency from 31% to 66%. University of Texas at Austin : Conventional solar cell efficiency could be increased from the current limit of 30 percent to more than 60 percent, suggests new research on semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu. The scientists have discovered a method to capture the higher energy sunlight that is lost as heat in conventional solar cells. The maximum efficiency of the silicon solar cell in use today is about 31 percent. That's because much of the energy from sunlight hitting a solar cell is too high to be turned into usable electricity. That energy, in the form of so-called "hot electrons," is lost as heat. If the higher energy sunlight, or more specifically the hot electrons, could be captured, solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency could be increased theoretically to as high as 66 percent. Quantum dots can also create flexible cells, perfect for powering your wearware.

6/17/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers say that your dental pulp cells are ideal for stem cell banking. Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan : Defined sets of factors can reprogram human cells to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. However, many types of human cells are not easily accessible to minimally invasive procedures. In a new paper, researchers evaluate dental pulp cells as an optimal source of iPS cells, since they are easily obtained from extracted teeth and can be expanded under simple culture conditions.

6/17/2010 PERMALINK
A doc bot on your smartphone? Xprize : One of the exciting ideas being tossed around recently over at the Xprize Foundation is the creation of an Artificial Intelligence physician that you could access from your smartphone. Have a strange rash on your arm and chest? Take a photo of the rash with your phone and allow the AI physician to compute whether your rash matches smallpox or poison ivy from it’s image database. Want advice on whether your chest pain is heartburn or a heart attack? Ask the AI! The possibilities are enormous. (Expect the FDA gestapo to fight this major advance in your ability to protect your own health, since all forms of personalized medicine threaten their regulator power. They are already trying to block your direct access to low cost genetic testing information, forcing you into a doctor's visit to get tested. Expect a doc smart bot in your pocket to just be out of the question for regulators, irregardless of how much it can improve your control over your own health. - Editor)

6/17/2010 PERMALINK
Suffer from insomnia? Your grey matter is likely to be less dense in your orbitofrontal cortex. Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences : The brains of older adults with chronic sleep problems look different from those of adults who have enjoyed enough sleep. Yet the older adults function well despite their lack of sleep. They switch to a continuous form of mild stress, as a result of which they sometimes even perform better than contemporaries who enjoy a good night's sleep says Dutch researcher Ellemarije Altena. The research also discovered that the brains of insomnia patients not only function differently but also have a different appearance. The grey matter in certain regions of the brain has a reduced density. And the worse the insomnia, the lower the density in one of these regions, the orbitofrontal cortex.

6/17/2010 PERMALINK
Why do certain diseases go into remission during pregnancy? University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center and National Institutes for Health : During pregnancy, many women experience remission of autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and uveitis. Now, scientists have found the biological mechanism responsible for changes in the immune system that helps to explain the remission. The expression of an enzyme known as pyruvate kinase is reduced in immune cells in pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women. The study is significant because the newly discovered mechanism points to a pathway that could be targeted for treatment. "It may be possible to design drugs that mildly suppress pyruvate kinase activity as a means of replicating the immune status of normal pregnancy," says Howard R. Petty, Ph.D. In addition to pre-eclampsia, he believes that rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and uveitis may eventually yield to similarly designed drugs.

6/16/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers identify a protein that if blocked extends lifespan by 30%. Stanford University School of Medicine : Researchers have identified a new group of proteins involved in determining the lifespan of laboratory roundworms. Blocking the expression of one member of the group can extend the worm's life span by up to 30 percent. Because the proteins work in the worms' reproductive systems, the research represents yet another intriguing link between longevity and fertility. In particular, the researchers showed that the proteins are involved in epigenetics - a phenomenon in which chemical modifications to DNA and the proteins around it affect how it is packaged and expressed in a cell. Although an organism can't change the DNA sequence of the genes it has inherited, epigenetic changes allow it to silence or tweak their expression in response to environmental or other external cues. 'We've shown here that an epigenetic change can affect the life span of an organism,' said Anne Brunet, PhD, assistant professor of genetics and senior author of the study.

6/16/2010 PERMALINK
Startup to offer patients a genetic profile of their cancer. Foundation Medicine : Large-scale research projects have begun to give scientists knowledge about the entire collection of genetic mutations in different cancers, but so far very little of that knowledge is applied to patients. A startup is hoping to change that, bringing comprehensive analysis of cancer genomes to the clinic. The company, based in Cambridge, MA, has several leading cancer and genomics researchers from the Boston area behind it. It was formed in 2009 and raised its first $25 million in financing this April, led by Boston-based venture capital firm Third Rock Ventures. Many cancer researchers believe that therapies could be more effective if they target genetic aberrations in a patient's cancer. (With the FDA gestapo doing everything they can to disrupt the development of personalized genetic medicine, because it threatens their power base. Few entrepreneurs are willing to risk their time and money on genetic medicine startups in such a costly and negative regulatory environment. A unique genetic bullet for each person particular illness, obsoletes the FDA's entire regulatory system. By adding so many years and millions of dollars to the cost of developing any new medical technology. The FDA is already killing thousands of patients by delaying powerful new treatments for ever life they save by keeping a dangerous medical technology off the market. And by trying to extend their failed approach to personalized genetic medicine, they will preventing it from ever saving the millions of lives annually that it can save around the world. -- Editor)

6/15/2010 PERMALINK
An over-abundant of the α-synuclein protein appears to prompt a neurodegenerative cascade causing dementia. University of California, San Diego School of Medicine : In diverse neurodegenerative diseases ranging from Parkinson's to Alzheimer's, researchers have long noted accumulations of a little-understood neuronal protein called α-synuclein. Pathological and genetic evidence strongly suggested that excessive α-synuclein played a role in the evolution of these diseases, but it was unclear how too much α-synuclein culminated in synaptic damage and neurodegeneration. Now neuroscientists have found there is an early deleterious impact of even modest over-accumulations of α-synuclein. There research found a cascade of abnormal intracellular events that results in a phenomenon they call 'vacant synapses,' reduced transmissions among affected neurons, synaptic loss, and ultimately, dementia.

