Body

Athens, Ga. – Researchers at the University of Georgia and Yale University have discovered a compound with the potential to be more effective than existing agents in treating the very painful blisters known as shingles—a condition that affects up to 30 percent of Americans, mostly elderly, and for which no specific treatment exists.

April 21, 2011 − (BRONX, NY) − Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have for the first time observed the activity of a single gene in living cells.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A study of DNA rearrangements in roundworm chromosomes may offer new insight into large-scale genome duplications that occur in developing tumors.

A report of the research led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine scientists was published in the April 22 online edition of the journal Science. The study focused on telomeres, a region of repetitive DNA sequence that protects the ends of chromosomes from deterioration or from fusing with other chromosomes.

There's no question, drugs work in treating disease. But can they work better, and safer?

In recent years, researchers have grappled with the challenge of administering therapeutics in a way that boosts their effectiveness by targeting specific cells in the body while minimizing their potential damage to healthy tissue.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In the arid Namib Desert on the west coast of Africa, one type of beetle has found a distinctive way of surviving. When the morning fog rolls in, the Stenocara gracilipes species, also known as the Namib Beetle, collects water droplets on its bumpy back, then lets the moisture roll down into its mouth, allowing it to drink in an area devoid of flowing water.

According to a new study, severely obese adolescents are no more likely to be depressed than normal weight peers. The study, which has been released online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, did find that white adolescents may be somewhat more vulnerable to psychological effects of obesity.

New research identifies a distinctive population of immune cells that may play a key role in the pathogenesis of diabetes. The research, published by Cell Press and available online in the April 21st issue of Immunity, sheds new light on the pathogenesis of diabetes and may lead to the development of new more selective therapeutic strategies for diabetes and other autoimmune diseases of the accessory organs of the digestive system.

New research reveals a strategy for disrupting the ability of bacteria to communicate and coordinate the expression of virulence factors. The study, published by Cell Press in the April 22nd issue of the journal Molecular Cell, may lead to the development of new antibacterial therapeutics.

'Rewilding with taxon substitutes', the intentional introduction of exotic species to fulfil key functions in ecosystems following the loss of recently extinct species, is highly controversial, partly due to a lack of rigorous scientific studies.

In a paper published today in Current Biology, Christine Griffiths of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences and colleagues present the first empirical evidence that rewilding can work.

Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany have discovered a new, hitherto unknown mechanism of Salmonella invasion into gut cells: In this entry mode, the bacteria exploit the muscle power of cells to be pulled into the host cell cytoplasm. Thus, the strategies Salmonella use to infect cells are more complex than previously thought. According to the World Health Organization, the number of Salmonella infections is continuously rising, and the severity of infections is increasing.

A discovery by Johns Hopkins scientists about how a single-celled fungus survives in low-oxygen settings may someday help humans whose immune systems are compromised by organ transplants or AIDS.

A report on the discovery in a yeast called Schizosaccharomyces pombe appears April 22 in Molecular Cell.

Previous work by the Hopkins team showed that Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a model organism that's often used to study individual genes, contains a protein named Sre1 that allows the organism to adapt to conditions in which oxygen is very low or missing altogether.

Acupuncture provides long-lasting relief to hot flashes, heart palpitations and anxiety due to side effects of the hormone given to counteract testosterone, the hormone that induces prostate cancer, according to a study published in the April issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology•Biology•Physics, an official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Fresh insight into the survival strategy of the parasite that causes sleeping sickness could help inform new treatments for the disease.

Scientists have found that the parasite, which can transform itself into either of two physical forms, has developed a careful balance between these. One of these types ensures infection in the bloodstream of a victim, and the other type is taken up by the tsetse fly and spread to another person or animal.

Church attendance in western democracies has declined; yet, a new University of Missouri study shows religious beliefs still influence people at the polls.

Chris Raymond, a graduate instructor of political science in the MU College of Arts and Science, said that many political experts consider voters around the world as "floating without party loyalties," and that religion does not influence voters. Raymond's new study says religion still has a large impact on how people vote and helps define many of the platforms represented in the party system.

ANN ARBOR, MICH. -- A Data and Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC) has determined that patients in a phase III clinical trial given atrasentan in addition to a standard chemotherapy regimen for advanced prostate cancer did not have longer survival or longer progression-free survival than patients on the same chemotherapy regimen who got a placebo rather than atrasentan.