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Curcumin Shows Promise in Attacking Parkinson’s Disease

By Guest PostApril 1, 2012Healthalpha synuclein protein, amino acid, basir ahmad, body temperature, clumping, curcumin, disease, folding, lisa lapidus, parkinson's, protein, spice, technique, turmeric

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Curcumin, a compound found in the spice turmeric, is proving effective at preventing clumping of a protein involved in Parkinson’s disease, says a Michigan State University researcher.

A team of researchers led by Basir Ahmad, an MSU postdoctoral researcher, demonstrated earlier this year that slow-wriggling alpha-synuclein proteins are the cause of clumping, or aggregation, which is the first step of diseases such as Parkinson’s. A new study led by Ahmad, which appears in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, shows that curcumin can help prevent clumping. (more…)

What Makes Ticks Tick?

By Guest PostMarch 11, 2012Healthanaplasmosis, antibiotic therapy, apple, arthritis, babesiosis, bacterium, climate change, dengue fever, disease, durland fish, european ancestry, evolution, infectious diseases, iPhone, lyme disease, maine, malaria, michigan, minnesota, neurological problems, North America, Pennsylvania, placebo, ticks, united states, virginia, west nile virus, wisconsin

Durland Fish has researched ticks and their associated diseases for decades. A professor in the Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, he has, among other things, contributed to the discovery that the bacterium that causes Lyme disease has European ancestry and that the disease, once nearly eradicated in North America, roared back with reforestation. More recently he helped develop a Lyme disease “app” for the iPhone and other Apple devices that provides users with detailed information about tick populations in any given area in the United States and even comes with a video on how to safely remove a tick. He has also worked on mosquito-borne West Nile virus and dengue fever. Students selected Fish as the school’s mentor of the year in 2010. (more…)

Scientists Pinpoint How Vitamin D May Help Clear Amyloid Plaques Found in Alzheimer’s

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2012Health1a 25 dihydroxyvitamin d3, alzheimer, amyloid beta, amyloid beta protein, antonio barrientos duran, blood, brain, calcium, chemical, chloride channel 3, clc3, component, curcumin, curcuminoids, danusa menegaz, disease, enzymatic conversion, gene, immune cells, immune system, intracellular mechanism, kidneys, liver, macrophages, mathew t mizwicki, milan fiala, patrick r griffin, phagocytosis, plaques, therapy, turmeric spice, vitamin d3

A team of academic researchers has identified the intracellular mechanisms regulated by vitamin D3 that may help the body clear the brain of amyloid beta, the main component of plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Published in the March 6 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, the early findings show that vitamin D3 may activate key genes and cellular signaling networks to help stimulate the immune system to clear the amyloid-beta protein. (more…)

Yale Study: How Mitochondrial DNA Defects Cause Inherited Deafness

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2012Scienceapoptosis, cascade, cell, cellular power plants, cellular respiration, cellular structure, chemical modification, disease, dna mutation, energy, enzyme, gene, gerald s shadel, hearing loss, helen dodson, inherited deafness, justin cotney, lei song, methylation, mitochondria, mitochondrial dna mutation, mitochondrial ribosomes, molecular pathway, mouse model, overexpression, programmed cell death, protein, rna, sharen e mccay, timothy e shutt, yale scientist

Yale scientists have discovered the molecular pathway by which maternally inherited deafness appears to occur: Mitochondrial DNA mutations trigger a signaling cascade, resulting in programmed cell death. The study is in the Feb. 17 issue of Cell.

Mitochondria are cellular structures that function as “cellular power plants” because they generate most of the cell’s supply of energy. They contain DNA inherited from one’s mother. Mitochondria determine whether a cell lives or dies via the process of programmed cell death, or apoptosis. (more…)

In The Mouth, Smoking Zaps Healthy Bacteria, Welcomes Pathogens

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2012Healthbacteria, biofilm, bone loss, chad matthews, cytokines, dental plaque, disease, diverse ecosystem, dna signature, ecosystem, gingivitis, good bacteria, harmful bacteria, healthy bacteria, marcelo aspiras, marko de jager, maureen langlois, microbial community, ohio state university, periodontitis, philips oral healthcare, purnimakumar, smokers, smoking, swab, swollen gums, types of cytokines, vinayak joshi

COLUMBUS, Ohio — According to a new study, smoking causes the body to turn against its own helpful bacteria, leaving smokers more vulnerable to disease.

Despite the daily disturbance of brushing and flossing, the mouth of a healthy person contains a stable ecosystem of healthy bacteria. New research shows that the mouth of a smoker is a much more chaotic, diverse ecosystem—and is much more susceptible to invasion by harmful bacteria. (more…)

UCLA Scientists Boost Memory By Stimulating Key Site in Brain

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2012Sciencealzheimer, americans, barbara knowlton, brain, brain cells, brain site, critical junction, cyber city, disease, entorhinal cortex, eric behnke, hippocampus, itzhak fried, john stern, memory, nanthia suthana, neuro prosthetic devices, neuroscientist, roy mukamel, taxi cab, ucla, united states, video game, virtual passenger, zulfi haneef

*Mechanism holds potential for improving recall in dementia patients*

Have you ever gone to the movies and forgotten where you parked the car? New UCLA research may one day help you improve your memory.

UCLA neuroscientists have demonstrated that they can strengthen memory in human patients by stimulating a critical junction in the brain. Published in the Feb. 9 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the finding could lead to a new method for boosting memory in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. (more…)

New Ability To Regrow Blood Vessels Holds Promise For Treatment of Heart Disease

By Guest PostFebruary 11, 2012Scienceaaron baker, austin, blood vessels, cell growth, cell receptor, cellular differentiation, central ischemia, chronic myocardial ischemia, clinical disease, coreceptor, coronary vessel, disease, extra component, fgf 2, fibroblast growth factor 2, growth factor, heart, hindlimb ischemia, limbs, lipid based nanoparticles, lipid embedded receptor, lipid incased substance, organ dysfunction, patient, plaques, rats, revascularization approach, smoking, syndecan 4, synthetic, university of texas, western world

AUSTIN, Texas — University of Texas at Austin researchers have demonstrated a new and more effective method for regrowing blood vessels in the heart and limbs — a research advancement that could have major implications for how we treat heart disease, the leading cause of death in the Western world.

The treatment method developed by Cockrell School of Engineering Assistant Professor Aaron Baker could allow doctors to bypass surgery and instead repair damaged blood vessels simply by injecting a lipid-incased substance into a patient. Once inside the body, the substance stimulates cell growth and spurs the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones. (more…)

Genes Linked To Cancer Could Be Easier To Detect With Liquid Lasers

By Guest PostFebruary 5, 2012Scienceangewandte chemie, biological molecule, bit of backtracking, blueprint, cancer, cell, detect, disease, fluorescent beacon, fluorescent dye, genetic basis, genetic mutation, glass capillary, liquid laser, mutated dna strands, patrol molecule, ring resonator cavity, university of michigan, xudong fan, yuze sun

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Using a liquid laser, University of Michigan researchers have developed a better way to detect the slight genetic mutations that might predispose a person to a particular type of cancer or other diseases.

Their results are published in the current edition of the German journal Angewandte Chemie. (more…)

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