http://medicineworld.org/news/research-news.html MedicineWorld.Org brings daily research news from various sources to keep you updated on the latest events in the world on this topic. Medicineworld research news service is the most comprehensive research news service on the internet. We keep an archive of previous few days of news on this site. Please go down through the list to find the older news items Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT en-us http://medicineworld.org/images/research-news.jpg http://medicineworld.org/news/research-news.html 94 103 http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/9-2011/new-half-match-bone-marrow-transplant.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/9-2011/new-half-match-bone-marrow-transplant.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Half-matched bone marrow or stem cell transplants for blood cancer patients have typically been linked to disappointing clinical outcomes. However, a clinical trial conducted at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson testing its unique, two-step half-match procedure has produced some promising results: the probability of overall survival was 45 percent in all patients after three years and 75 percent in patients who were in remission at the time of the transplant........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/8-2011/good-prion-like-proteins-boost-immune-response.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/8-2011/good-prion-like-proteins-boost-immune-response.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT A person's ability to battle viruses at the cellular level remarkably resembles the way deadly infectious agents called prions misfold and cluster native proteins to cause disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists report. This study marks the first discovery of so-called "good" prion-like proteins in human cells and the first to find such proteins involved in innate immunity: the way the body recognizes and responds to threats from viruses or other external agents, said Dr. Zhijian "James" Chen, professor of molecular biology and senior author of the study in the Aug. 5 print edition of the journal Cell....... ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2011/we-are-all-mutants.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2011/we-are-all-mutants.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Each one of us receives approximately 60 new mutations in our genome from our parents. This striking value is published in the first-ever direct measure of new mutations coming from mother and father in whole human genomes published recently. For the first time, scientists have been able to answer the questions: how a number of new mutations does a child have and did most of them come from mum or dad? The scientists measured directly the numbers of mutations in two families, using whole genome sequences from the 1000 Genomes Project. The results also reveal that human genomes, like all genomes, are changed by the forces of mutation: our DNA is altered by differences in its code from that of our parents. Mutations that occur in sperm or egg cells will be 'new' mutations not seen in our parents........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2011/finding-genetic-mistakes-that-fuel-cancer.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2011/finding-genetic-mistakes-that-fuel-cancer.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT A dramatically better computer tool for finding the genetic missteps that fuel cancer has been developed by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital � Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project investigators. Scientists are using the new algorithm to help identify the chromosomal rearrangements and DNA insertions or deletions unique to cancer........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2011/new-generation-asthma-drug.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2011/new-generation-asthma-drug.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Formoterol, a new generation asthma medication, shows great promise for improving fat and protein metabolism, say Australian researchers, who have tested this effect in a small sample of men. The scientists presented their results on Saturday 4 June 2011 at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2011/source-of-key-brain-function.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/6-2011/source-of-key-brain-function.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Researchers at the University of Southern California have pinned down the region of the brain responsible for a key survival trait: our ability to comprehend a scene�even one never previously encountered�in a fraction of a second. The key is to process the interacting objects that comprise a scene more quickly than unrelated objects, as per corresponding author Irving Biederman, professor of psychology and computer science in the USC Dornsife College and the Harold W. Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/5-2011/what-is-a-laboratory-mouse.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/5-2011/what-is-a-laboratory-mouse.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Mice and humans share about 95 percent of their genes, and mice are recognized around the world as the leading experimental model for studying human biology and disease. But, says Jackson Laboratory Professor Gary Churchill, Ph.D., scientists can learn even more "now that we really know what a laboratory mouse is, genetically speaking."....... ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/5-2011/snapshots-of-huntingtons-disease-protein.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/5-2011/snapshots-of-huntingtons-disease-protein.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee have for the first time successfully characterized the earliest structural formation of the disease type of the protein that causes Huntington's disease. The incurable, hereditary neurological disorder is always fatal and affects one in 10,000 Americans........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/5-2011/a-better-mouse-model-to-study-depression.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/5-2011/a-better-mouse-model-to-study-depression.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have developed a mouse model of major depressive disorder (MDD) that is based on a rare genetic mutation that appears to cause MDD in the majority of people who inherit it. The findings, which were published online today in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics EarlyView, could help to clarify the brain events that lead to MDD, and contribute to the development of new and better means of therapy and prevention. This report also illustrates an advance in the design of recombinant mouse models that should be applicable to a number of human diseases........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/first-look-at-the-mechanics-of-membrane-proteins.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/first-look-at-the-mechanics-of-membrane-proteins.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT In two new studies, scientists provide the first detailed view of the elaborate chemical and mechanical interactions that allow the ribosome � the cell's protein-building machinery � to insert a growing protein into the cellular membrane. The first study, in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, gives an atom-by-atom snapshot of a pivotal stage in the insertion process: the moment just after the ribosome docks to a channel in the membrane and the newly forming protein winds its way into the membrane where it will reside........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/molecular-probe-to-study-disease.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/molecular-probe-to-study-disease.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Chemical engineers at UC Santa Barbara expect that their new process to create molecular probes may eventually result in the development of new drugs to treat cancer and other illnesses. Their work, published in the journal Chemistry and Biology, published by Cell Press, describes a new strategy to build molecular probes to visualize, measure, and learn about the activities of enzymes, called proteases, on the surface of cancer cells........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/nurturing-newborn-neurons.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/nurturing-newborn-neurons.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Adult mice engineered to have more newborn neurons in their brain memory hub excelled at accurately discriminating between similar experiences � an ability that declines with normal aging and in some anxiety disorders. Boosting such neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus also produced antidepressant-like effects when combined with exercise, in the study funded by the National Institutes of Health........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/4-new-genes-identified-for-alzheimers.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/4-new-genes-identified-for-alzheimers.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT Mount Sinai School of Medicine scientists are part of a consortium that has identified four new genes that when present increase the risk of a person developing Alzheimer's disease during the later part of life. The findings are reported in the current issue of Nature Genetics. The consortium also contributed to the identification of a fifth gene reported by other groups of researchers from the United States and Europe........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/dna-of-50-breast-cancer-patients-decoded.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/dna-of-50-breast-cancer-patients-decoded.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT In the single largest cancer genomics investigation reported to date, researchers have sequenced the whole genomes of tumors from 50 patients with breast cancer and compared them to the matched DNA of the same patients' healthy cells. This comparison allowed scientists to find mutations that only occurred in the cancer cells........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/promising-target-for-aids-vaccine.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/4-2011/promising-target-for-aids-vaccine.html Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:40 GMT A section of the AIDS virus's protein envelope once considered an improbable target for a vaccine now may be one of the most promising, new research by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers indicates. The section, a twisting strand of protein known as the V3 loop, is an attractive vaccine target because immune system antibodies aimed at the loop may offer protection against multiple genetic subtypes of HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. This is a key prerequisite of any AIDS vaccine because the viruses mutate rapidly and by now comprise millions of different strains that are grouped into different genetic subtypes, or "clades." The researchers' findings are published online in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS One. ........ ]]>