OHSU scientists locate 'fat thermostat' in brain
...adecrease in the metabolic rate and an increase in muscle efficiency to limitenergy loss." For years, scientists have proposed the existence of an adipostat in the brain.But until now, it's mechanism has remained a mystery. Cone and Colmers, aided byan international team of scientists including Michael Cow...Clay M. Armstrong, MD, wins 1999 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
...l the central nervous system, including the brain, muscle contraction,cardiac rhythm, hormone secretion, and many other vital biological events. Since the 19th century, scientists have known that nerve impulses weretransmitted electrically. Exactly how they were propagated throughout the body,however, was...Rett Syndrome traced to defective gene 'silencer'
...etimes abruptly, losing their burgeoning skills in muscle control andcommunication. Eventually the disease stabilizes, and the girls grow up withextensive mental retardation and a propensity to sit and wring their hands. "I saw my first RTT patient as a pediatric neurology fellow in October 1983,though I d......ic virus to safely shuttle a gene for an important muscle protein thatis improperly made in people suffering limb girdle muscular dystrophy," saidDevin Dressman, who is presenting the results and who is a graduate student atthe Center for Genetic Medicine, Children's National Medical Center, and theUniversi...Protein component apparently plays key role in muscle elasticity
...otein titin appears to be a key component allowing muscle to stretch and return to normal by regulating the ...understanding of the protein's role in controlling muscle elasticity, such as in cardiac muscular diseases, said Klaus Schulten, the director of the theoretic...Health of normal synapses seen to depend on neurotrophin signaling
...signaling failure is onereason for the decrease in muscle strength in old age. So, one question we'll be loo...pinal cord cells called motor neurons and skeletal muscle fibers. The neuromuscularjunction is thought by neuroscientists to be similar to synapses in the bra...MGH research shows gene therapy may be able to reverse heart failure
...erapeutic approaches." In heart failure the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump effectively, allowing ...handle calcium properly. The contraction of heart muscle cells - like all muscle cells - iscontrolled by cycling levels of calcium, which is stored in a cell...Zebrafish's powerful heart gene could lead to transplant therapy
...ne of many specialized celltypes, such as skeletal muscle cells, nerve cells, blood cells, skin cells, andliver cells. Normally, the gene acts only in those embryonic cells destined to becomemyocardial cells. The research shows, however, that gata5 can reprogramotherwise predestined embryonic cell types to ...Fossil mayflies can be used to 'weigh' ancient atmospheres
...r in which it once flew: -- A mayfly's main flight muscle fills most of the pterothorax, the body's two wing-bearing segments. -- The force that the muscle delivers to the wings is registered in the length of the pterothorax ("L" in the accompanying diagra...Creatine may improve performance during short bursts of activity
... high-energy compound necessary for muscle contraction. Some people...ne in hopes of enhancing muscle performance. After it is ingested, stores of both creatine and phosphocrea...Gene mutation alters feeding behavior
...s alteration prevented opening of the pharynx, the muscle used to eat. The opening of the potassium channel, called EXP-2, causes muscle relaxation. Normally the muscle relaxes a fifth of a second after contraction of the muscle. In the ...Awareness, quick action key to battling canine bacterial disease
...ur. The dog also may have rapid, uncontrolled fine muscle twitches." Fenwick said a consistent and important...stage vomiting may occur. Rapid, uncontrolled fine muscle fasciculations are often noted. A consistent and important clinical finding is a very high temperatu...Researcher finds alternatives to antibiotics for growing chickens
...nhibits the message that triggers the breakdown of muscle cells. Based on his analysis of studies of dom...d other immune system stimulants eat less and lose muscle mass. Breeders can't now select for birds with strong immune systems because that means selecting fo...Injured spinal neurons reach out to each other, but not to healthy neighbors
...neurons in the spinal cord and between neurons and muscle might be re-established after peripheral nerve damage or spinal cord injury, areas for which current treatments are inadequate. The re-coupling of injured spinal neurons by gap junctions is similar to the coupling normally seen among neurons in devel...New institute formed to distribute human stem cells
... to become specific kinds of cells -- blood cells, muscle cells, or brain cells -- has the potential to revolutionize transplant medicine and underpin lifelong treatment for a host of debilitating diseases, especially cell-based disorders such as diabetes mellitus, Parkinson's disease and some forms of leuk...Why muscle strength seeps away: a new cause for muscular dystrophy
... The scientists unraveled a destablizing defect in muscle structures that were not previously implicated in muscle diseases. The subtle disturbance of muscle fibre architecture identified in three Brasilian familie...Heat can help maintain muscle mass in immobilized limbs, study shows
...INESVILLE -- Heat therapy can reduce the amount of muscle lost during limb immobilization, according to a ne...person in bedridden, they obviously can't maintain muscle mass that way." Muscle atrophy was 32 percent lower in rats that had been treated with heat thera...Isolated Barbados population helps researchers zero in on asthma and allergic disease genes
... airflow in and out of the lungs may be blocked by muscle squeezing, swelling and excess mucus. In 1997, more than 30.5 million prescriptions were filled for asthma medication, and patients had approximately 1.2 million emergency room visits and 445,000 hospitalization days. For more information about asthm...Swoap at Williams receives NSF and NIH awards
...ward to support research to determine why skeletal muscle becomes more fatiguable under disuse. Swoap prev...rt his investigation into the genetic component of muscle fiber type adaptation. His work has appeared in the American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Bio...UB researchers develop novel way to study dynamics of receptor proteins
...genital myasthenia syndrome, in which molecules in muscle cells jump too quickly from one state to the other, causing damage to the cell and eventually interfering with movement, he noted. Grosman and Auerbach have been working with a single protein molecule at the nerve-muscle synapse -- a receptor for th...