Based on clues provided by a study with transgenic mice, scientists have developed a strategy that will be tested as the first treatment for people with hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM), a rare, degenerative muscle disease. In an unexpected finding, the research indicates that the approach also might benefit patients with certain kidney disorders.
- Article Source

A natural substance from fat cells can protect blood vessels from the damaging effects of inflammation, which contributes to heart disease. Researchers have shown for the first time in an animal model that the substance — a protein called adiponectin — helps prevent immune system white blood cells from binding to the inside of blood vessel walls. Harnessing adiponectin’s properties may help protect against blood vessel damage in patients with obesity and diabetes.
- Article Source

Inflammation in the brain may not be so bad after all when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists have shown that a key inflammatory regulator, a known villain when it comes to parsing out damage after a stroke and other brain injuries, seems to do the opposite in Alzheimer’s disease, protecting the brain and helping get rid of clumps of material known as plaques that are a hallmark of the disease.
- Article Source

Heavy metals and other toxins have been linked to many human diseases, but determining exactly how they damage the body remains a mystery in many cases. New research focusing on a relatively obscure, misunderstood protein suggests mercury’s link to heart disease can be traced to activation of this enzyme, which triggers a process leading to plaque buildup in blood vessel walls.
- Article Source

The Tropical Eastern Pacific, a discrete biogeographic region that has an extremely high rate of endemism among its marine organisms, continues to yield a wealth of never-before-described marine animals to visiting scientists.
- Article Source

Refuting previous studies, the authors show by computer simulation that modular structures can arise during network growth via a simple model of gene duplication, without a natural selection preference for modularity.
- Article Source

Meg Gerrard will be the first to admit that unraveling the adolescent mind is not an easy thing. Like most parents, she’s even asked her teen daughters, “What were you thinking?” after one of them was caught in a risky behavior. But now it’s Gerrard — an Iowa State University psychology professor — who has tried to answer that question scientifically through analysis of research from the last 12 years on adolescent risk-taking.
- Article Source

Researchers have discovered the first inherited gene mutation that increases a person’s risk for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, one of the most common forms of the disease. The study shows that the inherited mutation greatly reduces the gene’s protective activity. Furthermore, a second kind of change occurs later that turns the gene off altogether, leading to leukemia. This latter alteration is a chemical change that is not inherited.
- Article Source

A new report confirms the existence of some apparently uncommitted stem cells amongst cells responsible for generating the bulging biceps of body builders and the rippling abs of fitness buffs. The findings could lead to new muscle-regenerating therapies — including cell transplantation regimens and stem cell-replenishing drugs — for people with various muscle-wasting diseases, including muscular dystrophies.
- Article Source

Small changes in agricultural and sanitation practices may eliminate the spread of a disease that affects some 200 million people living in developing nations around the world. Researchers working in remote farming villages in western China report that providing medicine to infected people and animals, along with modifying irrigation and waste treatment practices could reduce, or even eliminate, the long-term transmission of schistosomiasis.
- Article Source