Scientists align billion-year-old protein with embryonic heart defects
University of Rochester scientists studying a vital protein called Serum Response Factor (SRF)...r irregular reactions to drugs. "One reason for studying the biology of our genetic blueprint is so that we can understand how mutations in the genes encodin...New technique scans electrical 'brainscape'
... The technique will be important for studying both the different states of the healthy brain and the pathology of neurological disorders, said Nicolelis. "For example, we can analyze brain activity in sleep-deprived animals, those in the process of learning or transgenic animals w...Marine snail study gives insights into human brain
...r neuroscientists learn about the human brain from studying a marine snail? Much more than one might suspect. ...st synaptic transmission in the brain. Glanzman is studying the role of AMPA receptors in learning. In addition, Glanzman plans to start studying a ...New marrow transplant method developed at Stanford may eliminate fatal side effects
...dicine (immunology and rheumatology), who has been studying these types of cells for more than 25 years. Robert Lowsky, MD, assistant professor of medicine (bone marrow transplantation), has adapted this strategy for humans along with Strober, and will present the results of tests Dec. 6 at the annual America...NHLBI stops sickle cell anemia transfusion study
...of Health (NIH) has stopped early a clinical trial studying whether children with sickle cell anemia at high risk for stroke could at some point after a minimum of 30 months (range 30-91 months) safely stop receiving the periodic blood transfusions that prevent strokes. The study found a return to high risk ...Two-fisted assault on dopamine transport system may be foundation of Parkinson's disease
...er the questions "Why?" and "How?" By studying the effects of rotenone on rat neurons, they discovered that one of the targets of the pesticide was microtubules intracellular highways for transporting various chemicals such as dopamine to the brain area that controls body movement. N...Replicating an eel's nerve circuitry may aid paralyzed people
...rking with Avis H. Cohen, who has spent many years studying the lamprey's nervous system and how it directs swimming. Cohen is a professor in the Department of Biology, Neuroscience and Cognitive Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. "Even though the lamprey is a very primitive vertebrate, we ...Temporary weight gain over the winter holidays... might be a good thing
...assistant professor and biologist Gregory Demas is studying the relationship between fat reserves and immune function in animal models. So far, Demas has found that sudden weight loss leads to the rapid depression of immune function, and he says the opposite also holds true: an increase in fat reserves bolste...Employment reduces chronic drug use, UH professors find
...shop." A pair of University of Houston professors studying employment and drug use now provide support for that proverb. Led by Isaac D. Montoya, clinical professor at the UH College of Pharmacy, this National Institutes of Health (NIH) study found that employment reduces the chronic drug use of female wel...Brain imaging with MRI could replace lie detector
... just begun to understand the potential of fMRI in studying deceptive behavior," Dr. Faro said. "We plan to investigate the potential of fMRI both as a stand-alone test and as a supplement to the polygraph with the goal of creating the most accurate test for deception." Dr. Faro's co-authors on this paper wer...Humble Planaria worm offers ideal model for drug withdrawal research
...aria worm has a brain and spinal cord, both key to studying the effects of drug abuse and withdrawal. Furthermore, Planaria have the same types of neurotransmitter systems as humans and thus respond to dopamine, opioids, cocaine and cannabinoids. "Planaria offer a clean and uncomplicated model. We don't ...University of Utah study suggests cellular waste to blame for a form of blinding eye disease
...er, we have already gained invaluable lessons from studying four families with this mutation. The next step is to begin working on a pharmaceutical intervention to counteract the effect of the gene mutations," he said. Although one of the three gene mutations in this study was independently r...Computer simulation shows how fibrils form
...articular disease-associated proteins." Besides studying fibrils in the test tube, researchers would like to make computer models to view fibril formation. This is not possible using the traditional atomic-level protein folding simulation techniques which follow the motions of every atom on every protein ...The NIH funds network to study drug-induced liver injury (DILIN)
...g induced liver injury. "Part of the difficulty in studying drug-induced liver disease is the absence of a sufficient cohort of well-characterized patients in whom to carry out clinical, genetic, immunological and biochemical investigation," says Jose Serrano, M.D., Ph.D, director, NIDDKs' Liver and Biliary D...Computer reads heart condition from X-ray images
...y. The condition of the heart can be determined by studying the wall motion of the ventricle from these images. This is usually done by outlining the contours of the heart chamber at the phase of maximal filling of the heart chamber with blood and at the phase of minimal filling, i.e. at two phases during a c...Chemoprevention backgrounder: Working for a future of cancer chemoprevention
...racic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, who had been studying the role of vitamin A (retinol) and its chemical c...ay to understand why this is so. Bresalier also is studying the effect of taking a combination of vitamin D and calcium on the development of polyps in people w...Brain inflammation found in autism
...in this line of research, Pardo and colleagues are studying how the genetic background of patients and families may influence the development of immunological reactions in the brain that confer susceptibility to autism....Premature infants with lung disease may continue to need replacement substance to ease breathing
...ion of surfactant," said Dr. Ballard, who has been studying infant lung development for more than 30 years. He and his colleagues are currently carrying out a pilot trial of surfactant therapy in preterm infants older than 7 days, and they are planning a clinical trial to investigate short- and long-term safe...Brain's immune system triggered in autism
...n," says Pardo. Pardo and colleagues are now studying how the genetic background of patients and families may influence immune system reactions in the brain associated with autism. ...Millions who suffer from nut and milk allergies could benefit from Stanford researcher's test
... Umetsu said. He and his colleagues have also been studying how HKL affects the immune system. Results from those studies were recently published in Nature Immunology. In a paper published in 2003, other researchers prevented peanut allergy in mice by vaccinating them with HKL and peanuts. Umetsu'...