6/15/2010 PERMALINK
The adult brain, long considered to be fixed in its wiring, is in fact remarkably dynamic. Rockefeller University : Neuroscientists once thought that the brain's wiring was fixed early in life, during a critical period beyond which changes were impossible. Recent discoveries have challenged that view, and now, research by scientists at Rockefeller University suggests that circuits in the adult brain are continually modified by experience. The researchers, led by Charles D. Gilbert, Arthur and Janet Ross Professor and head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology, observed how neurons responsible for receiving input from a mouse's whiskers shift their relationships with one another after single whiskers are removed. The experiments explain how the circuitry of a region of the mouse brain called the somatosensory cortex, which processes input from the various systems in the body that respond to the sense of touch, can change.

6/15/2010 PERMALINK
Higher levels of vitamin B6, common amino acid associated with lower risk of lung cancer. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France : An analysis that included nearly 400,000 participants finds that those with higher blood levels of vitamin B6 and the essential amino acid methionine (found in most protein) had an associated lower risk of lung cancer, including participants who were current or former smokers. "Given their involvement in maintaining DNA integrity and gene ex pression, these nutrients have a potentially important role in inhibiting cancer devel opment, and offer the possibility of modi fying cancer risk through dietary changes," the authors write. They add that deficiencies in nutrient levels of B vitamins have been shown to be high in many western populations.

6/15/2010 PERMALINK
Do you have the suicide gene mutation? Mount Sinai Hospital and Columbia University : Three genes that have barely been studied to date have now provided fresh knowledge about patients with suicidal backgrounds. The finding of this study could help to develop future genetic tests to identify predisposition to suicide.

6/14/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists have long known that certain types of bacteria can boost your immune system, now researchers know how. Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine : Your body is teeming with bacteria with about 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells in and on your body. Bacteria live on skin, in the respiratory tract and throughout the digestive tract. The digestive tract alone is home to between 500 and 1,000 bacterial species. While some bacteria cause infections, most species are harmless or perform beneficial functions, such as aiding digestion. These beneficial bugs are called commensal bacteria. One of the most important functions of commensal bacteria is boosting the immune system. Studies by other researchers have found that mice raised in sterile, germ-free environments have poorly developed immune systems. But until now, scientists have not known the mechanism by which bacteria help the immune system. When senior author Katherine L. Knight, PhD. and colleagues studied the spores from rod-shaped bacteria called Bacillus, found in the digestive tract. (A spore consists of the DNA of a bacterium, encased in a shell. Bacteria form spores during times of stress, and re-emerge when conditions improve.) They found that when they exposed immune system cells called B lymphocytes to bacterial spores, the B cells began dividing and reproducing. The researchers further found that molecules on the surfaces of the spores bound to molecules on the surfaces of B cells. This binding is what activated the B cells to divide and multiply. B cells are one of the key components of the immune system. They produce antibodies that fight harmful viruses and bacteria.

6/14/2010 PERMALINK
Astrocytes found to be an important regulator of your brain's signaling between neurons. University of Gothenburg, Sweden : Astrocytes are the most common type of cell in the brain and play an important role in the function of neurons -- nerve cells. New research shows that they are also directly involved in the regulation of signaling between neurons. 'Our results contribute to the insight that astrocytes can affect how the brain processes and stores information,' says My Andersson, a researcher from the Department of Physiology at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology. This indicates that astrocytes might be more involved in cognitive impairment from neuron signalling disorders or other diseases like epilepsy, than was previously thought.

6/14/2010 PERMALINK
The making of the first artificial life. J. Craig Venter Institute : Last month, researchers announced that they had made the first synthetic cell by piecing together a genome made from bottled chemicals and transplanting it into a recipient cell. The landmark accomplishment represents a new level of control over the substance of life at the molecular level and one that could lead to ways to make cells that produce vaccines in large quantities and cleaner fuels. Now researchers are explaining more about exactly how they achieved this breakthrough.

6/14/2010 PERMALINK
Merely Human? That’s So Yesterday. The New York Times : This mornings top story is about humods technologies. The press often puts a negative spin on humods tech, but without enhancing our cognition and lifespan, we will be unable to move outward into the Cosmos quickly enough to avoid the premature extinction of our species.

6/13/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers develop functional, transplantable rat liver grafts. Center for Engineering in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital : A team of researchers has developed a technique that someday may allow growth of transplantable replacement livers. In their report the investigators describe using the structural tissue of rat livers as scaffolding for the growth of tissue regenerated from liver cells introduced through a novel reseeding process.

6/13/2010 PERMALINK
Bone Marrow Stem Cells reverses sickle cell disease. Johns Hopkins University : A revolutionary new procedure for stem cell transplant is reversing the effects of severe adult sickle cell disease. For years, adults suffering from sickle cell anemia have relied on consistent blood transfusions and drug treatments to combat the disorder. Bone marrow transplants can reverse sickle cell, but have so far been restricted to children in the early stages of the disease. That is, until now.

6/11/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers find a way to use a radical new type of gene therapy to prevent blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa. University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center : Research led by Muna Naash, Ph.D. with collaborators in Cleveland and Buffalo has discovered a way to deliver known gene therapies directly to the light-sensitive cells affected by retinitis pigmentosa. The discovery already is being used to develop new treatments for another disease – macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the United States. Utilizing nanoparticle technology, scientists created a microscopic capsule capable of carrying genetic therapies to their destination inside cells of the retina. The tiny delivery vehicle is being tested with a variety of gene therapies in animal models with the potential of treating several diseases from bladder cancer to diabetes. The capsules have proven very effective, carrying therapies to the designated location in the eye within 15 minutes of delivery and spreading the genetic repair message quickly to nearby cells. 'This is an incredible breakthrough in terms of being able to treat with gene therapy,' said Robert E. Leonard, M.D., an ophthalmologist at the Dean McGee Eye Institute. 'Outside of gene therapy, we are at a loss to be able to treat these patients, so this is incredibly important research. It's breathtaking, very exciting.'

6/11/2010 PERMALINK
Costa Rica shuts down stem cell clinic. ICM Clinic (aka Cell Medicine) : Costa Rica's Health Ministry has shut down the ICM Clinic (aka Cell Medicine), an enterprise that has treated more than 400 non-Costa Rican patients with stem cells since it opened in 2006. According to Reuters, the Health Ministry's Research Council chief, Dr. Ileana Herrera, made the decision based on the lack of scientific proof for the therapies used at the clinic. According to Cell Medicine, the institute 'pro-actively and independently' made the decision to close the clinic in response to the 'unpredictable and arbitrary regulatory landscape.' In any case, Cell Medicine is not out of business, and plans to move its patient load to its larger facilities in Panama City. I think this case is a perfect example of how government regulation can only shift, not stop, the spread of stem cell medical tourism.

6/10/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers develop a new type of human stem cell that is more easy to manipulate. Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute : Researchers have developed a new type of human pluripotent stem cell that can be manipulated more readily than currently available stem cells. These new cells could be used to create better cellular models of disease processes and eventually may permit repair of disease-associated gene mutations. 'It has been fairly easy to manipulate stem cells from mice, but this has not been the case for traditional human stem cells,' explains Niels Geijsen, PhD, of the MGH-CRM, who led the study. 'We had previously found that the growth factors in which mouse stem cells are derived define what those cells can do, and now we've applied those findings to human stem cells.'

6/10/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers discover mechanism that can limit scar formation. University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine : Researchers have discovered that an unexpected cellular response plays an important role in breaking down and inhibiting the formation of excess scar tissue in wound healing." "The accumulation of senescent cells in the wound has the biological effect of inhibiting the formation of excess scar tissue," said Lester Lau, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. Jun also discovered that a protein called CCN1 is responsible for turning on the senescent state in fibroblasts. He was able to show that in mice with a mutated, non-functional form of CCN1, the fibroblasts at the site of a skin wound did not become senescent, and the wound developed excessive scar tissue.

6/10/2010 PERMALINK
Scientists have made another major breakthrough toward taking electronics from silicon to the next level - nano-graphene. Georgia Institute of Technology : Graphene is widely regarded as the most promising candidate to replace silicon as the building block of future electronics. Now scientists have devised a simple and quick one-step process based on thermochemical nanolithography (TCNL) for creating nanowires, tuning the electronic properties of reduced graphene oxide on the nanoscale and thereby allowing it to switch from being an insulating material to a conducting material. The technique works with multiple forms of graphene and is poised to become an important finding for the development of graphene electronics. Scientists who work with nanocircuits are enthusiastic about graphene because electrons meet with less resistance when they travel along graphene compared to silicon and because today's silicon transistors are nearly as small as allowed by the laws of physics. Graphene also has the edge due to its thickness - it's a carbon sheet that is only a single atom thick. While graphene nanoelectronics could be faster and consume less power than silicon, no one knew how to produce graphene nanostructures on such a reproducible or scalable method. That is until now. "We've shown that by locally heating insulating graphene oxide, both the flakes and epitaxial varieties, with an atomic force microscope tip, we can write nanowires with dimensions down to 12 nanometers. And we can tune their electronic properties to be up to four orders of magnitude more conductive. We've seen no sign of tip wear or sample tearing," said Elisa Riedo, associate professor in the School of Physics.

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A powerful new launchpad for stem cell research. Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine : Dr. Yechiel Elkabetz has identified a special class of stem cells called 'rosette-stage NSCs,' which he is using to develop a tool to control the growth and development of these cells in the human body. With this tool, he says, researchers around the world will be better able to understand the progression of nervous system disorders, discover new drugs and replace defective cells.

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In what has been hailed as a breakthrough, scientists have outlined the molecular mechanism of membrane transport. Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College : The research shows how a protein transforms its shape to transport substances across the cell membrane in order to regulate transmission of the brain's messages across the synaptic gap from one neuron to another. Because widely used medications for depression modulate this transport process by binding to the transporters, the new findings help explain how the medications work, and the way in which stimulants like cocaine and amphetamine produce their effects. This new understanding should also prove useful in the development of more targeted medication therapies for anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and substance abuse.

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Biologists have identified the genes that regulating sleeping and feeding. University of Massachusetts Medical School and New York University : In the quest to better understand how the brain chooses between competing behaviors necessary for survival, scientists have isolated two genes in the fruit fly Drosophila that work together to mediate the need to sleep and the need to eat. Many fruit flies have similar functions in humans.

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Major breakthrough will revolutionize the screening and treatment of genetic diseases. MUHC Research Institute and McGill University : A research team led by Dr. Nada Jabado at the MUHC Research Institute and Dr. Jacek Majewski at McGill University has proven for the first time that it is possible to identify any genetic disease in record time thanks to a powerful and reliable exome sequencing method. The exome, a small part of the genome, is of crucial interest with regard to research on genetic diseases as it accounts for 85 percent of mutations.

