An ID for Alzheimer's?

Tweet

Every aging baby boomer listens for the footsteps of Alzheimer's, and for good reason: It's estimated that 10 million American boomers will develop the disease. The need to develop preventative strategies, ideally long before Alzheimer's destructive, clinical symptoms appear, is critical.

Calcium may be the key to understanding Alzheimer's disease

Tweet

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that mutations in two proteins associated with familial Alzheimer's disease disrupt the flow of calcium ions within neurons. The two proteins, called PS1 and PS2 (presenilin 1 and 2), interact with a calcium release channel in an intracellular cell compartment.

A viral cloaking device

Tweet

PASADENA, Calif.--Viruses achieve their definition of success when they can thrive without killing their host. Now, biologists Pamela Bjorkman and Zhiru Yang of the California Institute of Technology have uncovered how one such virus, prevalent in humans, evolved over time to hide from the immune system.

Suckling infants trigger surges of trust hormone in mothers' brains

Tweet

Researchers from the University of Warwick, in collaboration with other universities and institutes in Edinburgh, France and Italy, have for the first time been able to show exactly how, when a baby suckles at a mother's breast, it starts a chain of events that leads to surges of the "trust" hormone oxytocin being released in their mothers brains.

Novel computational model describes the speed at which HIV escapes the immune response

Tweet

Researchers from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, have developed a model that illustrates how HIV evades the immune system. The study, published July 18th in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, incorporates detailed interactions between a mutating virus and the immune system.

Surges of trust hormone between mother and infant are created by dendrites

Tweet

Researchers from China, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, have created a model that shows exactly how, when a baby suckles at a mother's breast, it starts a chain of events that leads to a surge of the "trust" hormone oxytocin in their mother's brain. Details are published July 18th in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology.

Early study reveals promising Alzheimer's disease treatment

Tweet

A drug once approved as an antihistamine in Russia improved thinking processes and ability to function in patients with Alzheimer's disease in a study conducted there, said an expert at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. The findings are published in the current issue of the journal The Lancet.

"More research is needed, but we are encouraged by the effect the drug Dimebon had on Alzheimer's patients" said Dr. Rachelle Doody, professor of neurology at BCM and lead author of the study.

Loss of stability of the AHI1-HAP1 complex an issue in Joubert syndrome

Tweet

JCI online early table of contents: July 17, 2008

Tweet

EDITOR'S PICK: Loss of stability of the AHI1-HAP1 complex an issue in Joubert syndrome