Body

Athens, Ga. - Pharmaceutical companies and universities are racing to develop drugs that use the gene silencing mechanism known as RNA interference to treat a host of diseases. Now, a new study opens up an entirely new possibility for this powerful tool: Researchers at the University of Georgia have demonstrated for the first time that RNA interference can be used as a tool in the development of vaccines.

St. Louis, December 10, 2008 — Researchers may have identified one of the body's earliest responses to a group of parasites that causes illness in developing nations.

In a paper published online in Public Library of Science Pathogens, scientists report that they tracked immune cells as they patrolled the second-shallowest layer of the skin in an animal model. Injections of a genetically modified form of the parasite Leishmania major caused the immune cells to turn from their patrols and move to intercept the parasites.

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – Much like cancer cells, plant cells grown for a long time outside of their normal milieu, in culture dishes, have highly unstable genomes. Changes in gene activity, or how genes are "expressed," help cells cope with challenging culture conditions but inadvertently also leave genes prone to mis-regulation by transposons -- bits of DNA that can jump around in the genome, inserting themselves into random genetic locations, often disrupting normal gene function and regulation.

A University of British Columbia geneticist has discovered a gene mutation that can cause the most common eye cancer - uveal melanoma.

Catherine Van Raamsdonk, an assistant professor of medical genetics in the UBC Faculty of Medicine and a team of researchers, have discovered a genetic mutation in a gene called GNAQ that could be responsible for 45 per cent of the cases of uveal melanoma.

The findings, published today in Nature, will allow researchers to develop therapeutic interventions against some melanomas.

By blocking PD-1 (programmed death-1), an immune receptor molecule known to inhibit the immune response to chronic viral infections, scientists have safely and significantly reduced the plasma viral load and also prolonged survival of rhesus macaque monkeys severely infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the nonhuman primate version of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The therapeutic strategy worked by boosting the function of anti-viral killer cells (CD8 T cells) and improving antibody response to the virus.

STANFORD, Calif. — Like it or not, your living room probably says a lot about you. Given a few uninterrupted moments to poke around, a stranger could probably get a pretty good idea of your likes and dislikes, and maybe even your future plans. Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine employing a similar "peeping Tom" tactic to learn more about how stem cells develop have taken a significant step forward by devising a way to recreate the cells' lair — a microenvironment called a niche — in an adult animal.

HOW quickly HIV turns into AIDS might depend on an individual's DNA. Some variations in the DNA in mitochondria, the parts of cells that generate energy, seem to make AIDS develop twice as fast as others.

Stephen O'Brien from the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, and colleagues examined data from five long-term studies tracking a total of 1833 people with HIV during the 1980s and early 1990s. This was before antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was commonly used, so the team could follow the disease's development without intervention.

California's low-income teenagers have a lot in common: Sugary soda. Fast-food restaurants. Too much television. Not enough exercise. The result: Low-income teenagers are almost three times more likely to be obese than teens from more affluent households, according to new research from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

When the University of Chicago's David Mazziotti talks about chemistry, perhaps he is thinking about how the behavior of all of the electrons in a molecule can be anticipated from the behavior of just two of its electrons.

Scientists working on a common antimicrobial compound with antimalarial activity have discovered a range of new therapeutic strategies to combat malaria. The research, published by Cell Press in the December 11th issue of the journal Cell Host and Microbe, provides valuable insight into how the human malaria parasite's requirement for fatty acids can be exploited as it progresses through the distinct stages of its complex life cycle.

Approximately 38 percent of adults in the United States aged 18 years and over and nearly 12 percent of U.S. children aged 17 years and under use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), according to a new nationwide government survey.* This survey marks the first time questions were included on children's use of CAM, which is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products such as herbal supplements, meditation, chiropractic, and acupuncture that are not generally considered to be part of conventional medicine.

Fort Lauderdale, FL – December 10, 2008 – Worldwide, more than 500,000 new cases of cancer of the mouth are diagnosed each year. The majority of these cancers are found too late, causing many people to die within five years of finding out they have cancer. There exists much information addressing issues related to the patient who has undergone surgery or chemotherapy but little information related to early diagnosis and referral. In a new article in the Journal of Prosthodontics, researchers led by Michael A.

Montreal, December 10th, 2008 –Insufficient vitamin D can stunt growth and foster weight gain during puberty, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Even in sun-drenched California, where scientists from the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and the University of Southern California conducted their study, vitamin D deficiency was found to cause higher body mass and shorter stature in girls at the peak of their growing spurt.

The United States must re-establish its global leadership in nuclear arms control while continuing to update its nuclear arsenal as necessary, but it should not add any new nuclear capabilities in the process, a joint working group of scientists and policy experts says in a study meant to inform decision making by the incoming Obama administration.

Durban, South Africa – December 10, 2008 – In recent conflicts, most notably in Rwanda, women and girls have been systematically raped as a policy of war. During the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, Hutu leaders ordered their troops to rape Tutsi women as part of their genocidal campaign. United Nations' officials estimated that a quarter of a million women were raped and subjected to sexual violence on a massive scale.