science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Τετάρτη 27 Νοεμβρίου 2013

Science News SciGuru.com

Researchers at Penn Uncover Mechanism Behind Blood Stem Cells’ Longevity
Treatment target identified for a public health risk parasite
Broken cellular ‘clock’ linked to brain damage
Clue to how the circulatory system is wired

Researchers at Penn Uncover Mechanism Behind Blood Stem Cells’ Longevity

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 12:45 PM PST

The blood stem cells that live in bone marrow are at the top of a complex family tree. Such stem cells split and divide down various pathways that ultimately produce red cells, white cells and platelets. These “daughter” cells must be produced at a rate of about one million per second to constantly replenish the body’s blood supply.

Treatment target identified for a public health risk parasite

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 12:21 PM PST

In the developing world, Cryptosporidium parvum has long been the scourge of freshwater. A decade ago, it announced its presence in the United States, infecting over 400,000 people – the largest waterborne-disease outbreak in the county's history. Its rapid ability to spread, combined with an incredible resilience to water decontamination techniques, such as chlorination, led the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United Sates to add C. parvum to its list of public bioterrorism agents.

Broken cellular ‘clock’ linked to brain damage

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 07:18 AM PST

A new discovery may help explain the surprisingly strong connections between sleep problems and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Sleep loss increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and disrupted sleeping patterns are among the first signs of this devastating disorder.

Clue to how the circulatory system is wired

Posted: 26 Nov 2013 07:09 AM PST

A new mechanism that regulates the way blood vessels grow and connect to each other has been discovered by an international team of researchers at Karolinska Institutet, and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. The knowledge might open up new opportunities for future cancer therapy. The study is published in the scientific journal PNAS.