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Computer scientists create A.I. that uses textual analysis of Yahoo Finance to pick stocks better than market pros. Iona College and University of Arizona : It's called the Arizona Financial Text system, or AZFinText, and it works by ingesting large quantities of financial news stories (in initial tests, from Yahoo Finance) along with minute-by-minute stock price data, and then using the former to figure out how to predict the latter. Then it buys, or shorts, every stock it believes will move more than 1% of its current price in the next 20 minutes - and it never holds a stock for longer. The system was developed by Robert P. Schumaker of Iona College in New Rochelle and and Hsinchun Chen of the University of Arizona.

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Nanotechnology ‘tattoos’ that monitor glucose levels for diabetics. MIT and Draper Labs : Scientists are developing special tattoos to allow those with diabetes to more accurately and quickly monitor their glucose levels. Two different research teams, led by Michael Strano at MIT and Heather Clark at Draper Labs, have developed two different types of nanotech ink which would be injected in the skin and change fluorescence depending on your blood sugar. Both types of tattoo would require an external device to measure and translate this fluorescence. While still in the very early stages of development, these glucose tattoos could one day improve the lives of diabetics by giving themselves a built-in monitor for their condition. Bots and genetics are already revolutionizing healthcare and nanotechnology implants will expand that impact in the years ahead.

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Harnessing the immune system's diagnostic power to diagnose diseases. Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University : An inexpensive system for earlier disease diagnosis could save innumerable lives. It would also have a profound impact on the nation's healthcare industry, currently buckling under the strain of spiraling costs. Now researcher Bart Legutki has pioneered a method for profiling the immune system, using clues provided by antibody activity to track an individual's state of health. The new technique, known as immunosignaturing, could provide rapid, pre-symptomatic diagnosis for a broad range of ailments, from infectious diseases to chronic afflictions to varied forms of cancer, offering the best hope for successful treatment. Immunosignaturing also shows potential as a low-cost alternative for vaccine evaluation, currently a lengthy and expensive undertaking. As Legutki explains, the immune system is exquisitely sensitive to any alterations in an individual's state of health resulting from infection or disease, registering these changes through subtle fluctuations in antibody activity. "The body has already done the hard work of figuring out what is going on inside us," Legutki says, adding, "We just need to interpret the message."

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Scientists have manipulated bacteria into creating internal compartments for biofuel or vaccines production. University of Kent and University College Cork : These micro-compartments eventually occupy almost 70 percent of the available space in a bacteria cell, enabling segregation of metabolic activities and, in the era of synthetic biology, representing an important tool by which defined micro-environments can be created for specific metabolic functions. Martin Warren, Professor of Biochemistry at the School of Biosciences explained: 'Synthetic biology is really exciting because we can produce some important and useful products that can be difficult and expensive to make using traditional chemistry techniques. Bacteria can make these things very easily and in large quantities if we develop bacteria with the right characteristics to do so efficiently.'

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Individual brain cells can ID objects as dissimilar as sports cars and animals. MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory : Researchers have found that single brain cells, if confronted with a difficult task, can identify objects as dissimilar as sports cars and dogs. Researchers have never been sure exactly how specialized cells in the brain can be. Do different neurons each contribute to unique thoughts or can some neurons be cognitive 'generalists' and participate in multiple thoughts? To answer this, MIT researchers examined the prefrontal cortex, the brain's executive in charge of decision-making and planning. In previous studies, Earl K. Miller, Picower Professor of Neuroscience, found that individual neurons in monkeys' brains can become tuned to the concept of 'cat' and others to the concept of 'dog.' This time, Miller and colleagues Jason Cromer and Jefferson Roy recorded activity in the monkeys' brains as the animals switched back and forth between distinguishing cats vs. dogs and sports cars vs. sedans. Although they found individual neurons that were more attuned to car images and others to animal images, to their surprise, there were many neurons active in both categories. In fact, these "multitasking" neurons were best at making correct identifications in both categories. The study suggests that cognitive demands—how much brainpower is needed for a particular task—may determine whether neurons in the prefrontal cortex "multitask" or stick to specialized categories. "This ability to 'multitask' allows the brain to re-utilize the same pool of neurons for different tasks. Without it, storage capacity for critical thought might be severely limited," Miller said. The work could lead to a better understanding of disorders such as autism and schizophrenia in which individuals become overwhelmed by individual stimuli. For instance, a person with autism, when asked to picture a dog, may be flooded with dozens of mental images of all the canines he had ever seen.

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MIT researchers find 2 brain circuits control habitual learning. MIT : Driving to and from work is a habit for most commuters – we do it without really thinking. But before our commutes became routine, we had to learn our way through trial-and-error exploration. A new study out of MIT has found that there are two brain circuits involved with this kind of learning and that the patterns of activity in these circuits evolve as our behaviors become more habitual. The researchers focused on the basal ganglia, brain structures that are best known for their role in movement control, but which are also involved in emotion, cognition and reward-based learning. These different functions are thought to reside in different parts of basal ganglia. The dorsolateral part of the striatum (the input side of the basal ganglia) controls movement and is connected to the sensorimotor cortex, while the dorsomedial striatum controls flexible behavior and is connected to higher areas known as association cortex. But it has not been clear how these distinct circuits contribute to the learning of new behaviors. Now for first time, researchers at MIT have recorded the activity of these two circuits in rats as they learned to navigate a maze, and found that the circuits have distinct patterns of activity that evolve during the course of learning.

