Body

A team of researchers from CIC bioGUNE from the Cellular Biology and Stem Cell Unit, alongside a team from Paris' Cardiovascular Research Centre (INSERM U970) have developed a new area of research which looks extremely promising as regards the development of new therapeutic responses to ischemic pathologies and cardiovascular diseases in general. The results of this research project, which was initiated in 2005 and is supported by Bizkaia:Xede and the Basque Government's Etortek programme, were published in the prestigious scientific journal Circulation.

Researchers from CIC bioGUNE's Structural Biology Unit and Columbia University (New York) have conducted a joint research project, published in the prestigious scientific journal Structure, to gain in-depth knowledge of the structure of pyruvate carboxylase when it is in solution (in the "natural" state).

ANN ARBOR, Mich. —University of Michigan researchers have developed an animal model that provides strong evidence why imatinib, marketed as Gleevec, helps patients with chronic myeloid leukemia survive longer, but does not keep the disease from returning if treatment ends.

Leukemia-initiating cells are able to live below the drug's radar and enable the disease to recur in most cases after treatment stops, the researchers report in the August issue of Cancer Cell.

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have isolated a unique protein that appears to have a dual function and could lead to a "boon in medicine." The findings are published in the August issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

Early relatives of spiders that lived around 300 million years ago are revealed in new three-dimensional models, in research published today in the journal Biology Letters.

Scientists at Imperial College London have created detailed 3D computer models of two fossilised specimens of ancient creatures called Cryptomartus hindi and Eophrynus prestvicii, closely related to modern-day spiders. The study reveals some of the physical traits that helped them to hunt for prey and evade predators.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As the body creates antibodies to fight invaders, a three-protein DNA repair complex called MRN is crucial for a normal gene-shuffling process to proceed properly, University of Michigan research shows.

The discoveries in mice, published online this week in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, advance understanding of the immune system and shed light on how B-cell lymphoma and some other cancers may begin.

U-M scientists found that:

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A new study done by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine shows that social stress could be an important precursor to heart disease by causing the body to deposit more fat in the abdominal cavity, speeding the harmful buildup of plaque in blood vessels, a stepping stone to the number one cause of death in the world.

Geckos are very adept at climbing through difficult terrain using an intricate adhesive system. Until now it has not been known when and how they switch on their unique system of traction.

Scientists at the University of Calgary and Clemson University in South Carolina have discovered that the geckos' amazing grip is triggered by gravity.

The active ingredient in many insect repellents, deet, has been found to be toxic to the central nervous system. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology say that more investigations are urgently needed to confirm or dismiss any potential neurotoxicity to humans, especially when deet-based repellents are used in combination with other neurotoxic insecticides.

A compound initially isolated from a soft coral (Capnella imbricata) collected at Green Island off Taiwan, could lead scientists to develop a new set of treatments for neuropathic pain – chronic pain that sometimes follows damage to the nervous system. Currently this form of pain is very poorly controlled by the usual analgesics (aspirin like drugs (NSAIDS) or even opioids like morphine) and novel treatments are urgently required. The conclusion of a paper in the British Journal of Pharmacology is that this new compound could be a candidate.

"We just don't know how tribunals affect a society, whether they increase mental and physical disabilities or relieve them," Sonis says. Sonis and colleagues are now conducting a longitudinal study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, to measure the effects of the trials on Cambodians over time.

Older adults who are subjected to abuse or self-neglect face a greater risk of premature death than other seniors, according to a study published in the August 5 issue of JAMA.

Moreover, contrary to widely held views that elders who are physically or cognitively impaired are more likely to suffer adverse consequences from abuse or self-neglect, the researchers found that even more capable seniors also faced a higher risk of dying.

Large number of individuals who experienced intense or prolonged exposure to the World Trade Center attack, have reported new diagnoses of asthma or posttraumatic stress 5-6 years after the attack, according to a study in JAMA.

Cooling unconscious cardiac arrest survivors can increase survival and has a cost effectiveness comparable to other widely accepted treatments in modern health care, researchers report in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, where the heart stops effectively pumping blood through the body, annually occurs in about 300,000 adults in the United States.

For enzymes in our immune system, the key to sensing certain types of viral RNA pairs lies in the virus' RNA -- a long molecular chain often used to make proteins -- and how it regulates an enzyme called protein kinase R (PKR), according to researchers from Penn State, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Beijing.