Discovery challenges fundamental tenet of cancer biology

Tweet

New Haven, Conn. — Yale researchers have identified an unusual molecular process in normal tissues that causes RNA molecules produced from separate genes to be clipped and stitched together. The discovery that these rearranged products exist in normal as well as cancerous cells potentially complicates the diagnosis of some cancers and raises the possibility that anti-cancer drugs like Gleevec could have predictable side effects.

The work is reported in the journal Science.

A light bulb and a few chemicals

Tweet

Princeton scientists have discovered a way of stimulating organic molecules that they expect will prompt researchers to create materials from new kinds of chemical reactions.

The method of catalysis, when used, could lead to groundbreaking kinds of drugs and agricultural chemicals and will provide a shortcut to standard multi-step methods of chemical production.

Living donor liver transplants may drastically decrease mortality from liver failure

Tweet

Patients with acute liver failure (ALF) could be saved by a transplant from a living donor (LDLT), according to a new study in the September issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal by John Wiley & Sons. The recent experience of U.S. patients shows that recipient mortality rates and donor morbidity rates are acceptable. The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).

Down-staged liver cancer associated with good post-transplant outcomes

Tweet

Patients with liver cancer can become viable candidates for transplantation if their tumors respond to treatment, a new study suggests. This report is in the September issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).

New evidence on the robustness of metabolic networks

Tweet

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Biological systems are constantly evolving in ways that increase their fitness for survival amidst environmental fluctuations and internal errors. Now, in a study of cell metabolism, a Northwestern University research team has found new evidence that evolution has produced cell metabolisms that are especially well suited to handle potentially harmful changes like gene deletions and mutations.

Gladstone scientists identify genetic link that may neutralize HIV

Tweet

Scientists from the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) and the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have identified a gene that may influence the production of antibodies that neutralize HIV. This new information will likely spur a new approach for making an HIV vaccine that elicits neutralizing antibodies. Neutralizing antibodies, once produced in the host, can attack and checkmate an infecting virus. The research was reported in the September 5 issue of Science.

Study reveals link between Apobec3 gene and neutralizing antibody response to retrovirus

Tweet

Scientists have uncovered new evidence that strengthens the link between a host-cell gene called Apobec3 and the production of neutralizing antibodies to retroviruses. Published in the Sept. 5 issue of Science, the finding adds a new dimension to the set of possible explanations for why most people who are infected with HIV do not make neutralizing antibodies that effectively fight the virus.

'Junk DNA' may have triggered limb development

Tweet

Out of the 3 billion genetic letters that spell out the human genome, Yale scientists have found a handful that may have contributed to the evolutionary changes in human limbs that enabled us to manipulate tools and walk upright.

Results from a comparative analysis of the human, chimpanzee, rhesus macaque and other genomes reported in the journal Science suggest our evolution may have been driven not only by sequence changes in genes, but by changes in areas of the genome once thought of as "junk DNA."

Firms with high analyst coverage engage in excessive external financing and capital spending

Tweet

Norfolk, VA – September 4, 2008 – A new study in the journal Financial Management explored whether abnormal analyst coverage influences the extent to which companies raise funds from external sources (e.g., issue bonds or sell stock) and the amount of new investments firms decide to undertake.

John A. Doukas, Chansog Francis Kim, and Christos Pantzalis reviewed data on firms between 1980 and 2003 and used industry-adjusted metrics to measure excess analyst coverage.

Bisphenol A linked to metabolic syndrome in human tissue

Tweet

CINCINNATI—New research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) implicates the primary chemical used to produce hard plastics—bisphenol A (BPA)—as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome and its consequences.

In a laboratory study, using fresh human fat tissues, the UC team found that BPA suppresses a key hormone, adiponectin, which is responsible for regulating insulin sensitivity in the body and puts people at a substantially higher risk for metabolic syndrome.