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Brain stimulation with ultrasound may increases brain plasticity and enhance cognitive function. Arizona State University : The ability to diagnose and treat brain dysfunction without surgery, may rely on a new method of noninvasive brain stimulation using pulsed ultrasound developed by a team of scientists led by neuroscientist William 'Jamie' Tyler. The approach shows that pulsed ultrasound not only stimulates action potentials in intact motor cortex in mice but it also 'elicits motor responses comparable to those only previously achieved with implanted electrodes and related techniques,' says Yusuf Tufail, the lead author from ASU's School of Life Sciences. 'We were surprised to find that ultrasound activated brain waves in the hippocampus known as sharp-wave ripples,' Tufail says. 'These brain activity patterns are known to underlie certain behavioral states and the formation of memories.' The scientists also found that ultrasound stimulated the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus, one of the most potent regulators of brain plasticity.

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Curing diseases by taking controlling of your body's gene expression. Constellation Pharmaceuticals : Startup targets a broad array of diseases by manipulating one of the fundamental mechanisms by which cells control the expression of genes: epigenetics. By designing compounds to alter the activity of the enzymes that coil and unwrap the genome, Constellation hopes to turn off errant genes and turn on ones key to fighting disease. 'Epigenetics is the mechanism that allows genes to be expressed in the right spatial and temporal manner, so it's just as important as genetics,' says Yang Shi, a Harvard Medical School pathology professor, who founded Constellation along with David Allis of Rockefeller University and Danny Reinberg, of New York University. 'Our first line of attack will be on enzymes that either write or erase modifications.'

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New autism susceptibility genes identified by researchers. Mount Sinai and the Autism Genome Project Consortium : Researchers announced today that they have identified new autism susceptibility genes that may lead to the development of new treatment approaches. These genes, which include SHANK2, SYNGAP1, DLGAP2 and the X-linked DDX53-PTCHD1 locus, primarily belong to synapse-related pathways, while others are involved in cellular proliferation, projection and motility, and intracellular signaling.

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Stem cells for first time used to create abnormal heart cells for study of cardiomyopathy. Mount Sinai School of Medicine : Researchers have for the first time differentiated human stem cells to become heart cells with cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle cells are abnormal. The discovery will allow scientists to learn how those heart cells become diseased and from there, they can begin developing drug therapies to stop the disease from occurring or progressing. The Mount Sinai team used skin cells from two patients with a genetic disorder known by the acronym LEOPARD syndrome. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or thickening of the heart muscle, is experienced by 80 percent of patients with LEOPARD syndrome and is the most life-threatening aspect of the disorder. The Mount Sinai team took patient skin cells and reprogrammed them to become pluripotent stem cells. Such cells can then develop into almost any type of cell in the human body. The researchers then created heart cells that had characteristics of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

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Monkey controls advanced robot with direct brain to bot interface technology. University of Pittsburgh : In a remarkable demonstration of brain-machine interface technology, researchers have taught a monkey to use just its thoughts to control an advanced robotic arm and perform elaborate maneuvers with it. It's not the first time a monkey with sensors implanted in its brains has controlled machines with its mind. But the experiments led by Dr. Andrew Schwartz, a professor of neurobiology, appear to involve an unprecedented degree of complexity in terms of the robotic arm, the level of control, and the difficulty of the manipulations demonstrated.

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Enzyme found to cause regeneration of nerve cells damaged by spinal cord injuries. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine : Researchers show that treating injured rat spinal cords with an enzyme, sialidase, improves nerve regrowth, motor recovery and nervous system function. 'This is the first functional study showing behavioral improvement below a spinal cord injury by the delivery of sialidase,' says Ronald Schnaar, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences at Johns Hopkins. 'Sialidase has properties that are appealing from the human drug development point of view.' Sialidase is a bacterial enzyme that removes specific chemical groups found on the surface of nerve cells. The chemical groups normally function to stablize the cells, but also act to prevent nerve regeneration.

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Molecules hoped to regenerate nerves in injured spines turn out to play only minor role in axon repair. University of California, San Diego School of Medicine : Neuroscientists have found that removing three key inhibitory molecules from myelin, the insulating material that surrounds nerve cell fibers, does not significantly boost the ability of injured spinal axons to regenerate and restore themselves to full function.

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A 'huge step' toward mass production of carbon-based electronics. Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research : Scientists have leaped over a major hurdle in efforts to begin commercial production of a form of carbon that could rival silicon in its potential for revolutionizing electronics devices ranging from supercomputers to cell phones. Called graphene, the material consists of a layer of graphite 50,000 times thinner than a human hair with unique electronic properties. Their study appears in ACS' Nano Letters, a monthly journal. Victor Aristov and colleagues indicate that graphene has the potential to replace silicon in high-speed computer processors and other devices. Standing in the way, however, are today's cumbersome, expensive production methods, which result in poor-quality graphene and are not practical for industrial scale applications. (So much for the old scifi tales about the future battles between 'silicon-based' and 'carbon-based' lifeforms. It looks like the bots, humans and enhanced humods will soon all three be carbon-based lifeforms. - Editor)

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Scientists uncover genetic secrets of human adaptation to high altitude. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland : Geneticists have made a breakthrough in understanding human adaptation to high altitude environments. The new study identifies a gene in Tibetan highlanders, who live high in the Himalayas, which allows them to thrive at altitudes more than two miles above sea level which induce serious altitude sickness in other populations. The findings are published in the prestigious science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) this week. The study also has implications to a wider understanding of human health and fitness.

6/08/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers come up with a new technique to prevent tumors developing in connection with stem cell transplantations. Lund University : 'When you develop, for example, nerve cells for transplantation, you always get a small contamination of immature stem cells', explains Johan Jakobsson, head of research group at the Department of Experimental Medical Science. These immature stem cells can lead to tumors - an unacceptable side-effect. 'We have developed a technique that enables us to eliminate immature stem cells and thus create safer stem cell transplantations.' The technique uses a specially designed virus. 'We use the virus to genetically modify the cells, which means that we can see which ones we want and which ones we don't want. You could say that we hijack one of the cell's gene regulation systems, microRNA. The cell itself tells us when it is mature; it is black when it is immature and turns green when it has completed its development.' It is relatively simple to isolate, cultivate, preserve and genetically modify stem cells. If transplanted into humans they could replace damaged tissue in the nervous system and support other cells that work to heal a brain injury.

