Body

A team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health has successfully grown multiple types of retina cells from two types of stem cells — suggesting a future in which damaged retinas could be repaired by cells grown from the patient's own skin.

Soon, the discovery will lead to laboratory models for studying genetically linked eye conditions, screening new drugs to treat those conditions and understanding the development of the human eye.

New findings from nutrition researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest that it's not whether body fat is stored in the belly that affects metabolic risk factors for diabetes, high blood triglycerides, and cardiovascular disease, but whether it collects in the liver.

Two of the most powerful approaches to cancer treatment (stem cell transplant and an immune system-stimulating vaccine) appear to reinforce one another in patients with an aggressive, hard-to-control form of leukemia, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have found.

A research team led by Associate Professor Jonathan Sebat, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has developed a sensitive and accurate way of identifying gene copy number variations (CNVs). The method, which is described in a paper published in Genome Research, uses new DNA sequencing technologies to look for regions of the genome that vary in copy number between individuals in the population.

Got high cholesterol? You might want to consider a bone density test.

A new UCLA study sheds light on the link between high cholesterol and osteoporosis and identifies a new way that the body's immune cells play a role in bone loss.

Published Aug. 20 in the journal Clinical Immunology, the research could lead to new immune-based approaches for treating osteoporosis. Affecting 10 million Americans, the disease causes fragile bones and increases the risk of fractures, resulting in lost independence and mobility.

Current clinical evidence for using cranberry juice to combat urinary tract infections is 'unsatisfactory and inconclusive', according to Raul Raz.

"An apple a day..." Not all medical problems require a state-of-the-art solution, and it would be nice to think that products from the corner shop could treat a widespread and uncomfortable ailment. Cranberry juice and related products have been touted as a simple solution for urinary tract infections, but Raul Raz, a member of F1000 Medicine, finds little to support this claim.

Mild glucose intolerance during pregnancy may be an early identifier of women who are at increased risk of heart disease in the future, found a new study http://www.cmaj.ca/press/cmaj090569.pdf published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

"Thick" blood can cause heart attack and stroke, but also prevent them. Scientists at Heidelberg University Hospital have explained the mechanism of this clinical paradox for the first time on an animal model. Mice with a greater tendency to form blood clots have larger plaques in their vessels, but they are more stable. Thus, there is less risk that these plaques will rupture and obstruct circulation. The results of the study have been published in the prestigious journal Circulation.

Early in development, mammalian female cells counteract their double dose of X chromosomes by coating one of them with a large RNA named XIST. The RNA binds to the same X chromosome from which it is transcribed and initiates a series of events leading to the chromosome's permanent silencing. In the Journal of Cell Biology (www.jcb.org), Hall et al. exploit the fact that XIST temporarily dissociates from the X chromosome during mitosis and find that Aurora B kinase helps regulate the RNA's chromatin binding.

Victorian stem cell scientists from Monash University have modified a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line to glow red when the stem cells become red blood cells.

The modified hESC line, ErythRED, represents a major step forward to the eventual aim of generating mature, fully functional red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells.

BEDFORD, MA –August, 24, 2009 -- Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the leading resolvin therapeutics company, today announced positive data from a Phase 2 clinical study evaluating RX-10045, a resolvin administered as a topical eye drop for the treatment of patients with chronic dry eye syndrome. In this 28-day, randomized, placebo-controlled, 232-patient trial, RX-10045 produced dose-dependent, statistically significant improvement on the primary endpoints for both the signs and symptoms of dry eye, and was generally shown to be safe and well tolerated.

A new technique may help clinicians hone in on a diagnosis in patients presenting with a pleural effusion of unknown cause.

The study, led by principal investigator Y.C. Gary Lee, Ph.D., appears in the September 1 issue of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A diagnosis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis is not much better than a death sentence: there is no treatment and the survival rate is less than three years.

But researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered that targeting of a novel gene utilizing genetic and pharmacologic strategies was successful in treating pulmonary fibrosis in mice and will be developed for future testing in humans.

CLEVELAND – August 23, 2009 –Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine assistant professor in the Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Jeff Coller, Ph.D., and his team discovered that messenger RNA (mRNA) predominately degrade on ribosomes, fundamentally altering a common understanding of how gene expression is controlled within the cell. The study, "Co-translational mRNA decay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae", is published in the latest issue of Nature.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, U.S.A. — A cellular molecule that not only can sense two common respiratory viruses but also can direct cells to mount a defense has been identified by microbiologists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.