EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

eLife
Location, location, location: Membrane 'residence' gives proteases novel abilities
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a new mode of action for enzymes immersed in cellular membranes. Their experiments suggest that instead of recognizing and clipping proteins based on sequences of amino acids, these proteases' location within membranes gives them the unique ability to recognize and cut proteins with unstable structures. And because these and other membrane proteases have roles to play in everything from malaria to Parkinson's disease, uncovering their "inside" work could have profound implications for human health, the scientists note.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

PLOS Genetics
A class of RNA molecules protects germ cells from damage, Penn vet researchers show
Passing one's genes on to the next generation is a mark of evolutionary success. So it makes sense that the body would work to ensure that the genes the next generation inherits are exact replicas of the originals. New research by biologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine has now identified one way the body does exactly that.

NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

American Journal of Public Health
Innovative sobriety project reduces DUI and domestic violence arrests, study finds
An innovative alcohol monitoring program that requires daily testing of alcohol-involved offenders helps reduce both repeat DUI arrests and domestic violence arrests, according to a new study.

NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Journal of Neuroscience
Neurons made from stem cells drive brain activity after transplantation in laboratory model
Scientists are able to make neurons and other brain cells from stem cells, but getting these neurons to properly function when transplanted to a host has proven more difficult. Now, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have found a way to stimulate stem cell-derived neurons to direct cognitive function after transplantation to an existing neural network. The study was published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience.

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

PLOS ONE
WSU scientists find new way for antibiotic resistance to spread
Washington State University researchers have found an unlikely recipe for antibiotic resistant bacteria: Mix cow dung and soil, and add urine infused with metabolized antibiotic. The urine will kill off normal E. coli in the dung-soil mixture. But antibiotic-resistant E. coli will survive in the soil to recolonize in a cow's gut through pasture, forage or bedding.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Journal of Biological Chemistry
Quick, high-volume test offers fast track in search for Alzheimer's drugs
Princeton University researchers report that an efficient, high-volume technique developed at Princeton for testing potential drug treatments for Alzheimer's disease uncovered an organic compound that restored motor function and longevity to fruit flies with the disease.

Alzheimer's Association, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Cell Transplantation
Studies in Cell Transplantation investigate oxygen's impact as a factor in transplantation
Investigating the role of oxygen in cell transplantation, a research team from Baylor University concerned about poor efficacy of islet cell transplantation during pancreas preservation and islet isolation finds that low temperatures can prevent hypoxia that can damage islet cells.

NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Funda��o de Amparo � Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient�fico e Tecnol�gico, INCTC, INCA

Contact: Robert Miranda
cogcomm@aol.com
Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Youth with autism gravitate toward STEM majors in college -- if they get there
It's a popularly held belief that individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) gravitate toward STEM majors in college (science, technology, engineering mathematics). A new study, co-authored by Paul Shattuck, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, confirms that view yet finds that young adults with an ASD also have one of the lowest overall college enrollment rates.

National Science Foundation, Autism Speaks, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, Institute of Education Sciences

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012
University of Pennsylvania Medicine receives National Institutes of Health grant to help local communities move forward after asbestos exposure
To help empower local residents to shape the future of their communities, and explain the potential consequences associated with asbestos exposure, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have been awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop an educational program using the communities' history of asbestos products manufacturing and resulting asbestos exposure. Funding for the program is provided by the Science Education Partnership Award, which is administered by the National Institutes of Health.

NIH/National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology
Protein tug of war points toward better therapies for cardiovascular disease
Two proteins are in a tug of war that determines how much the body makes of superoxide, a highly reactive and potentially destructive product of oxygen that's dramatically elevated in cardiovascular disease, researchers report. Their finding indicates an antiulcer drug just may help the body reduce excessive levels.

National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Neuropsychopharmacology
When the going gets tough, the tough get... more relief from a placebo?
Are you good at coping when life gets tough? A straight-shooter? Will you help others without expecting anything in return? Those personality traits might do more than help you win a popularity contest. New neuroscience research suggests those qualities also might make you more likely to get pain relief from a placebo.

NIH/National Institutes of Health, Phil F. Jenkins Foundation

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Molecular Cell
Scientists show protein-making machinery can switch gears with a small structural change process, which may have implications for immunity and cancer therapy, compared to the movie The Transformers
For the past several years, Min Guo, an assistant professor at The Scripps Research Institute, has focused on the intricate actions of an ancient family of catalytic enzymes that play a key role in translation, the process of producing proteins. in a new study, Guo, Ehud Razin of The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, and a large team of international scientists have shown that this enzyme can actually also work in another fundamental process in humans.