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New research confirms PTPN2 gene role as a tumor suppressor. Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven : Scientists have linked failure of the PTPN2 (protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2) gene to the development of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). When PTPN2 stops working or is lost altogether, it causes cancer cells to grow faster and live longer. So the gene acts as a tumour suppressor when it is fully functional.

6/07/2010 PERMALINK
Study finds that iPS cells fall short of embryonic stem cells in their capabilities.. Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Children’s Hospital Boston : In 2007, scientists discovered human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) that, just like embryonic stem cells (ES cells), can self-renew and turn into any kind of cell or tissue. However, a new study has found that iPS cells do not have the same scope of capabilities as embryonic stem cells.

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Scientists discovery of how an ancient viral invasion shaped human genome is a breakthrough for regenerative medicine. Genome Institute of Singapore, the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, and Princeton University : Scientists have discovered that viruses that 'invaded' the human genome millions of years ago have changed the way genes get turned on and off in human embryonic stem (ES) cells. The study provides definitive proof of a theory that was first proposed in the 1950s by Nobel Laureate in physiology and medicine, Barbara McClintock, who hypothesized that transposable elements, mobile pieces of the genetic material (DNA), such as viral sequences, could be 'control elements' that affect gene regulation once inserted in the genome. This finding is an important contribution to the advancement of stem cell research and to its potential for regenerative medicine.

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Soon you'll be able to get your genome sequenced for less than the cost of getting your car's oil changed. Harvard University : Physicist David Weitz and his team are adapting microfluidics technology that uses tiny droplets, a strategy developed in his lab, to perform DNA sequencing. The process is so efficient, says Weitz, that instead of the billions spent to sequence the first human genome, the cost of sequencing your genome could be as little as $30 dollars. While the researchers have not yet sequenced DNA, they have successfully demonstrated parts of the process and formed a startup, GnuBio, to commercialize the technology. Weitz's team had previously developed a way to create picoliter droplets of water, which act as tiny test tubes. The droplets can be precisely moved around on a microfluidics chip, injected with chemicals and sorted based on color. These tiny microfluidics labs on a chip can make possible a radical price breakthrough, claims Weitz.

6/04/2010 PERMALINK
A gene shown to play a role in the aging process appears to also help regulate the differentiation of embryonic stem cells. Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University : Researchers have indentified a protein interaction that controls the silencing of Oct4, a key transcription factor that is critical to ensuring that embryonic stem cells remain pluripotent. The protein, WRNp, is the product of a gene associated with Werner syndrome, an autosomal recessive disorder hallmarked by premature aging. The gene expression in Werner syndrome closely resembles that of normal aging, and as a result, Werner syndrome is an accepted model of aging. They first found that WRNp accumulates at the Oct4 promoter in differentiating stem cells. They then found that WRNp interacts with another protein called Dnmt3b to control DNA methylation at the Oct4 promoter, according to researchers led by René Daniel, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Medicine. Previously, Dnmt3b was identified to be a key player in the DNA methylation of the Oct4 promoter. DNA methylation of the Oct4 promoter inactivates the Oct4 gene. The inactivation, or silencing, of this gene is necessary for stem cell differentiation. "We showed that the depletion of WRNp blocked the recruitment of Dnmt3b to the Oct4 promoter, and resulted in reduced methylation," Dr. Daniel said. "The reduced DNA methylation was associated with continued Oct4 expression, which resulted in attenuated differentiation." Until now, the focus of studies on the role of WRNp in aging has been on telomeres. These studies have shown that telomeres undergo accelerated shortening and loss in Werner syndrome cells. But it remains to be shown if this is the major role that WRNp plays in the aging process. "These results reveal a novel function of WRNp, and demonstrate that WRNp controls a key step in pluripotent stem cell differentiation," Dr. Daniel said. "Our data support the emerging hypothesis that attenuated stem cell differentiation is involved in aging. This lack of differentiated cells may contribute to failure to maintain organ or tissue function in the later stages of life."

6/04/2010 PERMALINK
The right bot for the spotless habitat. Botjunkie : Smackdown: iRobot Roomba 560 vs. Neato XV-11 - which sucks the best. Having thousands of personal cyber & geo space bots to do your bidding and extend your consciousness across, are a big part of the humods future. Support advances in these technologies.

6/04/2010 PERMALINK
Extraordinary effort to quantum entangle two humans progressing. University of Geneva in Switzerland : By quantum entangling two photons and sending them to widely separated detectors, instantaneous communications can be achieved over any distance, as one photon instantaneously influences the other. Pavel Sekatski is leading an experiment to replaces the photon detectors in a photon entanglement set up with human eyes.

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Protecting nerve cells the job of the protein NFI-A Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore : A team of researchers led by Valina Dawson and Ted Dawson has identified the gene regulatory protein NFI-A as a molecular regulator of nerve cell protection in mice. This has implications for developing therapeutics that could provide protection against nerve cell death due to neurologic disorders and stroke. Knocking down NFI-A induction in mouse nerve cells substantially reduced the neuroprotective effects of sublethal doses of NMDA, indicating a role in the molecular survival program. Several other lines of evidence supported this conclusion defining NFI-A as a gene regulatory protein central to nerve cell protection.

