http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- When locked in mortal combat with infection, some mature white blood cells have a formidable weapon: they literally cast a DNA net-called a neutrophil extracellular trap (NET)-that captures and kills bacteria that invade the human body. But the ability to form this "death" NET is missing in the white blood cells of newborn infants, born either at term or prematurely, and that may explain why millions of newborns worldwide are at higher risk for a potentially deadly blood infection, University of Utah medical researchers have discovered. http://phys.org/news155847917.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:06:00 EST news155847917 Researchers funded by the Canadian Cancer Society have discovered how certain messages that are carried within stem cells can trigger those cells to become blood cells. The findings are published online today in Cell Stem Cell. http://phys.org/news155478166.html Medicine & Health Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:23:10 EST news155478166 Telomeres, structures that cap the ends of cells' chromosomes, grow shorter with each round of cell division unless a specialized enzyme replenishes them. Maintaining telomeres is thought to be important for healthy aging and cancer prevention. http://phys.org/news155413788.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:30:10 EST news155413788 A new study provides insight into how a short burst in nitrite can exert lasting beneficial effects on the heart, protecting it from stress and assaults such as heart attacks. In this study, just published in Circulation Research, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have demonstrated for the first time that short elevations in circulating levels of this simple anion are sufficient to have a lasting impact on the heart by modulating its oxidation status and its protein machinery. http://phys.org/news155325871.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:05:06 EST news155325871 Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center may have discovered a new targeted intervention for Barth Syndrome (BTHS). BTHS, a sometimes fatal disease, is a serious genetic disorder occurring predominantly in males that leads to infection or heart failure in childhood. The new study entitled, "Role of calcium-independent phospholipase A2 in the pathogenesis of Barth syndrome", was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows the benefits of targeted intervention with an iPLA2-VIA inhibitor that prevents a major symptom of the disease- cardiolipin deficiency. http://phys.org/news155227141.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:42:30 EST news155227141 Children born to women who have low blood levels of vitamin B12 shortly before and after conception may have an increased risk of a neural tube defect, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, Trinity College Dublin, and the Health Research Board of Ireland. http://phys.org/news155190673.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:32:20 EST news155190673 Distributed around the body, dendritic cells act as the security alarms of the immune system. After sensing the presence of intruders, dendritic cells can transmit the alarm to white blood cells or tell them to relax, depending on the signals they send out. http://phys.org/news155138121.html Medicine & Health Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:55:47 EST news155138121 Researchers have found a way to block the ability of white blood cells to sprint toward the sites of infection when such speed worsens the damage done by sepsis, the often fatal, whole-body bacterial infection, according to a study published today in the journal Blood. The results recommend existing drugs as potential new treatments against sepsis, and suggest improvements in the current treatment that would increase its effect while eliminating a treatment-related risk for internal bleeding. http://phys.org/news154712115.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:37:00 EST news154712115 Screening for mutations in a gene that helps the body metabolize a kidney transplant anti-rejection drug may predict which children are at higher risk for side effects, including compromised white blood cell count or organ rejection, according to new research. http://phys.org/news154171383.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:23:36 EST news154171383 Platelets, tiny and relatively uncharted tenants of the bloodstream known mostly for their role in blood clotting, turn out to also rally sustained immune system inflammatory responses that play a critical role in organ transplant rejection, according to a new report from Johns Hopkins scientists. http://phys.org/news154118265.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:39:04 EST news154118265 Stem cells of any kind are defined by their eternal nature, reproducing themselves and providing a pool of cells from which more differentiated tissues arise. http://phys.org/news153059571.html Biology Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:33:13 EST news153059571 Research using a mouse model of human leukemia has provided critical insight into the genetic factors related to the generation and maintenance of myeloid leukemia stem cells. The study, published by Cell Press in the February 6th issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, is likely to have a profound impact on the future design of therapeutic approaches targeted against cancer stem cells. http://phys.org/news153059231.html Biology Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:27:42 EST news153059231 A grid of small arteries at the surface of the brain redirects flow and widens at critical points to restore blood supply to tissue starved of nutrients and oxygen following a stroke, a study published this week has found. http://phys.org/news152561532.html Medicine & Health Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:12:48 EST news152561532 A study led by Dr Marcus Cooke at the University of Leicester and funded by World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) UK is looking at whether consuming caffeine during pregnancy might affect the unborn baby's risk of developing leukaemia in childhood. http://phys.org/news152162670.html Medicine & Health Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:24:54 EST news152162670 Actor and pancreatic cancer patient Patrick Swayze's recent hospitalization with pneumonia as a result of his compromised immune system underscores the sensitivity of the lungs: many patients die from lung complications of a disease, rather than the disease itself. http://phys.org/news151931051.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:05:11 EST news151931051 Scientists at UCSF have discovered an abnormality in a patient's immune system that may lead to safer therapies for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and colitis, as well as potential new ways to treat transplant rejection. http://phys.org/news151928614.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:24:37 EST news151928614 Looking at the retina in the eyes of patients with cerebral malaria has provided scientists with a vital insight into why malaria infection in the brain is so deadly. In a study funded by the Wellcome Trust and Fight for Sight and published today in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers in Malawi have shown for the first time in patients that the build-up of infected blood cells in the narrow blood vessels of the brain leads to a potentially lethal lack of oxygen to the brain. http://phys.org/news151222194.html Medicine & Health Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:09:54 EST news151222194 A protein that was first identified for playing a key role in regulating normal heart rhythms also appears to be significant in helping muscle cells survive the forces of muscle contraction. The clue was a laboratory mouse that seemed to have a form of muscular dystrophy. http://phys.org/news151072585.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:36:25 EST news151072585 A new study sheds light on a little understood biological process called quiescence, which enables blood-forming stem cells to exist in a dormant or inactive state in which they are not growing or dividing. According to the study's findings, researchers identified the genetic pathway used to maintain a cell's quiescence, a state that allows bone marrow cells to escape the lethal effects of standard cancer treatments. http://phys.org/news150726406.html Biology Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:26:46 EST news150726406 (PhysOrg.com) -- A fruit fly's immune system can tell time—and how hard it punches back against infections depends on whether the fly is snoozing or cruising. The discovery by medical school researchers could have implications for human health, too. http://phys.org/news150651380.html Biology Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:36:20 EST news150651380 Scientists have identified mutations in a gene that predict a high likelihood of relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Although the researchers caution that further research is needed to determine how changes in the gene, called IKZF1 or IKAROS, lead to leukemia relapse, the findings are likely to provide the basis for future diagnostic tests to assess the risk of treatment failure. By using a molecular test to identify this genetic marker in ALL patients, physicians should be better able to assign patients to appropriate therapies. http://phys.org/news150571442.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:24:02 EST news150571442 "New blood" can revitalize a company or a sports team. Recent research by Tel Aviv University finds that young blood does a body good as well, especially when it comes to fighting cancer. http://phys.org/news149852946.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:49:06 EST news149852946 (PhysOrg.com) -- Genes talk to themselves and to each other to control how a given cell manufactures proteins. But variation in the control of the same gene in two different tissues may contribute to certain human traits, including the likelihood of getting a disease, said a team of geneticists and neuroscientists at Duke University Medical Center. http://phys.org/news149264483.html Biology Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:21:23 EST news149264483 Learning how leukemia takes over privileged "niches" within the bone marrow is helping researchers develop treatment strategies that could protect healthy blood-forming stem cells and improve the outcomes of bone marrow transplantation for leukemia and other types of cancer. http://phys.org/news148832246.html Medicine & Health Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:17:26 EST news148832246 Many specialized cells, such as in the skin, intestinal mucosa or blood, have a lifespan of only a few days. For these tissues to function, a steady replenishment of specialized cells is indispensable. This is the task of so-called "adult" stem cells also known as tissue stem cells. http://phys.org/news147615685.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:21:25 EST news147615685 Using a harmless virus to insert a corrective gene into mouse blood cells, scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have alleviated sickle cell disease pathology. In their studies, the researchers found that the treated mice showed essentially no difference from normal mice. Although the scientists caution that applying the gene therapy to humans presents significant technical obstacles, they believe that the new therapy will become an important treatment for the disease. http://phys.org/news147533138.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:25:38 EST news147533138 Johns Hopkins researchers have used fruit flies to gain new insights into a brain-damaging disorder afflicting children. Their work suggests a possible therapy for the disease, for which there is currently no treatment. http://phys.org/news146924189.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:16:29 EST news146924189 Scientists at Penn State have shed light on some of the processes that regulate genes -- such as the processes that ensure that proteins are produced at the correct time, place, and amount in an organism -- and they also have shed light on the evolution of the DNA regions that regulate genes. The team focused on regulatory regions that, when bound to the protein GATA1, are thought to turn on genes that play an important role in the development of red blood cells. "Our findings could help others to develop drugs to treat people who suffer from sickle-cell anemia and other blood disorders," said Ross Hardison, the T. Ming Chu Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the team's leader. The results will be published on 1 December 2008 in the journal Genome Research. http://phys.org/news146833211.html Biology Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:00:11 EST news146833211 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Penn State have shed light on some of the processes that regulate genes -- such as the processes that ensure that proteins are produced at the correct time, place, and amount in an organism -- and they also have shed light on the evolution of the DNA regions that regulate genes. The team focused on regulatory regions that, when bound to the protein GATA1, are thought to turn on genes that play an important role in the development of red blood cells. http://phys.org/news146244851.html Biology Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:34:11 EST news146244851 When mice are exposed to arsenic at federally-approved levels for drinking water, pores in liver blood vessels close, potentially leading to cardiovascular disease, say University of Pittsburgh researchers in the Dec. 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, available online Nov. 13. The study, while preliminary, also reveals how an enzyme linked to hypertension and atherosclerosis alters cells, and may call into question current Environmental Protection Agency standards that are based solely on risks for cancer. http://phys.org/news145818421.html Medicine & Health Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:07:01 EST news145818421