ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Key regulator in pacemakers of our brain, heart discovered
• New genome-editing platform significantly increases accuracy of CRISPR-based systems
• Attacking cancer indirectly: Generating immunity against tumor vessel protein in mouse study
• Soy-dairy protein blend increases muscle mass, study shows
• Treatment for deadly yeast disease reduced to three days
• Viral infections: Identifying tell-tale patterns

Key regulator in pacemakers of our brain, heart discovered Posted: 25 Apr 2014 01:23 PM PDT Biologists have discovered how an outer shield over T-type channels change the electrochemical signaling of heart and brain cells. Understanding how these shields work will help researchers eventually develop a new class of drugs for treating epilepsy, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The researchers discovered T-type channels in the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, can shift from using calcium ions to using sodium ions to generate the electrical signal because of an outer shield of amino acids called a turret situated above the channel's entrance.

New genome-editing platform significantly increases accuracy of CRISPR-based systems Posted: 25 Apr 2014 01:23 PM PDT A next-generation genome editing system substantially decreases the risk of producing unwanted, off-target gene mutations. Researchers report a new CRISPR-based RNA-guided nuclease technology that uses two guide RNAs, significantly reducing the chance of cutting through DNA strands at mismatched sites.

Attacking cancer indirectly: Generating immunity against tumor vessel protein in mouse study Posted: 25 Apr 2014 01:21 PM PDT A novel DNA vaccine is being trialed to kill cancer, not by attacking tumor cells, but targeting the blood vessels that keep them alive. The vaccine also indirectly creates an immune response to the tumor itself, amplifying the attack by a phenomenon called epitope spreading. The team injected mice with a DNA fusion vaccine. In mouse models of three cancer types, tumor formation was delayed or prevented in mice vaccinated with the vaccine. Specifically, they found that the mouse tumors had suppressed growth, decreased tumor vessel formation, and increased infiltration of immune cells into tumors.

Soy-dairy protein blend increases muscle mass, study shows Posted: 25 Apr 2014 06:36 AM PDT Additional benefits of consuming a blend of soy and dairy proteins after resistance exercise for building muscle mass has been uncovered by researchers who found that using a protein blend of soy, casein and whey post-workout prolongs the delivery of select amino acids to the muscle for an hour longer than using whey alone.

Treatment for deadly yeast disease reduced to three days Posted: 24 Apr 2014 07:26 AM PDT Initial treatment for a brain infection caused by fungus could now be treated in three days, rather than two weeks, due to new research. Cryptococcus -- a form of yeast -- infections are often fatal but are relatively neglected in medical research. They are found in many parts of the world, including Africa, Australasia and South East Asia and mainly affect people with weakened immune systems. This infection kills up to 700,000 people a year.

Viral infections: Identifying tell-tale patterns Posted: 24 Apr 2014 07:22 AM PDT The structural features that enable the innate immune system to discriminate between viral and endogenous RNAs in living cells has been discovered by scientists. "Based on in-vitro experiments, it is known that (certain) proteins bind to certain characteristic patterns in viral RNAs, but it had not been possible to isolate the precise RNA sequences bound by these proteins in living, virus-infected cells," says one researcher.

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