NIH launches clinical studies nationwide to investigate rare diseases
...dcrn_studylist.asp Officially, a rare disease is defined as a disease or condition affecting fewer than 200,000 persons in the United States. About 6,000 such disorders have been identified, impacting an estimated 25 million Americans. Few drug companies conduct research into rare diseases since there is......in the brains of adult mice, the researchers first defined discrete steps in the complex process, called neurogenesis, that converts unspecialized stem cells into mature, specialized neurons. Next, knowing that Prozac treatment somehow increases the number of neurons in the brain, the researchers tested whic...Full year of treatment helps infants and children with toxoplasmosis
... Disease, researchers report that a treatment they defined -- now considered the standard of care because it improves early outcomes -- resulted in normal longer-term neurologic outcomes for all patients born with the infection who did not already have severe brain involvement. Even for many patients born ...Using satellite observations to study photosynthetic trends in northern circumpolar high latitudes
... were included in this study. Growing seasons were defined as May to August though early and late growing season periods were also considered. Three primary data sets derived from polar-orbiting satellites were used. Overall, tundra areas show marked greening over the entire growing season. These patterns we...Despite acidity, orange juice could still be a source of foodborne disease
... without storage time and temperature controls are defined by the U.S. Food Code as non-potentially hazardous foods. But this designation also includes foods that do not support growth but still may contain pathogenic organisms at sufficient levels to cause disease. "For many years individuals in the public...DNA: Bacteria's survival ration
...etence" to distinguish it from natural competence, defined as the ability of cells to assimilate waste DNA in order to mutate or repair their genomes. Natural competence is potentially risky, Finkel said, since bad mutations can result, "but there should be no genetic cost to eating [the DNA]." The study ide...Historic Colorado River streamflows reconstructed back to 1490
...Basin and the Lower Basin of the Colorado River as defined by the 1922 Colorado River Compact. The Lee's Ferry streamflows are of particular interest to water managers in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado, the seven signatory states to the Compact, because the Colorado Rive...A gene predisposing to pituitary tumors identified
...l pituitary adenoma syndromes. These syndromes are defined by familial occurrence of the disease, and the low penetrance of PAP appeared unique. Low penetrance means hereditary predisposition which relatively rarely leads to actual disease but which may cause much more effect on population level than high-p...Gut reaction: Researchers define the colon's genome
...ockville, MD-- For the first time, scientists have defined the collective genome of the human gut, or colon. Up to 100 trillion microbes, representing more than 1,000 species, make up a motley "microbiome" that allows humans to digest much of what we eat, including some vitamins, sugars, and fiber. In a stu...Chronic neuropathic, 'phantom' pain comes from affected nerve and spinal cord, not brain
...ars after initial inflammation has subsided, it is defined as 'noninflammatory pain.' Although this definition is accurate, it may have clouded our thinking as to how neuropathic pain is initiated. Current research suggests that an initial transient inflammatory event may set the whole long term pain sequenc...Tumor response may not be best measure of efficacy in non-small cell lung cancer treatment
... author of the new study. Lara and his colleagues defined the disease control rate as the percentage of patients who have a partial or complete response to an investigational treatment plus those whose disease stabilizes. "In the past, we have used the complete response rate plus the partial response rate, ...First whole-genome scan for links to OCD reveals evidence for genetic susceptibility
... senseless thoughts and impulses that together are defined as obsessions, as well as repetitive and intentional behaviors, referred to as compulsions. OCD is estimated to affect up to 3 percent of the American population. In what the research team describes as the first whole-genome scan to look for genetic...Some genetic research is best done close to the evolutionary home
...d fish, failed to identify most of the empirically defined functional non-coding DNA sequences. Said Prabhakar, "Our results highlight the practical utility of close sequence comparisons, and the loss of sensitivity entailed by more distant comparisons. The intuitive relationship we derived between ancient a...Calorie restriction may prevent Alzheimer's through promotion of longevity program in the brain
...tia. Most importantly, as mechanistic pathways are defined and their biochemical functions scrutinized, the evidence supporting a direct link between nutrition and AD neuropathology continues to grow....Sleepy fruit flies provide clues to learning and memory
...ns in the fruit flies. "Sleeping fruit flies" were defined as those that remained immobile for at least five minutes. "From the beginning, we took the unbiased approach," explains Sehgal. "We targeted PKA activity to different areas of the fly brain to find out where PKA acts to regulate sleep." Sehgal was ...ICSI children are developing well at the age of eight
...r Belva said: "Major congenital malformations were defined as those causing functional impairment and/or needing surgical correction; all the rest were minor malformations." Examples of major malformations included dextrocardia (where the apex of the heart points to the right instead of the left), large port...Global patterns of geographic range sizes: A bird's eye view
...lls containing the species. Latitudinal extent was defined as the difference between the northern and southern limits of the vector maps for each breeding range. Species richness was calculated by adding all the species in each cell. Their analysis shows that the majority of bird species have small geographi...Finding a cellular Neverland: How stem cells stay childlike
...for what cell biologists call "stemness," which is defined by two qualities: the ability of ES cells to divide or "self-renew" and their plasticity in assuming the identity of almost any cell type, which is also known as "pluripotency." In a study published earlier this year, the same Belmonte and Gage la...Speeding discovery of the 'human cancer genome'
...cally engineered mice, by definition, develop more defined cancers than humans," he said. "Mice can therefore be used as a filter to help reduce that noise, and as a tool to determine, in areas of chromosomal alteration, what changes are functionally relevant." The difficulty stems from the fact that studi...Childhood cancer survivors are more likely to go through early menopause
...ors have an increased risk of premature menopause, defined as menopause before age 40. Charles A. Sklar, M.D., of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and colleagues examined the incidence of and risk factors for premature menopause in 2,819 childhood cancer survivors over age 18 as identi...