Body

MADISON – The protein GATA2 is known as a "master regulator" of blood cell development. When a mutation occurs in the gene that makes GATA2, serious blood diseases such as acute myeloid leukemia can result.

Zooming in on the GATA2 gene, UW-Madison researchers and their collaborators at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have discovered unexpectedly that a small DNA sequence drives this powerful master regulator.

NEW YORK (September 10, 2012) -- A new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College shows combining two already-FDA approved drugs may offer a new and potent punch against diseases in which blood vessel growth is abnormal -- such as cancer, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — More than a cancer-causing gene is needed to trigger pancreatic cancer, a study led by Mayo Clinic has found. A second factor creates a "perfect storm" that allows tumors to form, the researchers say. The study, published in the Sept.

Scientists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered a subpopulation of cells that display cancer stem cell properties and resistance to chemotherapy, and participate in tumor progression. This breakthrough could lead to the development of new tests for early cancer diagnosis, prognostic tests, and innovative therapeutic strategies, as reported in Cancer Cell.

AT A GLANCE

Ann Arbor, Mich. — Tight blood sugar control in the intensive care unit for pediatric cardiac surgery patients does not improve patients' infection rate, mortality, length of stay or organ failure when compared to standard care, new research shows.

The research, conducted at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Boston Children's Hospital, will be published Online First in the New England Journal of Medicine Sept. 7.

Hip and knee replacements are now a common surgical procedure with more than 700,000 total joint arthroplasties (TJAs) performed in the US every year. Due to the reduction in pain and increases in mobility experienced after having a TJA, it could be expected that weight loss may occur as a by-product of the surgery. But is this the case? This is the question posed by Maria Inacio, a doctoral candidate from the San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego, who is employed at Kaiser Permanente, and her colleagues at those institutions.

Pregnant women who have had prior preterm births may avoid a subsequent early birth if given progestogens, which are natural or synthetic forms of progesterone, a female hormone that naturally increases during pregnancy, a Vanderbilt analysis shows.

This press release is available in Spanish.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist is showing growers how to combat whiteflies and other crop pests by using plants as storehouses for predatory insects that can migrate to cash crops and feed on the pests attacking those crops.

Millions of us send billions of emails back and forth each day without much concern for their security. On the whole, security is not a primary concern for most day-to-day emails, but some emails do contain personal, proprietary and sensitive information, documents, media, photos, videos and sound files. Unfortunately, the open nature of email means that they can be intercepted and if not encrypted easily read by malicious third parties.

Philadelphia, Pa. (September 10, 2012) – Women and girls are at increased risk of adverse outcomes after surgical treatment for moyamoya disease, an uncommon but serious disease of the brain blood vessels, reports a study in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

Genetic variations that are linked with the onset of Barrett's oesophagus (BE), a pre-cancerous condition of the lower end of the gullet, have been identified for the first time. The discovery of variations in regions on two chromosomes makes it possible to develop screening tests for people at high risk of developing the disease.

Researchers have newly identified three genetic regions associated with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), the most common autoimmune liver disease, increasing the number of known regions associated with the disorder to 25.

A study of more than 6,000 genes in a common species of yeast has identified the pathways that govern the instability of GAA/TTC repeats. In humans, the expansions of these repeats is known to inactivate a gene – FXN – which leads to Friedreich's ataxia, a neurodegenerative disease that is currently incurable. In yeast, long repeats also destabilize the genome, manifested by the breakage of chromosomes.

The rapid proliferation of genome sequence data has renewed interest in the causes of molecular evolution.

The authors review the basis of the "nearly neutral" theory of molecular evolution, which proposes that the interaction of genetic drift and weak natural selection is prevalent in genome evolution.

They review abundant evidence from population genetic and comparative genomic analyses that supports weak selection, but they also discuss overlapping predictions from other models.

GENETICS, Hiroshi Akashi, Naoki Osada, and Tomoko Ohta, pp. 15-31