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New comprehensive, searchable resource of anatomic and genomic data on the human brain. Gene Search : Allen Human Brain Atlas : Data modalities in this resource include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), histology, and gene expression data derived from both microarray and in situ hybridization (ISH) approaches. Current features include:

6/04/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers achieve breakthrough in guiding stem cells to the correct spot inside your body. Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at University of California, Irvine : By discovering how adult neural stem cells navigate to injury sites in the central nervous system, researchers have helped solve a puzzle in the creation of stem cell-based treatments: How do these cells know where to go? Tom Lane and Kevin Carbajal of the found the answer with the body;s immune system. Their study not only identifies an important targeting mechanism in transplanted stem cells but also provides a blueprint for engineering stem cell-based therapies for multiple sclerosis and other chronic neurological diseases in which inflammation occurs. Results appear in this week's early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 'Previously, we've seen that adult neural stem cells injected into the spinal column knew, amazingly, exactly where to go,' said Tom Lane, professor of molecular biology & biochemistry. 'We wanted to find what directed them to the right injury spots.'

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New gene therapy proves effective in treating severe heart failure. Mount Sinai School of Medicine : Researchers have developed a new gene therapy that is safe and effective in reversing advanced heart failure. SERCA2a is a gene therapy designed to stimulate production of an enzyme that enables the failing heart to pump more effectively. In a Phase II study, SERCA2a injection through a routine minimally invasive cardiac catheterization was safe and showed clinical benefit in treating this patient population and decreasing the severity of heart failure. 'SERCA2a met the primary endpoints and appears to be safe and effective in people with advanced heart failure,' said trial investigator Jill Kalman, MD, Associate Professor, Medicine, Cardiology, Director of the Cardiomyopathy Program. 'There is a significant unmet need for treatments in this patient population, and these data indicate that SERCA2a is a promising option for them.'

6/03/2010 PERMALINK
UCLA stem cell researchers uncover previously unknown patterns in DNA methylation. Broad Stem Cell Research Center at University of California - Los Angeles : A previously unknown pattern in DNA methylation, an event that affects cell function by altering gene expression, has been uncovered for the first time by stem cell researchers. The finding could make it possible to prevent some cancers and correcting defects in human stem cell lines. The team of scientists discovered a relationship between DNA methylation and the positioning of nucleosomes, which compact and regulate access to DNA in the nucleus of a cell. The discovery was made using high-throughput DNA sequencing to study the sites on DNA where high levels of methylation were occurring, said Matteo Pellegrini and Steve Jacobsen, senior co-authors of the study.

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Hacking the brain to eliminate fear and induce an artificial feeling of safety. University of Puerto Rico, School of Medicine : Researchers have found a way to pharmacologically induce a memory of safety in the brain of rats. Administering brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) into the prefrontal cortex prevented rats from expressing fear to a tone that had been previously paired with a shock. Rats given BDNF acted as if they had received repeated presentations of the tone without the shock, a procedure called extinction.

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Study finds that adolescent brains biologically wired to engage in risky behavior. University of Texas at Austin : There are biological motivations behind the stereotypically poor decisions and risky behavior associated with adolescence, new research reveals. Previous studies have found that teenagers tend to be more sensitive to rewards than either children or adults. Now, Russell Poldrack and fellow researchers have taken the first major step in identifying which brain systems cause adolescents to have these urges and what implications these biological differences may hold for rash adolescent behavior. 'Our results raise the hypothesis that these risky behaviors, such as experimenting with drugs or having unsafe sex, are actually driven by over activity in the mesolimbic dopamine system, a system which appears to be the final pathway to all addictions, in the adolescent brain,' said Dr. Poldrack, a professor in the departments of Psychology and Neurobiology.

6/02/2010 PERMALINK
Researchers have discovered a new pathway for protecting against age-related cognitive decline. Mount Sinai School of Medicine : Researchers have found that certain types of specializations on nerve cells called 'spines' are depleted as a person ages, causing cognitive decline in the part of the brain that mediates the highest levels of learning. These spines receive an important class of synapses that are involved with the process of learning. The discovery provides the medical community with a new therapeutic target to help prevent this loss of function. 'We know that when we age, we lose certain spines, but we did not know which ones and how their loss impacted cognition,' said John H. Morrison, PhD, Dean of Basic Sciences and the Graduate School of Biological Sciences and Professor of the Department of Neuroscience. 'This study shows which spines are lost and what their impact is on brain function, giving us a foundation to research treatment interventions to protect against age-related cognitive decline.'

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Artificial cornea getting ready to restore sight to thousands. Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP : An artificial cornea will soon be restoring sight to thousands. An expansive EU project to produce an artificial cornea has found success thanks to the work of Joachim Storsberg in Germany. Storsberg helped develop a new version of an opthalmological polymer which the eye will bond to and still allow to function properly. The new polymer could help restore sight to thousands waiting for corneal transplants around the world. The artificial cornea has passed clinical trials and is ready to see expanded use in patients this year. Very soon those with corneal blindness may find a ready cure in the form of the new implant.

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Your cognitive ability, not your age, determines your ability to make risky decisions well. Duke University Center for Neuroeconomic Studies : 'It's not age, it's cognition that makes the difference in decision-making,' said Scott Huettel, Ph.D., Associate Professor of psychology and neuroscience. He recently led a laboratory study in which participants could gain or lose money based on their decisions. 'Just because your mother has turned 85, you shouldn't assume you'll have to take over her financial matters, explains Huettel. 'She may be just as good or better than you at making quick, sound, money-making decisions. Once we accounted for cognitive abilities like memory and processing speed, age had nothing to do with predicting whether an individual would make the best economic decisions on the tasks we assigned.'

