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Multiple Sclerosis Study Reveals How Killer T Cells Learn to Recognize Nerve Fiber Insulators

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2013Healtharsenal, autoimmune disorders, autoimmune encephalitis, autoimmune reactivity, axons, blood vessels, body, brain, branched tentacles, cancer, cd4+ t cell, cd8 t cells, central nervous system, chronic multiple sclerosis, corticosteroids, cytoxic t cells, degeneration of axons, electrical impulse conductors, electrical wire, fight disease, generalized immunosuppressants, humans, infection, inflamed lesions, inflammatory response, inflammatory situation, insulation, joan goverman, killer t cells, laboratory models, lesions, luca castelli, methotrexate, mouse model, multiple sclerosis, myelin protein, myelin sheath, nerve cell projections, nerve fibers, no cells, oligodendrocytes, pathogens, peptides, proteins, qingyong ji, spines, support cells, symptoms, tip dendritic cells, tissue damage, transmit signals, university of washington, white blood cells

Misguided killer T cells may be the missing link in sustained tissue damage in the brains and spines of people with multiple sclerosis, findings from the University of Washington reveal. Cytoxic T cells, also known as CD8+ T cells, are white blood cells that normally are in the body’s arsenal to fight disease.

Multiple sclerosis is characterized by inflamed lesions that damage the insulation surrounding nerve fibers and destroy the axons, electrical impulse conductors that look like long, branching projections. Affected nerves fail to transmit signals effectively. (more…)

Neurons that Control Overeating also Drive Appetite for Cocaine

By Guest PostJune 25, 2012Scienceappetite, behavior, body, brain, brain function, cocaine, cognitive behavior, diabetes, diphtheria toxin, drug addiction, Environment, function, hypothalamus, jeremy bober, jozelia g ferreira, marcelo o dietrich, metabolic disorder, neurons, obesity, overeating, tamas l horvath, transgenic mice

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have zeroed in on a set of neurons in the part of the brain that controls hunger, and found that these neurons are not only associated with overeating, but also linked to non-food associated behaviors, like novelty-seeking and drug addiction.

Published in the June 24 online issue of Nature Neuroscience, the study was led by Marcelo O. Dietrich, postdoctoral associate, and Tamas L. Horvath, the Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Biomedical Research and chair of comparative medicine at Yale School of Medicine.

In attempts to develop treatments for metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes, researchers have paid increasing attention to the brain’s reward circuits located in the midbrain, with the notion that in these patients, food may become a type of “drug of abuse” similar to cocaine. Dietrich notes, however, that this study flips the common wisdom on its head. (more…)

Loss of Appetite Deciphered in Brain Cell Circuit

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2012Scienceanorexia nervosa, body, brain, brain development, cancer chemotherapy, excitatory signal, experimental result, food aversions, function, gaba, glutamate, hypothalamus, loss of appetite, meal, mice, michael s clark, michael schwartz, nausea, nerve cells, nucleus tractus solitarus, parabrachial nucleus, point of emaciation, qi wu, ralph brinster, receptor, richard d palmiter, starvation, substance, transgenic mice, university of pennsylvania, university of washington

The meal is pushed way, untouched. Loss of appetite can be a fleeting queasiness or continue to the point of emaciation. While it’s felt in the gut, more is going on inside the head.

New findings are emerging about brain and body messaging pathways that lead to loss of appetite, and the systems in place to avoid starvation. (more…)

Foot Bones Allow Researchers To Determine Sex of Skeletal Remains

By Guest PostMarch 3, 2012Scienceankle bone, biological sex, body, calcaneus, european american descent, forensic science, indicator, law enforcement official, sheena harris, skeletal remains, tarsal bones, tool, troy case

Law enforcement officials who are tasked with identifying a body based on partial skeletal remains have a new tool at their disposal. A new paper from North Carolina State University researchers details how to determine the biological sex of skeletal remains based solely on measurements of the seven tarsal bones in the feet.

