Body

Philadelphia, July 24, 2013 –Researchers have identified a master network of signaling molecules that acts like a "fuse box" to regulate the cellular effects of defective energy flow in mitochondrial respiratory chain diseases—a diverse set of difficult-to-treat genetic-based energy disorders. Using that knowledge, they showed that nicotinic acid, a form of vitamin B3, partially restores normal functioning in cells taken from patients with mitochondrial disease.

NEW YORK, NY (July 25, 2013) — Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) scientists have identified new genetic mutations that can cause pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare fatal disease characterized by high blood pressure in the lungs. The mutations, found in the gene KCNK3, appear to affect potassium channels in the pulmonary artery, a mechanism not previously linked to the condition. Cell culture studies showed that the mutations' effects could be reversed with a drug compound known as a phospholipase inhibitor.

LA JOLLA, CA – July 24, 2013 – Biologists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have made a significant discovery that could lead to a new therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease.

MINNEAPOLIS – People who stop taking cholesterol drugs may be at an increased risk for developing Parkinson's disease, according to research that appears in the July 24, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Previous studies on the relationship between cholesterol drugs called statins and the risk of Parkinson's disease have had inconsistent results.

Smoking during pregnancy appears to be a prenatal risk factor associated with conduct problems in children, according to a study published by JAMA Psychiatry, a JAMA Network publication.

Conduct disorder represents an issue of significant social, clinical, and practice concern, with evidence highlighting increasing rates of child conduct problems internationally. Maternal smoking during pregnancy is known to be a risk factor for offspring psychological problems, including attention deficits and conduct problems, the authors write in the study background.

UC San Francisco researchers are recommending a combination of six comprehensive measures to prevent the spread of hepatitis C, in an effort to address the more than 31,000 young people they estimate may be newly infected with the virus each year in the United States due to injection-drug use.

Researchers of the University of Arizona's Tucson Marine Phage Lab have discovered a dozen new types of unknown viruses that infect different strains of marine bacteria.

A 2,000-square-kilometer zone in the Yukon Flats of interior Alaska--one of the most flammable high-latitude regions of the world--has seen a dramatic increase in both the frequency and severity of fires in recent decades, according to research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Wildfire activity in this area is higher than at any other time in the past 10,000 years, the researchers report.

Less may mean more when it comes to the levee systems designed to protect New Orleans from hurricanes.

That's the conclusion of a new study by a team of University of Notre Dame researchers led by Joannes Westerink, co-developer of the authoritative computer model for storm surge used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the state of Louisiana to determine water levels due to hurricane surge and to design levee heights and alignments.

The burden of liver disease could be dramatically reduced by scaling up the combination of interventions for hepatitis C infection among people who inject drugs according to University of Bristol researchers. The findings, published today [24 July], form part of new global recommendations on treating the virus.

Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) provide the first proof of concept data showing that a monoclonal antibody can neutralize human norovirus. This research, which could one day lead to effective therapies against the virus, was published online ahead of print in the Journal of Virology.

An enzyme known for its role in heart disease may well be a promising target to treat asthma. Researchers from the University of Iowa have found that the enzyme, called CaMKII, is linked to the harmful effects of oxidation in the respiratory tract, triggering asthmatic symptoms. The finding could lead to the development of a drug that would target the CaMKII enzyme, the researchers say.

Pediatric cancer patients whose central lines are used to treat them at home develop three times as many dangerous bloodstream infections from their devices than their hospitalized counterparts, according to the results of a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study.

Findings of the research, reported online July 23 in the journal Pediatric Blood & Cancer, provide valuable insight into the safety of central line uses outside the hospital and underscore the need to carefully evaluate the benefits and risk of sending a child home with one, the investigators say.

Using data obtained during six years of regular aerial surveys and genetics data collected by a consortium of research groups, scientists have strengthened evidence pointing to the central Gulf of Maine as a mating ground for North Atlantic right whales, according to a study recently published online in the journal Endangered Species Research.

Agriculture alters the landscape more than any other human activity, with trickle-down effects on water, soil, climate, plant and wildlife diversity, wildfire, and human health. Crop and rangeland occupies nearly 40 percent of earth's ice-free land, and mountains and deserts make much of the remaining surface unwelcoming to agriculture. Our increasing population applies constant pressure for further conversion of wild lands to agricultural production.