National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, National Foundation for Cancer Research, Global Frontier Project, Ministry of Education

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Cell
Penn study decodes molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell reprogramming
Thanks to some careful detective work, scientist better understand just how iPS cells form -- and why the Yamanaka process is inefficient, an important step to work out for regenerative medicine. The findings uncover cellular impediments to iPS cell development that, if overcome, could dramatically improve the efficiency and speed of iPS cell generation.

NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Cell Cycle
Dietary glucose affects the levels of a powerful oncogene in mice
In this study, researchers help establish the mechanisms of why a low carbohydrate diet slows tumor growth in mice. The findings do not mean that cancer patients should cut back on the sugar in their diets, but it does pose questions about the consequences of diet on increased activity of an oncogene that drives tumor growth.

NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

American Journal of Human Genetics
Surprising genetic link between kidney defects and neurodevelopmental disorders in kids
About 10 percent of kids born with kidney defects have large alterations in their genomes known to be linked with neurodevelopmental delay and mental illness, a new study by Columbia University Medical Center researchers has shown. The study was published today in the online edition of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

American Heart Association, American Society of Nephrology, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Parkinson's Disease Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Environmental Health Perspectives
Flame retardants linked to neurodevelopmental delays in children
A new UC Berkeley study adds to the health concerns over flame retardants widely used in foam upholstered furniture. Researchers have found that children exposed to PBDEs in the womb and in early childhood had deficits in attention, cognition and fine motor skills at ages five and seven.

Environmental Protection Agency, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

Science
Parkinson's disease protein causes disease spread and neuron death in healthy animals
The Penn team found that injecting synthetic, misfolded and fibrillar α-Synuclein (α-Syn) -- the PD disease protein -- into the brains of normal, "wild-type" mice recapitulates the cascade of cellular demise seen in human PD patients.

NIH/National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center of Excellence, JPB Foundation, RJG Foundation, Parkinson's Council, Jeff and Anne Keefer Fund

Public Release: 15-Nov-2012

PLOS Genetics
How insects domesticate bacteria
Two years ago, a 71-year-old Indiana man impaled his hand on a branch after cutting down a dead crab apple tree, causing an infection that led University of Utah scientists to discover a new bacterium and solve a mystery about how bacteria came to live inside insects.

National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 14-Nov-2012
NIH awards Penn scientists $10 million over 5 years for innovative research on single cells
Two Penn researchers will be studying the role of how messenger RNA molecules vary in their function in individual cells with a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Their award is supported by the NIH Common Fund and is part of three initiatives of the Single Cell Analysis Program Genomic Frontiers Institute.

NIH/National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Biotechnology, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 14-Nov-2012

Proceedings of the National Acadamies of Sciences
In financial ecosystems, big banks trample economic habitats and spread fiscal disease
Researchers from Princeton University, the Bank of England and the University of Oxford applied methods inspired by ecosystem stability and contagion models to banking meltdowns and found that large national and international banks wield an influence and potentially destructive power that far exceeds their actual size. As a result, the capital that current regulations require large banks to maintain should be based on the institution's systemic importance.

National Institutes of Health, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Public Release: 14-Nov-2012
GW researcher receives $4.1 million grant to find alternative treatment for kidney stones
Jeremy Brown, M.D., associate professor of emergency medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, has received a federal grant to potentially give kidney stone patients more options with fewer complications.

NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Public Release: 14-Nov-2012

New England Journal of Medicine
Gene nearly triples risk of Alzheimer's, global team including Mayo Clinic finds
A gene so powerful it nearly triples the risk of Alzheimer's disease has been discovered by an international team including researchers from Mayo Clinic. It is the most potent genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's identified in the past 20 years.

Robert and Clarice Smith and Abigail Van Buren Alzheimer's Disease Research Program, NIH/National Institute on Aging

Public Release: 14-Nov-2012

PLOS ONE
Discovery could lead to faster diagnosis for some chronic fatigue syndrome cases
For the first time, researchers have landed on a potential diagnostic method to identify at least a subset of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome - testing for antibodies linked to latent Epstein-Barr virus reactivation.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Nov-2012

Oncology Nursing Forum
Ancient foot massage technique may ease cancer symptoms
A study led by a Michigan State University researcher offers the strongest evidence yet that reflexology � a type of specialized foot massage practiced since the age of pharaohs � can help cancer patients manage their symptoms and perform daily tasks.

NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 13-Nov-2012

American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting
Uranium exposure linked to increased lupus rate
People living near a former uranium ore processing facility in Ohio are experiencing a higher than average rate of lupus, according a new study conducted by scientists at the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

National Institutes of Health, University of Cincinnati Center for Environmental Genetics