Body

Washington, DC (August 29, 2013) — The presence of protein in the urine may be a marker of risk for future cognitive decline in patients with type 2 diabetes and normal kidney function, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). The finding suggests that urinary protein may be an early warning sign regarding patients' cognitive abilities.

University of Arizona researchers led a team that has discovered that venom of spiders in the genus Loxosceles, which contains about 100 spider species including the brown recluse, produces a different chemical product in the human body than scientists believed.

The finding has implications for understanding how these spider bites affect humans and development of possible treatments for the bites.

HOUSTON -- A prominent protein activated by inflammation is the key instigator that converts glioblastoma multiforme cells to their most aggressive, untreatable form and promotes resistance to radiation therapy, an international team lead by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported online today in the journal Cancer Cell.

The discovery by scientists and physicians points to new ways to increase radiation effectiveness and potentially block or reverse progression of glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and lethal form of brain tumor.

SEATTLE – A team of researchers led by Janet Stanford, Ph.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has discovered that mutations in the gene BTNL2, which encodes a protein involved in regulating T-cell proliferation and cytokine production – both of which impact immune function – increase the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Researchers have identified a protein that they believe may help predict breast cancer prognosis, potentially relieving thousands of women at low risk from having to undergo painful, oft-debilitating therapies, while insuring the most successful treatments for those at high risk. The research was published ahead of print in the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology.

The human body has hundreds of different cell types, all with the same basic DNA, and all of which can ultimately be traced back to identical stem cells. Despite this fundamental similarity, a bone cell has little in common with a brain cell when it comes to appearance or function. The fact that bone is rigid and mechanically distinct from soft fat or brain had been speculated to play some role in differentiation to new cells in those parts of the body, but mechanisms have been unclear.

In a call to action on the sorry comparative state of U.S. health, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health are urging President Obama to "remove the public veil of ignorance" and confront a pressing question: Why is America at the bottom? The report, published in the journal Science, appeals to the President to mobilize government to create a National Commission on the Health of Americans. The researchers underscore the importance of this effort in order for the country to begin reversing the decline in the comparative status of U.S.

An assay designed to measure normal and abnormal forms of the huntingtin protein – the mutated form of which causes Huntington's disease (HD) – was successful in detecting levels of the mutant protein in a large multicenter study of individuals at risk for the devastating neurological disorder. The report from a team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators – which will appear in the Sept. 24 issue of Neurology and has been released online – also found changes in levels of the mutated protein that might predict when symptoms will appear.

Philadelphia, Pa. (August 29, 2013) – Virtual surgical planning technologies give surgeons a powerful new tool for their most challenging facial reconstruction cases, reports a paper in the September issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

(Memphis, Tenn. – August 29, 2013) St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a protein that certain high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells need to survive and have used that knowledge to fashion a more effective method of killing tumor cells. The findings appear in the August 29 edition of the journal Blood.

Philadelphia, Pa. (August 29, 2013) – For patients undergoing plastic and reconstructive surgery procedures, obesity, anemia and postoperative complications—especially surgical and wound complications—are independent risk factors for hospital readmission, reports a study in the September issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary disorder characterized by the progressive onset of neurodegeneration. Children of HD patients have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease, but symptoms do not appear until middle age. While genetic testing reliably determines if children of HD sufferers are carriers of the disease, it cannot provide information as to when symptoms will appear.

MAYWOOD, Il. – Researchers have identified a novel disease gene in which mutations cause rare but devastating genetic diseases known as mitochondrial disorders.

Nine rare, disease-causing mutations of the gene, FBXL4, were found in nine affected children in seven families, including three siblings from the same family. An international team of researchers report the discovery in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

The lead author is Xiaowu Gai, PhD, director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

By lowering the expression of a single gene, researchers at the National Institutes of Health have extended the average lifespan of a group of mice by about 20 percent -- the equivalent of raising the average human lifespan by 16 years, from 79 to 95. The research team targeted a gene called mTOR, which is involved in metabolism and energy balance, and may be connected with the increased lifespan associated with caloric restriction.

When a cancer cell sloughs off the edge of a tumor in the breast, it faces a tough road to survive. The cell must not only remain physically intact as it rushes through blood vessels, but it also must find a new organ to lodge itself in, take in enough nutrients and oxygen to stay alive, and begin dividing, all while escaping notice by the body's immune system.