New strategy for treating allergic disorders
... The rising incidence of these disorders calls for more effective treatments with fewer side effects. The biopharmaceutical company ActoGeniX is playing a crucial role in the development of such new medicines. Indeed, upon its founding in 2006, ActoGeniX acquired the complete patent portfolio concerning t...Success or failure of antidepressant citalopram predicted by gene variation
...alled GRIK4 appears to make people with depression more likely to respond to the medication citalopram (Ce...l effect in an earlier study, they were 23 percent more likely to respond to citalopram than were people with neither variation. The finding addresses a ke...Coelacanth fossil sheds light on fin-to-limb evolution
... return to the Wyoming site next summer to collect more samples. ...A low expression of MX2 gene exists in the white blood cells of narcoleptics
... when a relative also has it. It is very rare for more than two people in the same family to have this sleep disorder. It affects the same number of men and women. Those who suspect they might be suffering from narcolepsy, or another sleep disorder, are urged to consult with their primary care doctor...Marijuana component opens the door for virus that causes Kaposi's sarcoma
...uch as AIDS patients or transplant recipients, are more susceptible to developing the sarcoma as a result ...ely opens the door for KSHV, allowing the virus to more easily enter and infect the cell. We can take away that effect by using antagonists that block the t...Altering a protein makes mice less fearful
...in fear, targeting the ASIC1a protein might have a more focused effect on anxiety with fewer side effects ...ie explained. "If we could find something that was more specific, or even had a different set of side effects, that could be an advantage." Although this ...... in this and other related research is to discover more effective, more easily tolerated treatments than those available now if an anthrax attack occurs, says U-M scientist...Progesterone injections do not prevent preterm birth in twin pregnancies
...ods, such as daily vaginal suppositories, might be more effective, he said. A commercial formulation of the drug, marketed under the name Gestiva, has been granted orphan drug status by the Food and Drug Administration and an application for full FDA approval is pending....Handicapping tuberculosis may be the way to a better vaccine
... system is weak, such as during HIV infection, and more than 1.6 million die each year from this disease. ...singly common, making an effective vaccine all the more crucial. Were very excited because this is the first vaccine strain weve ever seen that is signific...Orangutans' communication resembles a game of 'charades'
.... The result is that understanding can be achieved more quickly. The orangutans charades-like strategy is one way to construct a shared lexicon from learned or ritualized signals, the researchers concluded. Further investigation of communication among apes may therefore provide insight into the pre-ling...How a pain in the neck could be bad for your blood pressure
...ified by Godfather of Neuroscience Ramon Y Cajal, more than 100 years ago, though its function was not un...y hope that this knowledge could be used to design more effective treatments for such injuries. ...Synchrotron could help save the Tassie devil
...tine strategy easier to establish, as well as much more efficient. The idea is based on Australian resea...ron at least nine hours flying time from Tasmania more likely further would make the whole thing very difficult, particularly in terms of biosecurity conc...Native fruits bear sweet antioxidants
... to the growing need to ensure agriculture becomes more sustainable. Co-author Dr Michael Netzel a post-doctoral researcher at Food Science Australia supported by Germanys Alexander von Humboldt Foundation says the native fruits were shown to be rich sources of antioxidants, with stronger radical scav...New grants bolster efforts to generate faster and cheaper tools for DNA sequencing
...National Institutes of Health (NIH), today awarded more than $15 million in grants to support development ...inic. The era of personalized medicine will demand more efficient and cost-effective approaches to DNA sequencing, said NHGRI Director Francis S. Collins, M...Penn researchers discover pathway that eliminates genetic defects in red blood cells
...ways known as surveillance pathways operate in a more general way, in many cell types. Knowing how this specific surveillance system works can help researchers better understand hereditary diseases, in this case, thalassemia, a form of anemia, which is the most common genetic disorder worldwide. The ...Identifying the mechanism behind a genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes
...rtain variants of the gene TCF7L2 make individuals more susceptible to type 2 diabetes. The susceptibility variants were associated with increased expression of TCF7L2 in pancreatic islet cells and decreased islet cell secretion of insulin. Consistent with this, ectopic overexpression of TCF7L2 in human i...Developing a more effective vaccine for tuberculosis
...that causes tuberculosis, M. Tuberculosis, infects more than a one third of the world's population. Althou...intensive research effort designed to develop new, more efficient vaccines that protect all individuals from tuberculosis. In a study that appears in the ...Progesterone therapy and preterm birth: More evidence helps identify women who can benefit
...twin gestations. For example, progesterone may be more effective against some pathway that does not invol... over-distention seen in twin pregnancy. We need more research into the underlying causes of prematurity to help women with other risk factors, Dr. Katz s...JCI table of contents: August 1, 2007
EDITOR'S PICK: Developing a more effective vaccine for tuberculosis The microor...that causes tuberculosis, M. Tuberculosis, infects more than a one third of the world's population. Although the currently used vaccine (M. bovis BCG) provi...U-M researchers find family of 'on switches' that cause prostate cancer
...theres not just one type of prostate cancer. Its a more complex disease and potentially needs to be treated differently in each patient, says lead study author Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, a new U-M center whose goal is to translate research in...