Body

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—February 6, 2014—A cure for type 1 diabetes has long eluded even the top experts. Not because they do not know what must be done—but because the tools did not exist to do it. But now scientists at the Gladstone Institutes, harnessing the power of regenerative medicine, have developed a technique in animal models that could replenish the very cells destroyed by the disease.

T-cells, the elite guard of the immune system in humans and othermammals, ignore normal biologic protocol and swing into high gearwhen attacked by certain fast-moving bacteria, reports a team ofresearchers led by a UC Davis immunologist.

One major challenge in stem cell research has been to reprogram differentiated cells to a totipotent state. Researchers from RIKEN in Japan have identified a duo of histone proteins that dramatically enhance the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) and may be the key to generating induced totipotent stem cells.

The study, published in The American Journal of Human Genetics, detected and identified a new disease gene (ERCC6L2). In its normal form, the gene plays a key role in protecting DNA from damaging agents, but when the gene is mutated the cell is not able to protect itself in the normal way.

The research findings suggest that the gene defect and the subsequent DNA damage was the underlying cause of bone marrow failure among the study participants.

A University of Texas at Arlington team exploring pigeons as a model for vertebrate evolution has uncovered that mutations and interactions among just three genes create a wide variety of color variations. One of those genes, they also found, may be an example of a "slippery gene" more prone to evolutionary changes.

SCIENTISTS at the University of York have discovered how the prostate gland develops for the first time, according to research published today (Thursday, February 6) in Stem Cell Reports.

The team behind the investigation, which was funded by the charity Yorkshire Cancer Research with further support from the EU FP7 Marie Curie ITN PRO-NEST project, says the findings could open the door to the development of new therapies for the treatment of prostate cancer.

A large part of the effort dedicated to cancer research is directed towards the search for combinations of existing drugs—many of which have already been introduced into clinical practice—that permit higher overall survival rates and improvements in the quality of life of cancer patients.

Vanderbilt University scientists have contributed to a major finding, reported today in the journal Nature, which could lead to the first effective vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a significant cause of infant mortality.

The Vanderbilt scientists and others analyzed in an animal model a new method developed at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, Calif., for designing artificial proteins capable of stimulating an immune response against RSV.

LOS ANGELES – (Feb. 6, 2014) – With very few treatment options available to fight deadly mucormycosis infections, a new Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) study holds hope for adding to the arsenal of therapies physicians have to combat an increasingly common infection afflicting people with weakened immune systems.

Bioengineers at Rice University and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston have developed a simple, highly sensitive and efficient test for the diarrheal disease cryptosporidiosis that could have great impact on global health.

Results from the diagnostic developed by the lab of Rice bioengineer Rebecca Richards-Kortum are read from a paper strip that resembles a pregnancy test. Lines on the strip tell whether samples taken from the stool of a patient contain genetic DNA from the parasite that causes the disease.

Scientists have for the first time sequenced an ancient RNA genome – of a barley virus once believed to be only 150 years old - pushing its origin back at least 2,000 years and revealing how intense farming at the time of the Crusades contributed to its spread.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have detected and sequenced the RNA genome of Barley Stripe Mosaic Virus (BSMV) in a 750-year-old barley grain found at a site near the River Nile in modern-day Egypt. Their study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Nearly 70 percent of patients with advanced breast cancer experience skeletal metastasis, in which cancer cells migrate from a primary tumor into bone — a painful development that can cause fractures and spinal compression. While scientists are attempting to better understand metastasis in general, not much is known about how and why certain cancers spread to specific organs, such as bone, liver, and lungs.

Why did mammoths and other large mammals of the tundra suddenly become extinct some 10,000 years ago? It's a question that has divided scientists over the years. Now researchers from Lund University in Sweden (and 30 other research teams from 12 countries), have used new DNA technology to show that a drastic change in the dominant vegetation - from protein-rich herbs to less nutritious grass – could be behind their demise.

Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ present CLIMBER: Climatic niche characteristics of the butterflies in Europe –a unique dataset on the climatic niche characteristics of 397 European butterflies representing impressive 91% of the European species. The information provided in this dataset is of great relevance for basic and applied ecology and provides a combination of high quality standards and open access, data ready to use for a broad range of applications.

This news release is available in German.

The images were seen all over the world and stuck in the minds of many: in the autumn of 2004, former President of the Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, was poisoned with a high dose of dioxin. Although he survived the attack, the chloracne caused by the poisoning, officially known as MADISH, left him severely disfigured: his face was peppered with numerous cysts, which left deep scars.