Engineered viruses can help fight antibiotic resistance
Viruses attack bacterial defenses
Anne Trafton, News Office
Timothey Lu Photo courtesy / Lemelson-MIT Program
A new approach to fighting bacterial infections, developed at MIT and Boston University, could help prevent bacteria from developing antibiotic resistance and help kill those that have already become resistant.
A possible treatment for Rett syndrome
MIT study suggests molecule can reverse some symptoms
Deborah Halber, Picower Institute
A molecule that promotes brain development could serve as a possible treatment for Rett syndrome, the most common form of autism in girls, according to researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
Blocking a specific protein complex prevents the formation of tumors in mice genetically predisposed to develop prostate cancer, researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have found. Interestingly, inhibiting this protein complex in non-cancer cells appears to have no impact, suggesting that the protein complex may represent a promising target for drug development.
Neuroscientists ID source of cognitive decline in aging brains
Memory suffers when brain-communication network decays
Anne Trafton, News Office
As people age, memory and the ability to carry out tasks often decline. Scientists looking for ways to lessen that decline often have focused on the "gray matter" -- the cortical regions where high-level functions such as memory are located.
Prolonged Nevirapine in Breast-Fed Babies Prevents HIV Infection But Leads To Drug-Resistant HIV
Babies born to HIV-positive mothers and given the antiretroviral drug nevirapine through the first six weeks of life to prevent infection via breast-feeding are at high risk for developing drug-resistant HIV if they get infected anyway, a team of researchers report. But the investigators highlight the proven superiority of the six-week regimen in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission in breast-fed infants.
December 31, 2008- A team of Johns Hopkins neuroscientists has worked out how some newly discovered light sensors in the eye detect light and communicate with the brain. The report appears online this week in Nature.
Surprising find could lead to better manufacturing options for cancer-fighting antibodies
Anne Trafton, News Office
MIT engineers have found that antibodies do not need a particular sugar attachment long believed to be essential to their function, a discovery that could make producing therapeutic antibodies much easier and cheaper in the future.
Team sheds light on Alzheimer's mystery
Work could lead to new treatments for debilitating disease
Deborah Halber, News Office Correspondent
In work that could lead to new drugs to target Alzheimer's disease, MIT researchers and colleagues have shed light on one of the molecular mysteries surrounding this common form of dementia.
STUDY UNMASKS HOW OVARIAN TUMORS EVADE IMMUNE SYSTEM
-- Potential exists for drugs to halt shedding of fatty molecules, stop tumor growth and kill cancer
December 1, 2008- Scientists at Johns Hopkins have determined how the characteristic shedding of fatty substances, or lipids, by ovarian tumors allows the cancer to evade the body’s immune system, leaving the disease to spread unchecked. Ovarian cancer is considered to be one of the most aggressive malignancies, killing more than 70 percent of diagnosed women within five years, including an estimated 15,000 this year.
SCIENTISTS MAP STEPS TO BLOCK KEY ENZYME ACTION IN HEART FAILURE
- S-nitrosylation of cysteine 181mimics action of Viagra-like drugs, which have been shown to rescue failing hearts
Taking a cue from the way drugs like Viagra put the biological brakes on a key enzyme involved in heart failure, scientists at Johns Hopkins have mapped out a key chemical step involved in blocking the enzyme.
IF YOUR SYSTOLIC STINKS, "ROTTEN EGG" GAS MAY BE WHY
--Researchers Discover Hydrogen Sulfide Is a Major Regulator of Blood Pressure
Anyone with a nose knows the rotten-egg odor of hydrogen sulfide, a gas generated by bacteria living in the human colon. Now an international team of scientists has discovered that cells inside the blood vessels of mice — as well as in people, no doubt — naturally make the gassy stuff, and that it controls blood pressure.
SUDDEN CARDIAC DEATH NUMBER ONE RISK FOR PATIENTS ON DIALYSIS
-Inflammation, malnutrition identified as key risk factors
In a 10-year study of more than a thousand kidney failure patients, sudden cardiac death emerged as the number one cause of death for patients on dialysis, according to a Johns Hopkins researcher. The study, already published online and appearing in the Nov. 2 issue of Kidney International, identified systemic inflammatory response and malnutrition as key risk factors for the fatal heart attacks.
Physical decline caused by slow decay of brain's myelin
It's more than just achy joints and arthritis, researchers say
During this year's baseball playoffs, Chicago White Sox outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., 38, threw a picture-perfect strike from center field to home plate to stop an opposing player from scoring. The White Sox ultimately won the game by a single run and clinched the division title.
Scientists Restore Movement to Paralyzed Limbs through Artificial Brain-Muscle Connections
Researchers in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have demonstrated for the first time that a direct artificial connection from the brain to muscles can restore voluntary movement in monkeys whose arms have been temporarily anesthetized. The results may have promising implications for the quarter of a million Americans affected by spinal cord injuries and thousands of others with paralyzing neurological diseases, although clinical applications are years away.
Vitamin B Does Not Slow
Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s
By Debra Kain
A clinical trial led by Paul S. Aisen, M.D., professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, showed that high-dose vitamin B supplements did not slow the rate of cognitive decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease. The study will be published in the October 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Yale Researchers Describe Crossroads in Pathway to Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease
New Haven, Conn. — Yale University researchers have described a molecular traffic signal in the middle of a busy biological highway that influences such diverse processes as the production of insulin, activation of the immune system, creation of new brain cells and formation of tumors.
DIAGNOSING AND TREATING INFECTIONS: TOP CHALLENGE FOR NEUROLOGISTS
In what is believed to be the first formal “census” of neurological diseases and their impact, Johns Hopkins researchers have found that brain and nervous system infections are more difficult to diagnose and treat and have a remarkably higher rate of morbidity and mortality compared to other neurological problems.
Research team discovers brain pathway responsible for obesity
by Dian Land
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, for the first time, have found a messaging system in the brain that directly affects food intake and body weight.
