Seaweed extract may hold promise for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treatment
Seaweed extract may eventually emerge as a lymphoma treatment, according to laboratory research. Seaweeds containing fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide similar to heparin in chemical structure, have been reported to have anti-tumor activity in mice and some cell lines.
March 12th, 2010
How electricity moves through cells: Finding has implications for improving energy efficiency
Researchers have created a molecular image of a system that moves electrons between proteins in cells. The achievement is a breakthrough for biology and could provide insights to minimize energy loss in other systems, from nanoscale devices to moving electricity around the country.
March 12th, 2010
Gene Target Beats Oil Remedy
The 1992 tearjerker Lorenzo & rsquo;s Oil told the true story of one family & rsquo;s struggle to save their son from X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a deadly degenerative brain disease. Unfortunately, over the ensuing years, the oil of the film & rsquo;s title, a dietary supplement, has not panned out as the cure many people hoped it would be. Now a paper in the November 2009 issue of Science suggests that the long-sought cure may come from gene therapy--a famously hyped approach to treatment that tragically caused the death of a teenage experimental subject in 1999.
Since then, however, researchers have continued to cautiously pursue gene therapy for certain disorders with known genetic origins. ALD, for instance, is caused by mutations in a gene called ABCD1, leading to unusually high levels of a type of fatty acid that damages the material insulating some neurons. It affects about one in 20,000 six- to eight-year-old boys, leading to death before adolescence. The main treatment is still bone marrow transplantation: a risky procedure that relies on finding a suitable donor, explains Patrick Aubourg, a neurologist at France & rsquo;s INSERM research institute.
The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science by R. Douglas Fields. [More]
March 12th, 2010
Why female moths are big and beautiful
In most animal species, males and females show obvious differences in body size. But how can this be, given that both sexes share the same genes governing their growth? Entomologists studied this conundrum in moths and found clues that had been overlooked by previous efforts to explain this mystery of nature.
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