Blocking 'engulfment' gives dying cells new lease on life
...C. elegans and humans, the scientists suggest that modulating the activity of the engulfment machinery in humans might be an effective therapy for neurodegenerative disease, stroke, and cancer....Probing the role of the delta opioid receptor in alcohol consumption
...oberts, "while perhaps being important in directly modulating the activity of the brain's reward pathway, also may be a key player in mediating the link between stress and alcohol consumption." According to Tamara Phillips, professor of behavioral neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portl...A pilot study may offer promise of a marker for ovarian cancer
...liber of blood vessels and has a potential role in modulating volume homeostasis, i.e. the state of equilibrium in the body with respect to various functions and to the chemical compositions of the fluids and tissues. ANP is secreted by atrial myocytes as a 126 aminoacid molecule and divided into different frag...... in the treatment of autistic regression, based on modulating the immune response in children with early autistic symptoms.......n region associated with regulating food intake by modulating reward and pleasure while eating," said study coauthor Gene-Jack Wang. "These findings challenge that belief."...Exploring the genetic commonality of alcohol and tobacco abuse
...sized that common genetic factors were involved in modulating sensitivity to alcohol and nicotine and this, in t...not currently know which genes are responsible for modulating the actions of these two drugs we hypothesize that the overlap in genes controlling sensitivity to ...Researchers discover molecular 'switch' that tells body to store or burn fat
...diture. "In aggregate, these findings suggest that modulating the activity of key metabolic pathways could provide a new therapeutic approach to increase energy expenditure and promote the burning of fat," Friedman says....Gene that regulates development of heart cells identified, described by Penn researchers
...activated early in fetal development and continues modulating the expression of cardiac-specific genes throughout life. Hop appears to bind directly to another important regulator of development, serum response factor (SRF), and block SRF from binding to DNA. By inhibiting the expression of SRF, Hop protects ...McLean Hospital and Repligen announce results of brain imaging study of secretin
... findings suggest that secretin may have a role in modulating certain social behavior in humans." The study was a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in 12 healthy men. Each subject was presented with a series of pictures of faces with either a neutral, happy or fearful facial expression to establi...Could an anti-marijuana compound hold the key to body weight and appetite control?
...ptors in the regulation of feeding. In addition to modulating the effects of cannabinoids in animals, SR141716 has been shown to produce changes in ingestive behaviors when administered alone. Several studies have reported that SR141716 selectively attenuates the consumption of palatable food or drink. It decre...JCI Table of Contents, January 2, 2003
...hat AMPKa2 exerts its function as a fuel sensor by modulating theactivity of the sympathetic nervous system. CONTACT: Benoit Viollet Institut Cochin 24 rue du faubourg Saint Jacques PARIS, NULL F-75014 FRANCE Phone 1: 33-144-412-408 Fax 1: 33-144-412-421 E-mail: viollet@cochin.inserm.fr View the PDF of this a...Scientists develop 'super peptide' that kills Candida albicans
... (more than 300 million years ago) really works in modulating inflammatory and immune responses. The study, "Novel a-Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone Peptide Analogues with High Candidacidal Activity," is scheduled to appear in the February 20, 2003 issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, a peer-reviewed jou...Researchers pinpoint cause of inherited form of heart failure
...patients who we think would very much benefit from modulating calcium homeostasis in heart cells," said Seidman. Additional research might well reveal that defects in calcium cycling could underlie some forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which are believed to be a very different type of failure in the contra...Johns Hopkins scientists create forgetful mouse
...6, phosphorylation has been recognized as a key to modulating receptor responses to neurotransmitters like glutamate, but this is the first demonstration that phosphorylation of a particular target protein mediates the processes we believe are behind learning and memory," says Richard Huganir, Ph.D., professor ...New study clarifies connection of brain and heart failure
... cardiovascular afferent nerves and are capable of modulating cardiovascular reflexes. Until now, the potential importance of humoral heart-brain signaling in the pathogenesis of heart has not been fully examined. A new study summarizes recent studies supporting the concept that the forebrain plays a critical...Key regulatory enzyme is a molecular 'octopus'
...m not at blocking the receptors themselves, but at modulating the machinery that regulates them. Such drugs could treat a range of disorders from congestive heart failure to Parkinson's disease, they said. The newly revealed structure of this receptor "off-switch" -- called a G protein-coupled receptor kinase (...Researchers find mechanism that may determine early blood cell fate
...s and prevent differentiation is a good target for modulating and improving this whole process. We discovered a ...lated proteins, but if we can shift the balance by modulating this relationship, we can chose to increase the number of these limited HSC or stimulate hematopoisi...Emory researchers discover novel mechanism of how anthrax impairs immunity
...nting cells, making them pivotal in initiating and modulating any immune response against microbes. "This is the first study that demonstrates any interaction between Bacillus anthracis and dendritic cells, " says Dr. Pulendran. "Our findings reveal a novel mechanism of action by which the microbe targets the ...New approach to gene knockouts reveals the 'master planners' of the skeleton
...y simple rules and the same set of genes, but just modulating them differently.......ecture of the adult brain. The study suggests that modulating nitric oxide levels might be an effective strategy for replacing neurons that are lost from the brain due to stroke or chronic neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease....