Study links couples’ hostility and gut bacteria, inflammation in bloodstream
Married people who fight nastily are more likely to suffer from leaky guts – a problem that unleashes bacteria into the blood and can drive up disease-causing inflammation, new research suggests. (more…)
A study by UCLA researchers reveals the cellular basis for how the hormone estrogen protects against damage to the central nervous system in women with multiple sclerosis, or MS. The researchers found that estrogen treatment exerts positive effects on two types of cells during disease — immune cells in the brain as well as cells called oligodendrocytes. (more…)
In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of scientists shows how mutations in the gene GPT2 lead to a rare developmental and potentially degenerative brain disease. (more…)
As we age, the function and regenerative abilities of skeletal muscles deteriorate, which means it is difficult for the elderly to recover from injury or surgery. New work from Carnegie’s Michelle Rozo, Liangji Li, and Chen-Ming Fan demonstrates that a protein called b1-integrin is crucial for muscle regeneration. Their findings, published by Nature Medicine, provide a promising target for therapeutic intervention to combat muscle aging or disease. (more…)
UCLA researchers are first to directly measure division of cardiomyocytes
Researchers from UCLA’s Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research are the first to directly measure the division of heart muscle cells, proving that while such division is very rare, it does occur.
The study, conducted by assistant professor of cardiology Dr. Reza Ardehali and colleagues, resolves a recent controversy over whether the heart muscle has the power to regenerate itself. The findings are also important for future research that could lead to the regeneration of heart tissue to repair damage caused by disease or heart attack. (more…)
Carla Spence is graduating with a Ph.D in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Delaware in Summer 2014. She entered graduate school after receiving her B.S. in biology from the same University. She loves spending her leisure time with her husband, Sean, 2 years old son Trent, and her 8 months old daughter Callia. (more…)
Study identifies essential molecule for transport of protein from neuron cell body to axon
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists have solved a longstanding mystery of the central nervous system, showing how a key protein gets to the right spot to launch electrical impulses that enable communication of nerve signals to and from the brain.
Nerve impulses are critical because they are required for neurons to send information about senses, movement, thinking and feeling to other cell types in the neural circuitry. And an impulse is not fired up just once; it is initiated and then must be repeatedly transmitted along axons – long, slender extensions of nerve cell bodies – to keep the nervous system’s messages stable during their rapid travel. (more…)
Black patients fare worst; Asians, Hispanics survive longest with disease
UCLA researchers have found that minority patients and those of lower socioeconomic status are far more likely to have advanced thyroid cancer when they are diagnosed with the disease than white patients and those in higher economic brackets.
In one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, the UCLA team looked at nearly 26,000 patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer and analyzed the impact of race and socioeconomic factors on the stage of presentation, as well as patient survival rates. (more…)
