Lutein supplements may improve vision
...cruited after a member of an international retinal degeneration patiente-mail list noted that several of her electronic pen pals said their vision improved after adding luteinsupplements to their diets. She then asked Gislin Dagnelie, Ph.D., an assistant professor ofophthalmology at Hopkins' Wilmer Eye Institute...Gene discovery provides link between neurological disorders
...ment initiate a chain of events that leads to axon degeneration and muscle denervation. The other three genes known to lead to Charcot-Marie-Tooth are all closely related to myelin, the protective sheath surrounding nerve axons. Mutations in these genes lead to demyelination, which in turn results in axonal lo...Sightless cavefish may offer clues to eye growth, Science authors report
... to other parts of the eye is a major cause of eye degeneration in cavefish." They caution, however, that other factors also may contribute to eye loss, and further investigations are underway in Jeffery's laboratory. Someday, Yamamoto says, "Perhaps we can stop the cavefish lens from triggering eye regression, i...Mutations in the ABCR gene are an overwhelming cause of inherited vision loss
... ABCR activity, could alleviate or prevent retinal degeneration and vision loss in a substantial number of affected or at-risk individuals....Geological Society of America: Annual Meeting 2000
.... Jacobs, UCLA, Developmental genes, evolution and degeneration in the base of the Metazoan tree. BIG STORMS OF THE PAST: EVIDENCE AND IMPORTANCE OF PALEOSTORMS IN THE GEOLOGIC RECORD (T54) RSCC Room B8/9, Thurs., Nov. 16, 1:30p.m.-5:30p.m. Speakers include: Jeffrey P. Donnelly, Woods Hole Oceanographic ...Free radicals in alcoholic liver disease
The fatty degeneration of the liver characteristically seen in alcoholics has been ascribed to cellular damage mediated by free radicals. Here, Kono et al. identify the macrophage enzyme NADPH oxidase as the source of these troublesome compounds, and they confirm that ...Scientists discover gene required for testis development
... and helps elucidate the basis of human testicular degeneration syndrome. The Dmrt1 gene has for many years been a candidate for human testis dysgenesis, a disease characterized by severely defective testicular development. Although Dmrt1 maps to the position on chromosome 9 which is deleted in these patients......the structural and functional consequences of cell degeneration that are characteristic of Parkinson's disease," s...lts showed that the treatment completely prevented degeneration of the dopamine system: brain cells and their fibers were preserved, and increased levels of dopamin...Researchers reveal insidious role of a 'serpin' in Alzheimer's Disease
...r some of their components are responsible for the degeneration of brain cells and their connections, which underlie the cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease, such as memory loss, anxiety, confusion and, ultimately, severe dementia. Most likely, says Mucke, several factors contribute to both the brain damage ...'Translocation' surgery yields unprecedented results
Offers hope for patients with early-stage macular degeneration An operation developed at Johns Hopkins to hal... blinding retinal damage from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) improved vision in nearly half of the first 100 patients treated, according to a recent repor...Scientists identify the gene for familial dysautonomia, a degenerative neurological disorder
...es of the IKBKAP gene show poor development of and degeneration of the sensory and autonomic nervous systems. The symptoms in these affected individuals include: abnormal sweating, hypertension, difficulty feeding and sucking, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and insensitivity to pain. FD is fatal; only 50% of pat...Genetic therapies for aging will face many challenges
...at becomes part of the process that leads to brain degeneration in Alzheimers disease. A genetic variant of FE65 appears to alter ones susceptibility to that disease, at least in some populations. In this respect, it resembles gene variants at a different genetic locus, which has the coding for Apolipoprotein E, ...Genomic analysis of pathogenic and benign gastritis bacteria
..., secretion of the inflammatory cytokine IL-8, and degeneration of the stomach lining. Both strains were known to carry in their genomes a large element called the cag pathogenicity island, where multiple genes are found that influence interactions between the bacterium and the host cell. However, analysis of t...Weizmann Institute scientists block loss of eyesight in animals with a glaucoma-like disease
...ng the pressure was not enough to halt the ongoing degeneration of the optic nerve and did not eliminate the risk ...oposed a new concept to account for the continuing degeneration of the optic nerve that occurs after the pressure in the eye had been reduced. Schwartz suggested th...Sleeping dogs lend a paw to narcoleptics
... In such cases, narcolepsy might be due rather to degeneration of the hypocretin system, which might be treatable by "hypocretin replacement therapy." The present findings indicate that narcoleptic dogs will continue to shed light on the causes and treatment of human narcolepsy....Laser treatment reduces scarring after heart attack
...er-irradiated cells may have a much slower rate of degeneration because the procedure reduces the amount of damage to the mitochondria and elevates the formation of molecules that contribute to better survival of the heart cells in the ischemic zone. The researchers observations indicate that delivery of laser en...Researchers link failed cell division, Alzheimer's disease
... effort to divide is the likely cause of the nerve degeneration and dementia in Alzheimer's disease, say the researchers. "It's almost as if Alzheimer's disease were a novel form of cancer," says Karl Herrup, senior author of the findings published in a paper by researchers from Case Western Reserve University's...New molecular key to disposal of dying cells
...mplicate Mer defects in the development of retinal degeneration typical of retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disorder associated with atrophy of the retina's inner layer. In animal studies, a failure of retinal pigment epithelial cells to clear outer segments of cells that had been shed resulted in the death of photor...Copper is crucial for embryonic deveopment, say U-M scientists
...ts with Wilson disease develop cirrhosis and nerve degeneration due to their inability to distribute copper properly. The U-M is offering non-exclusive licenses for use of Ctr1 knock-out mice as a commercial research tool and will provide mice without charge to academic researchers....UCSF study finds two old drugs may help fight prion diseases
...lls that ultimately causes cell degeneration. This degeneration is seen in the tell-tale spongy appearance of affected brain tissue - thus the alternative name for prion diseases: transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. While each prion strain contains a different protein conformation, each leads inexorably, ...