25 | How the egg rejuvenated |
|
|
|
When older, our cells accumulate defects. Could we eliminate some of them and thus rejuvenate cells? A process observed on the oocyte provides avenues for research.
Most living organisms get older, the more DNA and proteins of their cells are damaged, particularly under the action of small molecules, reactive oxygen species, byproducts of respiration. This explains, in part, degenerative diseases and cancers are more common with age.
Sex cells, sperm cells of male and female oocytes, are not immune to this phenomenon, as the individual who is aging product. Gold embryos and newborns from fertilization – the fusion of these cells – are not old before: their cells do not rely almost damaged components, except as pathological. So there are rejuvenation process that avoid transmission to the new generation of components “aged” from the sex cells. Jerome Goudeau and Hugo Aguilaniu, École Normale Superieure de Lyon and CNRS, have highlighted one of these processes in an animal model, the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans.
Click to continue »
| Category: Biology | Tags: antibodies, byproducts, metabolism, molecules, reactive oxygen species |
18 | “There will be a penicillin of cancer,” the Nobel Timothyu Hunt |
|
|
|
Timothy Hunt, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001, today introduced its latest developments on the regulation of cell division, a process known as mitosis. This study may develop therapeutic strategies in oncology. This afternoon will give the closing conference of the XXXIII Congress of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, held these days in Cordoba.
“The absence of a protein phosphatase, which chemically modifies proteins involved in cell division, accelerates the entry of the cell in the mitotic process, but also blocks their exit from,” says Timothy Hunt. “The presence of this enzyme is essential for cell division occurs in controlled conditions, and its alteration have a major impact on cellular mitosis.”
This discovery opens new doors in cancer research can develop new therapeutic treatments. However, despite these advances, Hunt, who now works at the Institute of Cancer Research in London (United Kingdom) and has come to Spain to teach this afternoon the closing conference of the XXXIII Congress of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Biology Molecular, says that there is still a long way from a cure for cancer.
Click to continue »
| Category: Medical Science | Tags: bacterial cells, cancer cells, Cancer Research, enzyme, metabolism, protein phosphatase |
19 | The heart of women with heart failure due to hypertension is stronger than men |
|
|
|
Women with hypertensive heart failure are older than men and tire more easily, but his heart is stronger. This is reflected in a thesis presented at the University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU) by Dr. Elena Zubillaga, who has studied 109 women and 120 men admitted for heart failure caused by hypertension.
Dr. Elena Zubillaga , University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU) has studied 109 women and 120 men admitted for heart failure. In all cases , the only cause of the disease was hypertension. Specifically , analyzed by sex , the clinical, biochemical and echocardiographic among patients.
It has also analyzed the relationship between the data provided by serum markers on the metabolism of collagen ( protein) in the heart and systolic or contraction , as the changes that occur in metabolism ( synthesis and degradation processes ) myocardial collagen are associated with certain clinical conditions
Zubillaga presented at the UPV / EHU a doctoral thesis Differential aspects of heart failure of hypertensive origin women and men. Clinical and biochemical approachBased on the results of that study.
| Category: Medical Science | Tags: hypertension, metabolism, myocardial collagen, ventricular systolic function |
13 | The genetic cause of a new form of ataxia |
|
|
|
The gene in question is called AFG3L2 and contains information for a protein involved in the metabolism of mitochondria, the power plants of our cells,
Click to continue »
Identified the genetic defect responsible for a particular genetic form of ataxia, SCA28: to announce a study financed by Telethon and published online on the site Nature Genetics Franco Taroni, researcher of Neurologico Carlo Besta “in Milan, Marco Muzi-Falconi University of Milan and colleagues. The term ataxia is derived from the greek “disorder” and indicates a disorder of motor coordination that is often also associated with incontinence, difficulty swallowing and involuntary movements of limbs, trunk, head, eyes. The portion of the brain affected is the cerebellum, the control station of all voluntary movements of our body.
| Category: Medicine | Tags: AFG3L2, hereditary ataxias, metabolism, mitochondria |
