Body

PHILADELPHIA - Arterial stiffening has long been considered a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Keeping arteries soft and supple might reduce disease risk, but the mechanisms of how arteries stave off hardening has remained elusive.

Highlights

• Adding fruits and vegetables to the diet improves kidney disease patients' health.
• Poor nutrition plays a role in the link between poverty and kidney disease.
• Among kidney disease patients, Blacks are more likely to have uncontrolled blood pressure than Whites

Three studies presented during the American Society of Nephrology's Annual Kidney Week provide new information on diet and blood pressure in kidney disease patients.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A team of UC Davis investigators has discovered a protein on the surface of lung cancer cells that could prove to be an important new target for anti-cancer therapy. A series of experiments in mice with lung cancer showed that specific targeting of the protein with monoclonal antibodies reduced the size of tumors, lowered the occurrence of metastases and substantially lengthened survival time. The findings will be published in the November issue of Cancer Research.

In one of the largest studies of its kind ever conducted, an international team of scientists has thrown new light on the genetic basis of the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, the two most common forms of IBD, are chronic inflammatory digestive disorders affecting 230,000 Canadians. Dr.

Using the world's first family tree linking every known bird species, scientists, including two at Simon Fraser University, have discovered that birds appear to be accelerating their rate of evolution. The finding is contrary to the scientists' expectations.

They spent five years creating their tree, using millions of years worth of fossil data stretching back to the Age of the Dinosaurs. They then mapped where on Earth and when in history birds' diversification took place.

There's new hope in the fight against Huntington's disease. A group of researchers that includes scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have designed a compound that suppresses symptoms of the devastating disease in mice.

The compound is a synthetic antioxidant that targets mitochondria, an organelle within cells that serves as a cell's power plant. Oxidative damage to mitochondria is implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's.

Thanks to powerful computational tools developed at Simon Fraser University, more than 100 scientists from around the world have genetically mapped the largest and most varied number of human genomes to date.

The scientists, including SFU doctoral students Iman Hajirasouliha and Fereydoun Hormozdiari (recently graduated), sequenced and analyzed a pool of 1092 human genomes. Hormozdiari is now pursuing postdoctoral studies at the University of Washington.

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Helsinki in Finland have shown that the "switches" that regulate the expression of genes play a major role in the development of cancer. In a study, published in Science, they have investigated a gene region that contains a particular single nucleotide variant associated with increased risk for developing colorectal and prostate cancers – and found that removing this region caused dramatic resistance to tumor formation.

Biologists may have unearthed the potential to manipulate the functions of chloroplasts, the parts of plant cells responsible for photosynthesis.

Researchers in the University of Leicester's Department of Biology discovered that chloroplasts are affected by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) – a process which causes the breakdown of unwanted proteins in cells, previously thought to only act on central parts of the cell.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- For the kinds of animals that are most familiar to us — ones that are big enough to see — it's a no-brainer: Is it better to sit around and wait for food to come to you, or to move around and find it? Larger animals that opt to sit around aren't likely to last long.

But for bacteria out in the ocean, the question is a far more complicated one.

NEW YORK (Nov. 1, 2012) -- Weill Cornell Medical College researchers report that mass spectrometry, a tool currently used to detect and measure proteins and lipids, can also now allow biologists to "see" for the first time exactly how drugs work inside living cells to kill infectious microbes. As a result, scientists may be able to improve existing antibiotics and design new, smarter ones to fight deadly infections, such as tuberculosis. The new study was published in today's early online edition of Science.

Tendon injuries affect athletic horses at all levels. Researchers from the University of Connecticut are studying the use of stem cells in treating equine tendon injuries. Their findings were published Oct. 16 in the Journal of Animal Science Papers in Press.

Tendon injuries in horses tend to worsen over time as damage to the tendon creates lesions. Currently, horse owners treat tendon injuries by resting the horse and then carefully exercising the horse to control the growth of scar tissue in the tendon. Unfortunately, this treatment does not always work.

Using advanced microscopes equipped with tissue-penetrating laser light, cancer imaging experts at Johns Hopkins have developed a promising, new way to accurately analyze the distinctive patterns of ultra-thin collagen fibers in breast tumor tissue samples and to help tell if the cancer has spread.

Fairfax, Va. -- A malarial drug is showing promise in stopping breast cancer before it starts, Mason researchers are discovering during a clinical trial.

"The bold long-term goal is a short-term oral treatment that prevents breast cancer by killing the precursor cells that initiate breast cancer," says Lance Liotta, co-director of Mason's Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM). "And it's looking hopeful."

Predicting how atherosclerosis, osteoporosis or cancer will progress or respond to drugs in individual patients is difficult. In a new study, researchers took another step toward that goal by developing a technique able to predict from a blood sample the amount of cathepsins—protein-degrading enzymes known to accelerate these diseases—a specific person would produce.

This patient-specific information may be helpful in developing personalized approaches to treat these tissue-destructive diseases.