Uncovering the Achilles' heel of the HIV-1 envelope

New structural details illustrate how a promising class of antibodies may block human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection and reveal valuable clues for design of an effective HIV-1 vaccine. The findings, published by Cell Press in the January issue of Immunity, are particularly significant as antibody induction appears to be a key and necessary component of an effective HIV vaccine, evidenced by the recent failure of vaccines that stimulated only the T cell arm of the immune system to protect humans from contracting HIV-1. more  

Stem cells make bone marrow cancer resistant to treatment

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say they have evidence that cancer stem cells for multiple myeloma share many properties with normal stem cells and have multiple ways of resisting chemotherapy and other treatments. more

MIT: Culture influences brain function

People from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks, MIT researchers and colleagues report in the first brain imaging study of its kind. more  

Half of the people suffering from head injuries that go to court fake their ailments to receive financial help

How can it be proved that a patient is lying when they say that they have a cognitive problem, such as memory or concentration problems or anxiety? There are many people who exaggerate their injuries and even feign them in order to receive more money from insurance companies or obtain a sick leave, according to a pioneering research in Spain. This research was carried out in the Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment of the University of Granada by Doctor Raquel Vilar López. The conclusions of her study, which focused on patients who suffered from head injuries, speak for themselves: nearly half of the people who go to court feign psycho-cognitive disorders with the objective of profiting from this in some way. They are not hypochondriacs or overanxious or obsessive patients, they just lie in order to receive some sort of compensation, as for example money. They are the so called ‘simulators’. more

A new way to boost red blood cell numbers  

A common treatment for anemia — a deficiency in red blood cells (rbcs) caused by their insufficient production, excessive destruction, or excessive loss — is administration of recombinant erythropoietin (Epo), a hormone that stimulates the production of rbc precursors by the bone marrow. Unfortunately, many patients with anemia do not respond to treatment with Epo. However, a new study in mice, by Anne Angelillo-Scherrer and her colleagues at the University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Switzerland, has indicated that the protein Gas6 might augment or replace Epo in the treatment of patients who are hyporesponsive or resistant to Epo, respectively. more

Researchers find way to reduce amount of bad cholesterol and fatty acids that end up in the blood from metabolized food 

Researchers at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada, have found a way to reduce the amount of bad cholesterol and fatty acids that end up in the blood from food the body metabolizes, a key discovery that could lead to new drugs to treat and reverse the effects of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease related to obesity. more

How antioxidant therapy may play a role in the treatment of type 2 diabetes

The incidence of type 2 diabetes in Western society is on the rise, due largely to an increasing prevalence of obesity. Dysfunction of skeletal muscle mitochondria, the powerhouses of a cell, is associated with type 2 diabetes; however, whether this association is causal or consequential has not been understood. A new study by Jennifer Rieusset and her colleagues at INSERM U870, France, has shed light on this question and has provided evidence that alterations in mitochondrial function are the result, and not the cause, of insulin resistance (which usually precedes full-blown clinical type 2 diabetes) in mice. more

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