6/02/2010 PERMALINK
A new documentary on being all you can be with humods technologies. 'Concept Teaser' on Vimeo : Teaser for a new feature length documentary exploring humanity's next step up the evolutionary tree. From humans to humods or homo sapiens to homo novo, beings able to proactively modify and enhance our own designs.

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New synthetic Petri dish coating overcomes major challenge to advancement of human embryonic stem cell research. University of Michigan : Under today's regulations, current stem cell lines have limitations in yielding human therapies because the cells have been grown on animal-based substances that don't behave in predictable ways. 'These nondefined, animal-based components create issues with the FDA and hinder clinical applications,' said Joerg Lahann, associate professor of chemical engineering. Lahann and Gary Smith, an associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology in the U-M Health System, and their co-workers have built a new stem cell growth matrix that is completely synthetic and doesn't contaminate the stem cells with foreign substances that could interfere with their normal function. A similar breakthrough was announced just days ago by scientists at Karolinska Institutet and Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

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John Underkoffler gestures the future of human/computer interface. John Underkoffler speaks at TED : Minority Report science adviser and inventor John Underkoffler demos g-speak -- the real-life version of the film's eye-popping computer interface. This could be how you will be controlling your personal army of cyber, geo & internal humods bots in the years ahead.

6/01/2010 PERMALINK
It isn't just students & researchers using performance enhancers, 80% of poker players use them too. Nova Southeastern University : A new study has found that 80 percent of poker players around the world reported using drugs and other substances to enhance their performance in poker. 'The use these substances could allow poker players to stay awake longer, as well as focus and concentrate better, which would be a competitive advantage,' said Kevin Clauson, Pharm.D., an associate professor at NSU's College of Pharmacy, who was the principle investigator in the study. 'Stamina is important for any poker player because tournament poker and cash games can go on for many hours.'"

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Your brain has an amazing ability to memorize sound repetition, even when the sound is completely without meaning. Laboratoire psychologie de la perception at CNRS, Universite Paris, Descartes/ENS Paris and the Centre de recherche cerveau et cognition at CNRS/Universite Toulouse : In order to investigate how auditory memory is formed, the researchers subjected volunteers to various noise samples. These noises were generated in a totally random and unpredictable way to ensure that the volunteers would never have heard them before. Furthermore, these original complex sound waves had no meaning, and were perceived at first as an indistinct hiss. Listeners were not told that an identical complex noise pattern could be played several times during the experiment. Using this fairly simple protocol, the scientists discovered that our ear is remarkably effective in detecting noise repetitions. Listeners nearly always recognized the noise pattern that had been played several times. Two listenings were enough for those with a trained ear and only about ten were required for less experienced ears. Sound repetition therefore induces both extremely rapid and effective learning, which occurs implicitly without supervised. In addition, this memory for noise can last several weeks. A fortnight after the first experiment, volunteers identified the noise pattern again, at first attempt.

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A synthetic peptide can regenerate damaged nerve cells and promote new blood vessels in stroke victims. Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit : A synthetic version of a naturally occurring peptide promoted the creation of new blood vessels and repaired damaged nerve cells in lab animals, according to researchers. 'This successful experiment holds promise for treating clot-induced strokes in humans,' says study lead author Daniel C. Morris, M.D., senior staff physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine. 'Neurorestorative therapy is the next frontier in the treatment of stroke.' The researchers added the synthetic peptide Thymosin beta 4 to a group of drug treatments, including statins, used for neurorestorative therapy to activate repair mechanisms which mimic cellular changes that occur in the early stages of brain development.

6/01/2010 PERMALINK
How your body regulates the making of red blood cells discovered. European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Monterotondo, Italy and European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton, UK : The red blood cells that delivery oxygen to your body, have short lives. To keep enough of them in circulation, the your body produces around 2 million of these cells every second, even more in response to challenges like severe blood loss. In new study scientists have identified two small RNA molecules which ensure that enough red blood cells are produced efficiently, by fine-tuning a number of different genes involved in this process. 'A lot of the effort of blood cell formation, or haematopoiesis, goes into just keeping enough red blood cells in circulation' says Donal O'Carroll, who led the work at EMBL Monterotondo: 'We've identified two molecules that help to do so, and which are essential in challenging situations.' To form red blood cells, large, round cells known as precursors have to become small and disc-shaped, like balls of plasticine squeezed between finger and thumb. In the process, they must also produce the large quantities of haemoglobin that will allow them to transport oxygen, and shrink and dispose of their nucleus. The EMBL scientists found that two microRNAs, called MiR144 and MiR451, control the final stages of this process.

6/01/2010 PERMALINK
Breakthrough in culturing human embryonic stem cells eliminates risk of using animal substances. Karolinska Institutet and Harvard Stem Cell Institute : Embryonic stem cells can be turned into any other type of cell in the body and have potential uses in treatments where sick cells need to be replaced. One problem, however, is that it is difficult to culture and develop human embryonic stem cells without simultaneously contaminating them. They are currently cultured with the help of proteins from animals, which rules out subsequent use in the treatment of humans. Alternatively the stem cells can be cultured on other human cells, known as feeder cells, but these release thousands of uncontrolled proteins and therefore lead to unreliable research results. But now a research team has managed to produce human stem cells entirely without the use of other cells or substances from animals. Instead they are cultured on a matrix of a single human protein: laminin-511. "Now, for the first time, we can produce large quantities of human embryonic stem cells in an environment that is completely chemically defined," says professor Karl Tryggvason, who led the study. "This opens up new opportunities for developing different types of cell which can then be tested for the treatment of disease." The researchers have also shown that in the same way they can culture what are known as reprogrammed stem cells, which have been converted "back" from tissue cells to stem cells. Laminin-511 is part of our connective tissue and acts in the body as a matrix to which cells can attach.