Category Health/Medical

Simvastatin acts as a stopper, plugging the adhesion molecules in the immune system.

Simvastatin, which is one of the most commonly used pharmaceuticals in the world, also has a beneficial effect on the immune defense system with regard to diseases such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Danish researchers have now explored why this is so, and their findings may result in improved treatment.

In the case of multiple sclerosis, the immune defense system destroys the central nervous system, while the inflammation affects the kidneys, eyes and sense of touch in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, leading to a variety of complications...

When offspring are in the womb, what their mothers experience environmentally (for example, diet, stress, smoking), influences the attributes of offspring when they are adults. This ‘developmental programming’ is understood to be a large contributor to the obesity epidemic seen today. Credit: © highwaystarz / Fotolia

The process by which a mother’s diet during pregnancy can permanently affect her offspring’s attributes, such as weight, could be strongly influenced by genetic variation in an unexpected part of the genome, according to research led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The discovery could shed light on why many human genetic studies have previously not been able to fully explain how certain diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, are inherited.

The study shows g...

Cleavage of an RNA-containing D2C by an RCD.

New platform detects traces of everything from bacteria to viruses, cocaine and metals. DNA is best known as a genetic material, but is also a very programmable molecule that lends itself to engineering for synthetic applications. The new method shapes separately programmed pieces of DNA material into pairs of interlocking circles. The first remains inactive until it is released by the second, like a bicycle wheel in a lock. When the second circle, acting as the lock, is exposed to even a trace of the target substance, it opens, freeing the first circle of DNA, which replicates quickly and creates a signal, eg colour change.

“The key is that it’s selectively triggered by whatever we want to detect,” says Brennan, who holds the Canada Research Ch...

AAV2/8 mediates sustained transgene expression in the mouse abdomen and thorax.

Researchers have developed a new strategy using lung-targeted gene therapy that may lead to improved treatments for inherited diseases including emphysema. Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is the most common genetic cause of emphysema, a chronic lung disease that leads to significant morbidity and mortality. AATD, which affects up to 100,000 Americans, is caused by inheritance of a single gene mutation.

The current treatment for patients affected by AATD involves weekly intravenous infusion of the normal AAT protein – an inconvenient, invasive and expensive option. Delivery of a normal copy of the gene, known as gene therapy, is an experimental approach to treating some genetic conditions including AATD...