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Several genome-wide studies of human genetic diversity have been conducted on European populations. Now, for the first time, these studies have been extended to 73 Southeast Asian (SEA) and East Asian (EA) populations.

BOULDER, Colo., December 10, 2009 – miRagen Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on improving patients' lives by developing innovative microRNA-based therapeutics for cardiovascular and muscle disease, today announced the publication of data demonstrating that microRNA-206 (miR-206) plays a crucial role in the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) and in neuromuscular synaptic regeneration in mice.

PHILADELPHIA – Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have developed a new model of skin cancer based on the knowledge that a common cancer-related molecule called Src kinase is activated in human skin-cancer samples.

A new biological pathway by which the H1N1 flu virus can make the jump from swine to humans has been discovered by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, Berkeley. Early test results indicate that a heretofore unknown mutation in one of the H1N1 genes may have played an important role in transmitting the virus into humans.

When given the chance to consume alcohol at will, fruit flies behave in ways that look an awful lot like human alcoholism. That's according to a study published online on December 10th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, that is one of the first to consider alcohol self-administration in the insects.

SAN ANTONIO – Breast cancer patients with a high body mass index (BMI) have a poorer cancer prognosis later in life. Specifically, their treatment effect does not last as long and their risk of death increases.

"Overall, women should make an effort to keep their BMI less than 25," said Marianne Ewertz, M.D., professor in the Department of Oncology at Odense University Hospital, Denmark. "Those who have a high BMI should be encouraged to participate in mammography screening programs for prevention efforts."

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Proteins, which perform such vital roles in our bodies as building and maintaining tissues and regulating cellular processes, are a finicky lot. In order to work properly, they must be folded just so, yet many proteins readily collapse into useless tangles when exposed to temperatures just a few degrees above normal body temperature.

For an ovary to remain an ovary, the female organ has to continuously suppress its inner capacity to become male. That's the conclusion of a study in the December 11th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, revealing that the ovaries of mice can be reprogrammed into testes (minus the sperm) by silencing a single gene.

The findings may have implications for understanding certain sex disorders in children and premature menopause in women, the researchers say.

The latest findings on how blood clots form could open the door to the development of new and better-targeted drugs for patients at risk of strokes or heart attacks.

Many of these patients currently take anticoagulant drugs such as Warfarin, which lower the risk of heart attacks or strokes by reducing the blood's ability to clot.

Although these drugs reduce the risk of dangerous blood clot formation within blood vessels (thrombosis), they also affect normal wound healing, leaving patients at risk of lethal bleeding if they injure themselves in any way.

Waltham, MA–Understanding the incredibly speedy atomic mechanisms at work when a protein transitions from one shape to another has been an elusive scientific goal for years, but an essential one for elucidating the full panoply of protein function. How do proteins transition, or interconvert, between distinct shapes without unfolding in the process? Until now, this question has been a hypothetical one, approached by computation only rather than experimentation.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — MIT and Boston University researchers have discovered that the drug hydroxyurea kills bacteria by inducing them to produce molecules toxic to themselves — a conclusion that raises the possibility of finding new antibiotics that use similar mechanisms.

Hydroxyurea inhibits the enzyme critical for making the building blocks for DNA, so for decades it has been used to study the consequences of inhibiting DNA replication in E. coli, yeast and mammalian cells. It is also sometimes used in chemotherapy to halt the growth of cancer cells.

Leuven, 10 December 2009 -- Researchers have discovered a new explanation for differences in the severity of mental illness in males. The more excess copies of a certain gene, the more serious the handicap. The genetic defect is situated on the X-chromosome; and it is suspected that it is the amount of copies of the GDI1 gene that is responsible.

A new report from the National Research Council, TRANSITIONS TO ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES — PLUG-IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES, examines the technological status of plug-in hybrids and identifies factors that might hinder their acceptance in the marketplace. The report develops plausible scenarios of potential market penetration and uses them to estimate reductions in petroleum consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Source: National Academy of Sciences

Newcastle, United Kingdom, December, 2009 – Newly published research, by investigators, at the North East England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) in the journal Stem Cells reported the first successful treatment of eight patients with "Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency" (LSCD) using the patients' own stem cells without the need of suppressing their immunity.

Polyphosphate from blood platelets plays a key role in inflammation and the formation of blood clots, scientists from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown. The study, which is presented in the prestigious scientific journal Cell, describes how this mechanism can be used in treatment.