St. Louis, Aprl 8, 2008 — The ability of brain cells to take in substances from their surface is essential to the production of a key ingredient in Alzheimer's brain plaques, neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---By revealing the inner workings of a common cell-to-cell signaling system, University of Michigan biologists have uncovered new clues about mysterious and contentious creatures called cancer stem cells.
The findings also have implications for a high-profile breast-cancer drug trial getting underway at the U-M Medical School and two other institutions.
Repeatedly stimulating the mouse brain with methamphetamine depresses important areas of the brain, and those changes can only be undone by re-introducing the drug, according to research at the University of Washington and other institutions. The study, which appears in the April 10 issue of the journal Neuron, provides one of the most in-depth views of the mechanisms of methamphetamine addiction, and suggests that withdrawal from the drug may not undo the changes the stimulant can cause in the brain.
Closing schools in the event of a flu pandemic could slow the spread of the virus and prevent up to one in seven cases, according to a new study published today in the journal Nature.
School closure is the non-pharmaceutical policy option that health organisations and governments most often consider to control the spread of a future flu pandemic, but there had previously been little evidence about its potential effectiveness.
(Toronto April 9, 2008) Scientists at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute have discovered a novel signaling pathway between three organs the gut, the brain, and the liver which lowers blood sugar when activated.
The osteoporosis drug raloxifene increases bone mineral density and reduces the risk of vertebral fractures among postmenopausal women with mild to moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study appearing in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology. The findings indicate that raloxifene is safe and effective for women with CKD, a patient population often excluded from studies of osteoporosis drugs.
BOSTON -- April 9, 2008 -- Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have identified a gene that is responsible for the division and movement of marrow-derived, blood-forming stem cells, a finding that could have major implications for the future of bone marrow and blood cell transplantation.
Researchers have identified a key mechanism by which the protein sludge that kills brain cells accumulates in Alzheimers disease (AD). Their findings in mice offer clues to treating AD and also could explain why memory centers of the brain are most affected in the disease.
Researchers have identified, for the first time, long-term changes in the brain circuitry of methamphetamine-addicted mice that can explain why the craving of addiction is so stubborn and long-lived. The research could lead to more effective treatments for addiction to methamphetamine and related drugs.
Nigel Bamford and colleagues published their findings in the April 10, 2008, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press.
STANFORD, Calif. - With a bit of genetic trickery, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have turned normal skin cells into cancer stem cells, a step that will make these naturally rare cells easier to study.
Cancer stem cells are thought to be the ones that drive a cancer, and are therefore the targets of any cancer therapy that must kill them in order to be effective. Understanding these cells has been a challenge, however, because they are rare, difficult to isolate and don't grow well in the lab.
Sitewide
