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Role of eIF2 alpha protein in memory and stress identified in mouse brain
Stop hyperventilating, say energy efficiency researchers
Medical Marijuana Not the Answer for Teens with Chronic Pain
Study Identifies Protein Essential for Normal Heart Function
Bringing out the usual – and unusual – cancer genomics suspects
Certain Types of Graft-Versus-Host Disease May Increase Risk of Death, Researcher Says
A new path linking Rap1 controlled L-type calcium channels in psychiatric disorders discovered

Role of eIF2 alpha protein in memory and stress identified in mouse brain

Posted: 18 Jun 2013 06:50 AM PDT

Memory improved in mice injected with a small, drug-like molecule discovered by UC San Francisco researchers studying how cells respond to biological stress.

The same biochemical pathway the molecule acts on might one day be targeted in humans to improve memory, according to the senior author of the study, Peter Walter, PhD, UCSF professor of biochemistry and biophysics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Stop hyperventilating, say energy efficiency researchers

Posted: 18 Jun 2013 06:37 AM PDT

A single advanced building control now in development could slash 18 percent – tens of thousands of dollars – off the overall annual energy bill of the average large office building, with no loss of comfort, according to a report by researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

"An 18-percent boost in building energy efficiency by modifying a single factor is very, very good," said team leader Michael Brambley. "The savings were much greater than we expected."

Medical Marijuana Not the Answer for Teens with Chronic Pain

Posted: 18 Jun 2013 06:22 AM PDT

Adolescents can have chronic pain, just like adults. It can interfere with normal development, making it difficult for teens to attend school, socialize or be physically active, the cause may be hard to find, and medications are sometimes tried without success. As patients, their parents and physicians search for solutions, there is one increasingly available option they should avoid, Mayo Clinic researchers say: medical marijuana.

Their commentary appears in the July issue of the medical journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Study Identifies Protein Essential for Normal Heart Function

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 11:42 AM PDT

A study by researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, shows that a protein called MCL-1, which promotes cell survival, is essential for normal heart function.

Their study, published in the June 15 online issue of the journal Genes & Development, found that deletion of the gene encoding MCL-1 in adult mouse hearts led to rapid heart failure within two weeks, and death within a month.

Bringing out the usual – and unusual – cancer genomics suspects

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 11:03 AM PDT

Several years ago, researchers sequencing lung cancer genomes encountered a peculiar problem. After combing through thousands of genes in a large number of patients, they had come up with a list of likely genetic suspects tied to the disease. Most of these genes made sense – some had previously been implicated in cancer, others clearly played an important biological role. But the data also pointed to a group of genes encoding olfactory receptors – the proteins that allow us to smell. Why were so many of these genes cropping up? Could these possibly be culprit genes?

Certain Types of Graft-Versus-Host Disease May Increase Risk of Death, Researcher Says

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 07:44 AM PDT

Joseph Pidala, M.D., M.S., assistant member of the Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant and Immunology programs at Moffitt Cancer Center, and colleagues from the Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Consortium have determined that certain gastrointestinal and liver-related types of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) are associated with worsened quality of life and death.

Their study appeared in the May issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, the official journal of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

A new path linking Rap1 controlled L-type calcium channels in psychiatric disorders discovered

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 07:33 AM PDT

Those with genetic mutation affecting L-type calcium channels are found to have higher prevalance of psychiatric disorders like bipolar and schizophrenia. Now a new pathway has been discovered by which the brain controls a protein which affects the activation of L-type calcium channels. The Rap1 protein regulation might help in understanding these disorders.