Body

The ability to efficiently generate patient-specific stem cells from differentiated cells and then reliably direct them to form specialized cells (like neurons or muscle) has tremendous therapeutic potential for replacing diseased or damaged tissues. However, despite some successes, there have been significant limitations associated with existing methods used to generate human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

One in seven couples worldwide has difficulty conceiving a child, and male infertility is thought to account for nearly half of those cases. Although the cause of male infertility is often unknown, scientists have now discovered a genetic alteration that disrupts sperm production in otherwise healthy men. The research, published by Cell Press on September 30th in the American Journal of Human Genetics, provides new insight into one cause of male infertility.

The role of a key nutrient which prevents cataracts in salmon has been revealed by eye specialists at the University of East Anglia.

BOSTON –By creating a "map" of histone modifications in fat cells, investigators have discovered two new factors that regulate fat formation, a key step on the road to better understanding obesity, diabetes and other metabolic disorders. Led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Broad Institute, the study appears in the October 1 issue of the journal Cell.

A break in the two chromosomes has given scientists a break in finding a new gene involved in puberty, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in Athens, Georgia, have reported for the first time that several species of Aspergillus niger, or black aspergilli, are capable of infecting corn and peanuts as endophytes. The researchers also showed that, under laboratory conditions, these species produced mycotoxins.

Therapeutic lentiviral vectors are emerging as vital tools for molecular medicine as evidenced by the growing number of clinical trials using these vector systems. From a basic research standpoint, lentiviral vectors are very intriguing substrates. On the one hand, the HIV-1 genome offers expanded cloning capacity and the capability to transduce nondividing cells such as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and neurons.

An Australian study of identical twins shows that a rare genetic form of epilepsy can be caused by a genetic mutation that occurs in the embryo, and not necessarily passed down from parents.

The study was led by the University of Melbourne and Austin Health and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

If you are one of the millions of Americans with high blood pressure, more help is on the way. That's because a new research study published in the October 2010 print issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) shows that a protein, called P450, metabolizes arachidonic acid in our blood vessel walls to create a tiny molecule with a big name—epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EET)—which in mice, turns off genes responsible for vascular inflammation and ultimately relaxes blood vessels to lower blood pressure.

A new research report in the October 2010 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (http://www.jleukbio.org) sheds important light on how our immune systems detect invading organisms to be destroyed and removed from our bodies. The information from this research should ultimately help lead to the development of new drugs and treatments that allow health care providers to prevent runaway immune reactions that can have devastating consequences for people.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Sept. 30, 2010 — DNA methylation — a modification of DNA linked to gene regulation — is altered with increasing severity in a blood cancer called multiple myeloma, according to a study by Mayo Clinic and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

And at specific points of DNA, "global hypomethylation," in which many genes lose the modification, may be associated with the step-by-step development of myeloma, according to a scientific paper published this month in the journal Cancer Research.

CHICAGO --- A phase II clinical trial of the first new type of drug for musculoskeletal pain since aspirin shows that it significantly reduces knee pain in osteoarthritis, the most common osteoarthritis pain, according to new research from Northwestern Medicine.

However, phase III trials of that drug, tanezumab, have been placed on clinical hold after 16 out of several thousand participants in the new trial developed progressively worsening arthritis and bone changes that required total joint replacements.

A high protein diet during development primes the body to react unhealthily to future food binges. A study on juvenile rats, published in Nutrition and Metabolism, suggests that lasting changes result from altering the composition of the first solid food that is consumed throughout growth into early adulthood.

Philadelphia, Sept. 29, 2010 – Using immunotherapy—biologic agents that stimulate the body’s immune system—pediatric oncologists have achieved the first substantial increase in over a decade in cure rates for the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. A newly released study shows that the new treatment improved two-year survival rates by 20 percent, compared to standard treatment for an aggressive form of neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system.