science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Παρασκευή 4 Οκτωβρίου 2013

Science News SciGuru.com

A Metabolic Means to Preserving Egg Supply and Fertility
Why Blame Feels Hard to Take
Team demonstrates power of precision medicine in successful treatment of patient with disabling OCD
Stem cells help repair traumatic brain injury by building a “biobridge,” Researchers reports
$12 Million NIH Grant to Study Genetics of Mental Illnesses in Deletion Syndrome Patients
Scientists Identify Potential New Drug for Inherited Cancer

A Metabolic Means to Preserving Egg Supply and Fertility

Posted: 03 Oct 2013 08:59 AM PDT

The stresses that come with aging, chemotherapy treatments, and environmental exposures all threaten fertility. But what if there were a way to preserve women's limited egg supply? Researchers reporting on studies conducted in frog and mouse eggs in the Cell Press journal Molecular Cell on October 3rd may have found a way.

The findings come at an important time when many women are waiting longer and longer to have children, renewing interest in the development of strategies to preserve oocytes—immature egg cells.

Why Blame Feels Hard to Take

Posted: 03 Oct 2013 08:51 AM PDT

When something we do produces a positive result, we actually perceive it differently than we would if that same action yielded a negative result. In particular, people feel a greater connection between voluntary actions and their outcomes if those outcomes are good than if they are bad. The discovery, reported on October 3 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, yields important insight into notions about personal responsibility.

Team demonstrates power of precision medicine in successful treatment of patient with disabling OCD

Posted: 03 Oct 2013 08:47 AM PDT

A multidisciplinary team led by a geneticist and psychiatrist from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s (CSHL) Stanley Institute for Cognitive Genomics today publish a paper providing a glimpse of both the tremendous power and the current limitations of what is sometimes called “precision medicine.”

Stem cells help repair traumatic brain injury by building a “biobridge,” Researchers reports

Posted: 03 Oct 2013 08:02 AM PDT

University of South Florida researchers have suggested a new view of how stem cells may help repair the brain following trauma. In a series of preclinical experiments, they report that transplanted cells appear to build a “biobridge” that links an uninjured brain site where new neural stem cells are born with the damaged region of the brain.

Their findings were recently reported online in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE.

$12 Million NIH Grant to Study Genetics of Mental Illnesses in Deletion Syndrome Patients

Posted: 03 Oct 2013 07:53 AM PDT

A major international consortium co-led by Penn Medicine has received a $12 million National Institute of Mental Health (NIHM) grant for a large-scale genetics study investigating why patients with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome have an increased risk of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders.

Scientists Identify Potential New Drug for Inherited Cancer

Posted: 03 Oct 2013 07:40 AM PDT

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified a new drug candidate for an inherited form of cancer with no known cure.

The new study showed the drug candidate—known as FRAX97—slowed the proliferation and progression of tumor cells in animal models of Neurofibromatosis type 2. This inherited type of cancer, caused by mutations in the anti-tumor gene NF2, leads to tumors of the auditory nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain.