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It ‘s the first study to identify an abnormal biochemical path as an etiological factor in the loss of tolerance to antigens present in food
A blocking factor that activates the human immune response against intestinal bacteria or certain foods can prevent the development of celiac disease in those most at risk: this is the conclusion of a study published in the magazine Nature.
The researchers ‘attention was focused on two substances, interleukin 15 retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A, can act as triggers of the inflammatory response to gluten, a protein widely used in cereals and is widely used in’ food industry, which is the origin of celiac disease.
“We have seen how high levels of IL-15 in the gut are able to kick off in the early stages of celiac disease in those who are genetically more susceptible,” said Bana Jabri, associate professor of medicine and pathology, co-director of the Digestive Disease Research Core Center and member of the Celiac Disease Center and Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Chicago. “Our study also shows that in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, vitamin A and its metabolites of retinoic acid are probably more harmful than good.”
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A study has clarified the role of the enzyme GGTasi-I in the initiation of an inflammatory condition of the body
A group of researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has identified an enzyme that protects from inflammation and destruction of articular cartilage, two characteristic features of rheumatoid arthritis.
The discovery came unexpectedly after inhibition of production of the enzyme GGTasi-I in transgenic mice, could pave the way all’indetificazione of new mechanisms that control the development of inflammatory diseases and thus the identification of new targets therapeutic.
The GGTasi-I is found in all cells but is particularly important for the function of the so called CAAX proteins in inflammatory cells, since it allows the link with a fatty acid similar to cholesterol. Some drugs, so far tested on cancer patients, based on its suppression of GGTasi-I and consequently that of CAAX proteins.
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Despite the great refusal that almost every man feels at the prospect of becoming bald, very little is known about the causes, at the cellular level of male pattern baldness. In a new study has found that stem cells have an unexpected role in explaining what happens in the scalp of bald men.
Using cell samples of men who underwent hair transplants, a team led by Dr. George Cotsarelis, professor in the Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, compared the hair follicles in bald areas of the head with those of areas not affected by the baldness, and found that in the subject’s scalp, bald regions have the same amount of stem cells with normal areas of the same hair scalp. However, it has been found that cells from other, more mature, known as progenitor cells, significantly dwindle in numbers in the follicles of bald patches on the scalp.
Researchers believe that baldness can come from a problem with the activation of stem cells, not the number of them on hair follicles. In male pattern baldness, hair follicles shrink really do not disappear. Are essentially microscopic hairs on the bald scalp compared with other parts of the same.
The fact that there is a normal number of stem cells in bald regions of the scalp, suggests to scientists that could be a way to reactivate these stem cells.
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Many patients suffering from chronic liver diseases are receiving inadequate treatment due to lack of donor organs for transplantation. However, hepatocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) could provide an alternative for the future.
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin compared the hepatocytes of the embryonic stem cells with hepatocytes iPS cells, and found that gene expression is very similar. However, compared to hepatocytes “real”, just under half of the genes showed different gene expression. Therefore, gene expression of hepatocytes derived from iPS cells still requires an adjustment before the cells can be used in the treatment of liver diseases.
Induced pluripotent stem cells can be obtained from different cell types. Hepatocytes derived from iPS cells are an ideal starting point for future regenerative therapies.
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The work of Peter Haddad, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal showed that some herbs could inhibit the absorption of glucose and thus fight diabetes.
20 to 30% of the Cree aboriginal population of James Bay in Canada suffer from diabetes. This disease is caused by too high a rate of glucose in the blood because the tissues have become resistant to insulin, a hormone that facilitates glucose uptake by the cell.
Professor Haddad has been ongoing for several years a program of research on medicinal plants traditionally used by Aboriginal people to ascertain their therapeutic properties. With members of his team, he has presented 15 symptoms of diabetes to 104 “elder healers” of four villages with Cree asking them what plants they nursed each of these symptoms. The 17 plants were cited most frequently by healers were then selected for in vitro tests. “The testing goal was to see if these plants lowers the rate of glucose in the blood by limiting its transport across the intestinal wall,” said the professor.
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A new approach opens the doors of gene therapy to other diseases with dominant inheritance, yet inherently difficult to treat in this way
An important step towards the prospect of a therapy for retinitis pigmentosa, the most common form of hereditary blindness, has been made thanks to the work of researchers at the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine in Naples (Tigem), which report in an article published in EMBO Molecular Medicine
The group led by Enrico Maria Surace focused on those forms of the disease where you just get the defective gene from one parent (sick in turn) to develop the disease. “The diseases of this type, known as autosomal dominant, are very difficult to treat with gene therapy because the gene mutation that determines not the absence of a protein, but the presence of an abnormal protein and therefore toxic to the body. It does not help then give the patient a copy of the healthy gene: we must instead try to ‘turn off’ the bad one and this is much more difficult, “said Surace.
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The discovery could pave the way for new treatments of resistant forms of the disorder
In cases of difficult to treat hypertension may help a deep brain stimulation: what is stated in the journal Neurology Nikunj K. Patel and colleagues at the Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.
Deep brain stimulation is a surgical implant similar to the pacemaker rate used to send electrical impulses to the brain. The study included fifty five a subject that has been implanted brain stimulator to treat pain developed after a stroke. At the time of that event was covered by a diagnosis of hypertension, can not be resolved even with the medication.
Although stimolazioe electricity is not found to relieve the pain permanently, it was discovered with amazement that it will decrease your blood pressure enough to stop any medication.
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The information stored in the pattern of activity can be lost as a result of small errors with a surprisingly high speed
The dynamics underlying the transmission of signals in the brain is very chaotic: this is the conclusion of a study of the Max-Planck-Institut for dynamic and self-organization at the University of Gottingen and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Göttingen in riferitoin which is an article in the journal Physical Review Letters .
Within the same research, it was possible to calculate, for the first time, the speed with which the information stored in activity patterns of neurons in the cerebral cortex is downloaded, is surprisingly high.
The brain is known, encoding information in the form of electrical impulses. Each of the 100 billion neurons interconnected acts as both a receiver and a transmitter and any information processed by the brain generates a characteristic pattern of activity. This indicates that the neuron sends an impulse to neighboring neurons, in other words, which neuron is active and when. The pattern of activity is actually a type of communication protocol that records the exchange of information between neurons.
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The first prototype of a system of laser therapy of a new kind has been constructed by researchers or physicians physicists at the University of Bonn around Matthias Frentzen.
In the future, the device could allow treatment of caries painless and very accurate. The BMBF is funding this project began in 2009 to the tune of 6.8 million. Scientists at the clinic of periodontics, dentistry and preventive dentistry are currently testing the new device developed in collaboration with companies.
“Our laser operates with ultra-short pulses,” explains Florian Schelle. Small packets of light are produced by the laser 500,000 times per second, each two millimeters and a half, separated by 600 m of darkness. Thus, the total energy of the radius is not too high and it can be used to drill holes in vital teeth. When a packet of light touches the tooth, he tears the molecules, but the heat and vibrations are hardly transmitted. Therefore the method should be painless for patients. The other advantage of this laser is its very high accuracy. The radius is in fact more than two times finer than a cilium, yet powerful enough to work properly.
The project Milad (laser ablation and minimally invasive diagnosis of oral tissue hard) could make a small revolution in the world of dentistry. In addition to issuing the patients of their fear of the dentist, the goal for researchers is to combine laser-drill a laser diagnostic. This would permit analysis of tissue destroyed continuously during treatment and thus stop the laser ablation when the meeting of the healthy tissue, so as to preserve as much as possible.
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An international study published today in the journal Science Reveals genetic mutations that occur in infectious bacteria known as Streptococcus pneumoniae and make it resistant to any clinical intervention. This organism is responsible for diseases such as pneumonia or meningitis.
“This work will help to design future clinical strategies to counteract the rapid stopping ability of mutation of this pathogen,” explains to SINC Stephen D. Bentley, senior study author and researcher at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge (United Kingdom).
The analysis, published in the journal Science and study of 240 samples Streptococcus pneumoniae collected over 24 years shows that there are regions of the genome – in particular the PMEN1-called more frequently suffer mutations, recombination or DNA insertions.
These bacteria are exchanged between them equivalent parts of DNA, altering its genetic structure and evade the actions of the immune system and vaccines. “We began to understand now how this pathogen genetically evolved and reinvented itself in response to human intervention,” said the scientist.
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20 to 30% of the Cree aboriginal population of James Bay in Canada suffer from diabetes. This disease is caused by too high a rate of glucose in the blood because the tissues have become resistant to insulin, a hormone that facilitates glucose uptake by the cell.
In the future, the device could allow treatment of caries painless and very accurate. The BMBF is funding this project began in 2009 to the tune of 6.8 million. Scientists at the clinic of periodontics, dentistry and preventive dentistry are currently testing the new device developed in collaboration with companies.