UPMC Researchers Report On Gene Therapy Advances
...ing how much and for how long the hormone actually affects mice," hecontinued. # # # lk3-16-98...Jefferson Researchers Use Gene Therapy To Treat Rare, Inherited Brain Disease
... by spongy degeneration of the brain. It primarily affects children of Eastern European or Ashkenazi Jewish background. It is one of a group of genetic disorders called leukodystrophies that affect the growth of the myelin sheath of the nerve fibers in the brain. The myelin sheath is the fatty covering surro...Heart and Soul: The Blood Vessels And Brain Use Common Guide
...sasking in a simple way whether neuropilin somehow affects the way blood vesselsmove. They engineered endothelial cells to contain either neuropilin, along-known VEGF receptor called KDR, or both and then measured how avidly thecells were migrating up a gradient of VEGF. They found that, indeed, neuropilinmo...Prostate Cancer Switch May Yield Map Of Cancer Machinery, Targets For Drugs
...s tremendous physiological consequences,because it affects this fundamental receptor, we now want to know why the switchis being tripped," Garcia-Blanco said. "And whatever protein is triggering thisswitch, we believe, could affect many other parts of the cell machinery that goawry as the tumor progresses. ...'Mean Gene' Found In Africanized Honey Bees
...ing so that we can better understand how this gene affects stinging behavior. "We made a genetic map of the honey bee using the same techniques used in crop genetics, a technique called quantitative trait locus mapping. This process hasn't been used much in insects. But if we have markers for the genes, we c...Molecular Defect Could Be Mysterious Cause Of Blood Disorder
...lood cells. The disorder, which can be malignant, affects five to 10 of every100,000 people and is now being recognized more frequently in young women ofreproductive age. Hopkins researchers compared platelets and bone marrow samples from 34people with polycythemia vera to a control group of 44 pe...Common Mutations Linked To Increased Risk Of Breast Cancer
...enes like BRCA1 or BRCA2, but thisgenetic variant affects a much larger group of women. One of these geneticvariants, for example, is estimated to occur in about 44 percent of thepopulation." For the study, published in the Journal of the National CancerInstitute, Hopkins scientists compared the ge...First Evidence That Localized Arthritis Gene Therapy Heals Distant Diseased Joints
...he study. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which affects about 2.1 million Americans,causes painful inflammation and erosion of joints. This disease process hasbeen linked with two proteins, interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factoralpha (TNF"), which are overproduced in arthritic joints. These subs...Obscure Enzyme May Play Major Role In Heart Disease
... blood cholesterol quality(cholesterol oxidation) affects atherosclerosis. He has shown that patientswith a high risk of coronary heart disease have increased LDL oxidation. He hasalso shown that mice and humans given dietary antioxidants, such as red wine orlicorice polyphenols, have reduced oxidation of t...High Blood Pressure Caused By Salt Retention May Be Related To Oncogenes Implicated In Cancer
...al rise in blood pressure." Hypertension affects an estimated 62 million Americans and is anunderly...e people have a specific, genetic abnormality that affects thesodium channels, but in other people there is nothing obviously wrong. "In this other gro...Jefferson Scientists Link Some Cases Of Scleroderma To Damage From Lingering Fetal Cells
... scleroderma and systemic sclerosis. The former affects only the skin. Systemic sclerosis can affect the internal organs, skin and the body’s small blood vessels. Scleroderma can be devastating; some aggressive forms of the disease can result in death after only a few months. In auto...Invasive Weeds Pose Major Threat To American Landscape
...is not just in the West, as the bookemphasizes. It affects most states and most public lands throughout the country. National Park Service Director Robert G. Stanton called invasive species one ofthe most significant threats facing the natural and cultural resources of theNational Park System. At least ...Inhibitor Shows Potential To Protect Infant Brain
...al retardation, seizures and cerebral palsy, which affects 500,000 Americans. Holtzman mimics the condition by interrupting the blood supply to one side of a newborn rat's brain and briefly lowering the oxygen content of the air. This procedure kills neurons, which results in loss of brain tissue. Holtzman ......tional practice of female genital mutilation which affects 110 million women in the region. The task of addressing these and other social needs is doubly onerous in countries--such as in sub-Saharan Africa--with rapidly growing populations. Today, fewer than half of Africans have access to basic health care....Birds Sing The 'Story Of Their Lives,' Theorize Duke Biologists
...ng. The researchers will also explorehow nutrition affects the even-more mysterious learned or inborn ability offemales to judge male song....ACE Gene Linked To High Blood Pressure In Men But Not Women
...ene linked to highblood pressure -- a disease that affects one in four adults -- according to tworeports in today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.Two separate studies found that a variation in a gene called ACE (angiotensinconverting enzyme) may be an important contributor to high bl......t. The mutation of the Pax8 gene thus affects the major part of the organ, which produces the thyroid hormones. Early diagnosis and therapy of hypothyroidism is critical because, if untreated, affected children develop irreversible debility and cretinism. ...Researchers Identify A Gene That Causes Juvenile Polyposis
...hed in the May 15 issue of the journal Science.FJP affects about 1 in 100,000 people, Howe says -- usually with the onset ofsymptoms within the first two decades of life. The most common symptom is rectalbleeding. The condition was at first thought to be benign, however, in a 1975 study,University of Iowa...Duke Researchers Finds That Moderate Caffeine Use Boosts Blood Pressure, Potential For Heart Disease
...o walking. "You can measure how caffeine affects people in the laboratory, but thatdoesn't tell you what effects the drug has in the real world when people areexposed to normal stressors and activities," he said. In previous studies conducted over the past 15 years, Lane has shownthat caff......ve damage. This damage, whichincreases with aging, affects a cell's ability to maintain its structure andfunction. "One of life's ironies is that the stuff that we need to survive oxygen isactually toxic," explains Dr. Phillips. "When we breathe, toxic by ADproductscalled oxygen radicals are created. Our c...