“Tarsals are fairly dense bones, and can be more durable than other bones – such as the pelvis – that are used to determine biological sex,” says Dr. Troy Case, an associate professor of anthropology at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research. “Also, the tarsal bones are often enclosed in shoes, which further protects them from damage. That’s particularly useful in a forensic context.” The tarsals are the seven bones that make up the ankle, heel and rear part of the arch in a human foot. (more…)

Andrew Artenstein: Essential Enzymes Key to Disease, Maybe Treatments

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2012Healthalzheimer, andrew artenstein, anthrax, athlerosclerosis, bacteria and viruses, biodefense, body, cancer, chemical reactions, david orenstein, disease, ebola, enzymes, essential proteins, Europe, flu, iaips, infectious diseases, inter alpha inhibitor proteins, measles, microscopic level, molecules, natural human proteins, outbreak of h1n1, pathways, pcs, proprotein convertases, proteins, sars, steven opal, therapies, viruses

*Proprotein convertases are enzymes that activate many essential proteins, but they are also implicated in many processes that cause disease. In a research review in the New England Journal of Medicine, Andrew Artenstein and Steven Opal argue that proprotein convertases are potentially rich targets for developing therapies.*

Most people have never heard of proprotein convertases, but the enzymes activate many proteins that are essential for life. Unfortunately, their fundamental role puts them in the middle of many processes that cause disease – not just cancer or athlerosclerosis, but both of those and Alzheimer’s and anthrax and the flu and an amazing variety of other maladies.

In a research review article appearing Dec. 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Andrew Artenstein, physician-in-chief in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Hospital, and Steven Opal, chief of infectious diseases at Memorial Hospital, argue that proprotein convertases (PCs) are potentially rich targets for developing therapies. Artenstein, who with Opal is on the faculty of the Warren Alpert School of Medicine, explained PCs to David Orenstein. (more…)

Why Coffee Protects Against Diabetes

By Guest PostJanuary 13, 2011Health, Scienceamerican diabetes association, biological activity, body, brian chen, cancer, cardiovascular disease, coffee, coffee consumption, david geffen, decaffeinated coffee, diabetes, estrogen, gene, julie buring, molecular mechanism, morning elixir, mutation, non coffee drinkers, plasma levels, protective effect, protein, sex hormone binding globulin, sex hormones, shbg, simin liu, testosterone, tolerance to insulin, type 2 diabetes

*Researchers discover molecular mechanism behind drink’s prophylactic effect*

Coffee, that morning elixir, may give us an early jump-start to the day, but numerous studies have shown that it also may be protective against type 2 diabetes. Yet no one has really understood why.

Now, researchers at UCLA have discovered a possible molecular mechanism behind coffee’s protective effect. A protein called sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) regulates the biological activity of the body’s sex hormones, testosterone and estrogen, which have long been thought to play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes. And coffee consumption, it turns out, increases plasma levels of SHBG. (more…)

Lab Studies Show Promise for New Multiple Sclerosis Treatment

By Guest PostNovember 21, 2010Health, Scienceanti inflammatory drug, atl313, body, brain, chronic pain, drug, glial cells, hyde, immune system, inflammatory disease, jekyll, lesions, linda watkins, lisa loram, ms, multiple sclerosis, myelin, neurological problems, neuropathic pain, scars, spinal cord

Successfully treating and reversing the effects of multiple sclerosis, or MS, may one day be possible using a drug originally developed to treat chronic pain, according to Distinguished Professor Linda Watkins of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Watkins and her colleagues in CU-Boulder’s department of psychology and neuroscience discovered that a single injection of a compound called ATL313 — an anti-inflammatory drug being developed to treat chronic pain — stopped the progression of MS-caused paralysis in rats for weeks at a time. (more…)

Computer Modeling of Swimming Fish Could Lead To New Robots and Prosthetics

By Guest PostOctober 23, 2010Scienceavis cohen, barracuda, body, body stiffness, chia yu hsu, computational model, eric d tytell, lamprey, lisa fauci, locomotion, medical prosthetics, muscles contract, natural mechanics, simulation, swimming fish, tulane university, turbulent water, university of maryland

Image credit: University of Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md — Scientists at the University of Maryland and Tulane University have developed a computational model of a swimming fish that is the first to address the interaction of both internal and external forces on locomotion. The interdisciplinary research team simulated how the fish’s flexible body bends, depending on both the forces from the fluid moving around it as well as the muscles inside. Understanding these interactions, even in fish, will help design medical prosthetics for humans that work with the body’s natural mechanics, rather than against them. This research is published in the October 18, 2010 online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

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