Category Health/Medical

Using Drosophila (the fruit fly) as a model organism, the research team had identified a single nucleotide mutation in the mitochondrial DNA sequence which encodes one of the core energy producing genes.

“This mutation made males sterile but remarkably the ill effects were observed only in males; females who harbour this mutation maintain their fertility. This very same mutation that causes male infertility results in them living longer than flies that don’t have this mutation. However, while remaining fertile, females that carry this mutation have shorter lives,” Ms Camus said.
Co-author Dr Ted Morrow, University of Sussex, said that this mutation is not the only one located within the mitochondria to affect longevity.

Human mitochondrial DNA.

Dr Damian Dowling suggested the study repres...

The research may strengthen researchers’ abilities to better predict a child’s risk for associated autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases, eg type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, collectively affect 1 in 12 persons in the Western hemisphere. They represent a significant cause of chronic disability.

“The results from this study enable us to better understand the genetic component of these diseases and how they are genetically related to each other, thereby explaining why different autoimmune disorders often run in the same family,” said Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D.

The research encompassed 9 pediatric-onset autoimmune diseases (pAIDs): type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, common variable immunodeficiency, systemic lupus eryth...

Highlights •Lack of neuronal IFN-β-IFNAR signaling causes brain Lewy body accumulation •IFN-β deficiency causes late-stage autophagy block and thereby α-synuclein aggregation •IFN-β promotes neuronal autophagy and α-synuclein clearance •Ifnb gene therapy prevents dopaminergic neuron loss in a familial PD model

Non-inheritable PD may be caused by functional changes in the immune regulating gene Interferon-beta. Treatment with Interferon-beta-gene therapy successfully prevented neuronal death and disease effects in an experimental model of PD.

7-10 million people worldwide are living with PD. More than half of PD patients develop progressive disease showing signs of dementia similar to Alzheimer’s disease...

This is a photo of nano-diamonds using an optical microscope. The purpose is to characterize the size of nano-diamonds. Credit: Photo by Ewa Rej, the University of Sydney

They reveal how a nanoscale, synthetic version of the precious gem can light up early-stage cancers in non-toxic, non-invasive MRI scans. “We knew nano diamonds were of interest for delivering drugs during chemotherapy because they are largely non-toxic and non-reactive,” says Professor Reilly.

“We thought we could build on these non-toxic properties realising that diamonds have magnetic characteristics enabling them to act as beacons in MRIs. We effectively turned a pharmaceutical problem into a physics problem.”

Professor Reilly’s team turned its attention to hyperpolarising nano-diamonds, a process of aligning atoms in...