Category Health/Medical

A new software tool allows scientists to link different human diseases and traits through the genetic variations they share. Credit: Liuyang Wang, Dennis Ko lab

A new study hints we should be paying attention to omega-6, omega-7 for improving/ worsening Crohn’s. Some research has suggested that omega-3 fatty acids can relieve inflammation. Research has suggested high-fat diets may be linked with Crohn’s disease, but never have the 2 been joined through shared genetics. Certain subtle genetic variations — as small as a single-letter change in the DNA — seem to occur more often in people with Crohn’s disease. Separate lines of work show that specific genetic variations are linked to higher levels of some fatty acids (molecular building blocks of fat) in the bloodstream.

In the new study, res...

Revealing a biological combat strategy worthy of a 5 star general, researchers show how a cell surface receptor can mobilize immune cells to attack, rather than protect, malignant tumors.In most cases, CD4+ T-cells in the immune system, commonly called CD4 or helper T-cells, scan the surface of foreign invaders within the body, including tumor cells, and send out chemical signals to mobilize killer T-cells–which then attack and destroy the threat. However, tumor cells often evade destruction by prompting immature T-cells to become regulatory T-cells, or Tregs. These cells are marked by a protein inside them, Foxp3+, which suppresses the ability of killer T-cells to attack tumors. Protected from the immune system, the tumor can grow unrestrained and spread cancer throughout the body.

Confocal fluorosence microscopy: human aortic smooth muscle cells infected with P. gingivalis

A team has shown a periodontal pathogen causes changes in gene expression that boost inflammation and atherosclerosis in aortic smooth muscle cells. The circumstantial evidence that led to this study was ample. The periodontal pathogen, Porphyromonas gingivalis, has also been found in coronary artery plaques of heart attack patients. And in 2 species of animal models, P. gingivalis has been shown to cause and accelerate formation of coronary and aortic atherosclerosis.

They began by culturing human aortic smooth muscle cells, and infecting them with P. gingivalis. They found that gingipains, virulence factors produced by P...

The largest nationwide clinical trial to study high-dose resveratrol long-term in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease found that a biomarker that declines when the disease progresses was stabilized in people who took the purified form of resveratrol. Resveratrol is a naturally occurring compound found in foods such as red grapes, raspberries, dark chocolate and some red wines.

The resveratrol clinical trial was a randomized, phase II, placebo-controlled, double blind study in 119 patients with mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. An “investigational new drug” application was required by FDA to test the pure synthetic (pharmaceutical-grade) resveratrol in the study. It is not available commercially in this form...