Other highlights in the March 7 JNCI
...to successfully prevent breast cancer. These drugs act by occupying estrogen receptors in breast and other tissue, and therefore block estrogen's message to the cell to divide and spread. While the STAR trial demonstrated that development of new chemoprevention drugs is a slow, often unpredictable, pr...New study suggests special cocoa may lead to sustained improvement in blood vessel function
...ve pause to those claiming that flavanols in cocoa act as antioxidants when describing their link to cardiovascular or circulatory health." This is the latest study supported by Mars demonstrating potential blood vessel health benefits of this specially-made cocoa uncommonly rich in flavanols. The J...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...lacks the intracellular kinase domain and thus can act as a dominant-negative inhibitor of TrkB signaling. The authors overexpressed a green fluorescent protein (GFP)TrkB1.T1 fusion protein in their favorite presynaptic cells, Xenopus laevis retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). GFPTrkB.T1 did not disrupt axon ...Light-activated compound silences nerves, may one day help epileptics
...at's why drugs like barbiturates and Valium, which act on the same receptor as the steroid, are sedativesthey quiet the nerve system down." When dosed with NBD-steroid, nerve cells still responded to stimuli as readily as they had prior to exposure. Just to see where the modified steroid was going, thou...Genetic analyis for personalizing of treatment of lung and colon cancer, certain sarcomas
...t the best set of pharmaceutical drugs might be to act on certain tumours, particularly cancers of the lung, of the colon and sarcomas. DIn this way, which patients best respond to a specific treatment can be identified. At the same time, we manage to know the toxicity profile that may occur using thes...'Wingman' -- how buddies help alpha males get the girl
...or by forming alliances with other males who later act as their betas." These results contrast with those from studies of other birds with cooperative courtship displays: wild turkeys strut cooperatively with close relatives, and ruffs (a shorebird) form alliances of males that often both mate while they...Joslin researchers discover a surprising culprit in the search for causes of diabetic birth defects
...glucose transport is functioning, the embryo cells act like a glucose sponge, absorbing glucose at a much higher rate than normal." Using mice that lacked Glut2 genes, which were developed by one of the study's co-authors, Bernard Thorens, Ph.D., of the Center for Integrated Genomics at the University ......tes two hormones, FSH and LH. Both these hormones act on the testes, causing the production of sperm as well as the secretion of testosterone. Testosterone in particular is responsible for the development of secondary sexual characteristics in boys. At the current time, mutations of the LH receptor are ...Genes and stressed-out parents lead to shy kids
...one. "Moms who report being stressed are likely to act differently toward their child than moms who report little stress," said Fox. "A mom under stress transfers that stress to the child. However, each child reacts to that stress somewhat differently. Our study found that genes play a role in this varia...Swimming 'to the left' gets bacteria upstream, and may promote infection
... flagella that can rotate together as a bundle and act as a propeller to drive the cell forward. Away from any boundaries, the cells swim in a straight line, but near a surface, opposing forces of flow and bacterial forward motion cause the bacteria to continuously swim to one side to the left." The st...Scientists identify specific enzymes that make meningitis hard to fight
...gnificanceof the two separate functionalities that act in different DNA repairpathways within the pathogen." Professor Christoph Tang from Imperial's Division of InvestigativeScience added: "After realising that the two enzymes had distinct rolesrepairing different types of DNA damage, were able show t...Protein identified that regulates effectiveness of Taxol chemotherapy in breast cancer
... human breast cancer, caveolin-1 has been known to act as a tumor suppressor since caveolin-1 expression is down-regulated during the primary stages of breast cancer. More recent studies indicate that that caveolin-1 expression is increased in more aggressive types of breast cancer. Under the mentor...Public agrees global warming exists, but divided over seriousness of problem
...James Jackson from the University of Michigan will act as discussant....CSHL researchers show RNA splicing factor may be new target for cancer therapy
...establish that the RNA splicing factor SF2/ASF can act as a cancer-causing protein by changing the alternative splicing of other genes critical for growth-control of cells. Regulating the level of SF2/ASF in cells impacts tumor growth, making it a new potential target for cancer therapy, said Cold Sprin...Penn researchers replace organ in adult mice using 'single-parent' stem cells
...n advance of an operation." Parthenogenesis, the act of creating an embryo without fertilization, is common in some plants, insects and animals, including the recent and celebrated case of the "virgin birth" of a komodo dragon in England. Humans and all other mammals, however, require two sets of chro...Getting on your nerves ... and repairing them
...al protein synthesis in axonal nerve fibers, which act as "pavement" for the nervous system's "information superhighway." In addition, the mechanism involved in the nerve fiber creation did not depend on communication with, or transport from, the nerve cell body or its nucleus, or from surrounding suppor...Shortening chromosomes cause for earlier cancer onset in families with rare syndrome
...meni syndrome, the ends of individuals chromosomes act somewhat like a lit fuse, according to researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Their findings detail how telomeres, the ends of the chromosomes, shorten with every successive generation, leading to more severe cancers at an earlier ...Neuroscientists explain inner workings of critical pain pathway
...these painkillers work so well. The secret: They act on a special form of N-type calcium channel, the c...e spinal cord. These are the channels that opioids act on. But what makes the channels in nociceptors so special? In their new work, Lipscombe and her t...Instruction manual for creating a molecular nose
...mportant functions in the cell, one of which is to act as receptors, passing on signals from molecules in the air, for example, to the cell interior. They are thus ideal biosensors, but until now were difficult to access in the lab. However, Max Planck scientists have now managed to incorporate in-vitro ......sect's cockpit, are movement detector neurons that act as optic flow sensors. The team patiently decoded the functioning of these neurons using ultra-fine microelectrodes (with a diameter of a thousandth of a millimeter) and a specially designed microscope. They then produced an electronic microcircuit b...