Recent Comments

    Category Health/Medical

    Mice Flown in Space show Nascent Liver damage

    April 21, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology, Astronomy/Space

    Space shuttle Atlantis is photographed from the International Space Station as it flies over the Bahamas prior to docking with the station (2011). Credit: NASA

    Space shuttle Atlantis is photographed from the International Space Station as it flies over the Bahamas prior to docking with the station (2011). Credit: NASA

    In a discovery with implications for long-term spaceflight and future missions to Mars, a researcher at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has found that mice flown aboard the space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth with early signs of liver disease. “Prior to this study we really didn’t have much information on the impact of spaceflight on the liver,” said A/Prof Karen Jonscher. “We knew that astronauts often returned with diabetes-like symptoms but they usually resolved quickly.”

    The mice studied spent 13.5 days aboard the space shuttle...

    Read More

    A New Player Revealed in Nerve Growth Process

    April 20, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    The Adaptor Protein CD2AP Is a Coordinator of Neurotrophin Signaling-Mediated Axon Arbor Plasticity

    The Adaptor Protein CD2AP Is a Coordinator of Neurotrophin Signaling-Mediated Axon Arbor Plasticity.

    A protein previously known for its role in kidney function, adaptor protein CD2AP, also plays a significant role in the nervous system, and is associated with a type of neural growth known as collateral sprouting. CD2AP orchestrates a complex arrangement of other proteins that controls the branching of nerve axons, the tendrils reaching out from the nerve cell to connect to other nerve cells, skin and organs. This nerve growth occurs in uninjured nerve cells as they extend their reach and create new connections.

    Harrison said. “There are a whole bunch of proteins that it could bring together, but it only brings together the correct proteins to create the correct response...

    Read More

    Early Abnormalities of Alzheimer’s disease: It takes 2 proteins to tango

    April 20, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Synergistic effect between [18F]florbetapir SUVR and CSF p-tau drives [18F]FDG uptake decline in limbic regions. Statistical parametric maps, after correcting for multiple comparisons (false discovery rate corrected at P<0.001), overlaid in a structural MRI scan, reveal areas in which 24-month [18F]FDG uptake decline occurs as a function of the synergistic interaction between baseline [18F]florbetapir SUVR and CSF p-tau measurements. Significant interactive effects were observed in the basal and mesial temporal, orbitofrontal, and anterior and posterior cingulate cortices. The analysis was corrected for age, gender and APOE ε4 status. CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; [18F]FDG, [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; p-tau, phosphorylated tau; SUVR, standardized uptake value ratio.

    Synergistic effect between [18F]florbetapir SUVR and CSF p-tau drives [18F]FDG uptake decline in limbic regions. Statistical parametric maps, after correcting for multiple comparisons (false discovery rate corrected at P<0.001), overlaid in a structural MRI scan, reveal areas in which 24-month [18F]FDG uptake decline occurs as a function of the synergistic interaction between baseline [18F]florbetapir SUVR and CSF p-tau measurements. Significant interactive effects were observed in the basal and mesial temporal, orbitofrontal, and anterior and posterior cingulate cortices. The analysis was corrected for age, gender and APOE ε4 status...

    Read More

    Aspirin use may help Prevent Bile Duct Cancer/ Cholangiocarcinoma

    April 19, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Small white aspirin pills spilling out of a glass jar

    “Our study found that individuals who took aspirin had a more than a two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half-fold lesser chance of developing bile duct cancer, compared to individuals who did not take aspirin,” says Lewis Roberts, M.B. Ch.B., Ph.D., gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Mayo Clinic.

    Bile duct cancer is an uncommon cancer that forms in the slender tubes (bile ducts) that carry digestive fluid through the liver. The disease occurs mostly in people over 50 and can cause symptoms, such as yellowing of the skin and eyes, intense itchiness of the skin, and white stools. Bile duct cancer is an aggressive type of cancer that progresses quickly and is difficult to treat.

    “We know that continuous unremitting inflammation is one of the main factors that promotes cancer of the bile ducts...

    Read More