Protecting the brain from a deadly genetic disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is a cruel, hereditary condition that leads to severe physical and mental deterioration, psychiatric problems and eventually, death. Currently, there are no treatments to slow down or stop it. HD sufferers are born with the disease although they do not show symptoms until late in life. In a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, Stephen Ferguson and Fabiola Ribeiro of Robarts Research Institute at The University of Western Ontario identified a protective pathway in the brain that may explain why HD symptoms take so long to appear. The findings could also lead to new treatments for HD. more  

Gene regulation: Can we stomach it?

A breakthrough in decoding gene regulation of Helicobacter pylori has been made by an international research team led by Jörg Vogel of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. Using a newly developed sequencing technique, the re-searchers discovered 60 small ribonucleic acids (sRNAs) - tiny RNA-particles which can regulate genes - in the genome of this human pathogen. These findings could facilitate the development of new therapeutic strategies against this wide-spread pathogen. more

Prednisolone not beneficial in most cases of community-acquired pneumonia

Patients hospitalized with mild to moderate community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) should not be routinely prescribed prednisolone, a corticosteroid, as it is associated with a recurrence of symptoms after its withdrawal, according to the first randomized double-blind clinical trial to address the subject. more  

SIBLING proteins may predict oral cancer

The presence of certain proteins in premalignant oral lesions may predict oral cancer development, Medical College of Georgia researchers said. more

Startling new childhood asthma data  

Researchers from The George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services (GW) said today that asthma, a largely manageable and chronic disease, is on the rise in America and released new data on the magnitude of the asthma crisis, the surging cost of treatment, and the more than 1 million children with asthma who are uninsured. more

Gene mutation is linked to autism-like symptoms in mice, UT Southwestern researchers find  

When a gene implicated in human autism is disabled in mice, the rodents show learning problems and obsessive, repetitive behaviors, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. more

Arsenic exposure activates an oncogenic signaling pathway; leads to increased cancer risk

Researchers have found a new oncogenic signaling pathway by which the environmental toxin arsenic may lead to adverse health effects, including bladder cancer. These study results are published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. more

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