The first draft of the dog genome sequence has been deposited into free public databases for use by biomedical and veterinary researchers around the globe, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today.
Researchers have shown for the first time that gene therapy delivered to the brains of living mice can prevent the physical symptoms and neurological damage caused by an inherited neurodegenerative disease that is similar to Huntington’s disease (HD).
A single dose of a test vaccine sprayed into the nose protects monkeys against the SARS virus, according to Alexander Bukreyev, Ph.D., Peter Collins, Ph.D., and coworkers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The study, published in the June 26 issue of the British journal The Lancet, is the third recently issued by NIAID that describes a promising candidate vaccine against SARS. This vaccine differs from the previous two in that it is delivered directly into the respiratory tract, the primary site of SARS infection; it is the first U.S. vaccine to be tested in monkeys; and only one dose is needed for protection.
A team of researchers has discovered a genetic variation that doubles the risk for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The variation, referred to as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, pronounced ”snip”), is present in about 28 percent of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis and 17 percent of the general population.
Older women using estrogen-alone hormone therapy could be at a slightly greater risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), than women who do not use any menopausal hormone therapy, according to a new report by scientists with the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS). The scientists also found that estrogen alone did not prevent cognitive decline in these older women. These findings from WHIMS appear in the June 23/30, 2004, Journal of the American Medical Association*.
For the first time in humans, a team headed by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis has placed an electronic grid atop patients’ brains to gather motor signals that enable patients to play a computer game using only the signals from their brains. The use of a grid atop the brain to record brain surface signals is a brain-machine interface technique that uses electrocorticographic (ECoG) activity-data taken invasively right from the brain surface. It is an alternative to the status quo, used frequently studying humans, called electroencephalographic activity (EEG) – data taken non-invasively by electrodes outside the brain on the skull.
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced a partnership with the Melbourne-based Australian Genome Research Facility Ltd. (AGRF) to sequence the DNA of one of Australia’s best-known animals: a member of the kangaroo family known as the tammar wallaby. ”This scientific collaboration between the United States and Australia represents another important step in our quest to gain a better understanding of the human genome,” said NHGRI Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. ”As we build on the success of the Human Genome Project, it has been increasingly clear that one of the best tools for identifying crucial elements in the human genome is to compare it with the genomes of a wide variety of other animals.”
Researchers today announced that a mutation of the Lamin A gene gradually causes devastating effects on cellular structure and function in children with Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS or Progeria). The study was published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Progeria is a rare, fatal genetic condition characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging in children.
Scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have found that detectable levels of mouse allergen exist in the majority of U.S. homes. NIEHS researchers analyzed dust samples, asked questions, and examined homes in the first National Survey of Lead and Allergens in Housing, a survey of 831 homes. Allergen levels were studied and related to demographic factors and household characteristics.
Using conventional technologies, researchers have developed a new method for identifying proteins found in trace quantities in the blood. The method offers hope for detecting tiny amounts of these blood-borne molecules that signal the presence of certain diseases, such as cancer, infectious diseases, behavioral disorders, developmental defects, and neurodegenerative diseases. These molecules might be useful biomarkers to aid in earlier detection and treatment of ovarian, breast, and prostate cancer.
In a small study conducted at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers have shown that it may be feasible to treat HIV-infected patients with a simple, once-daily regimen of anti-HIV drugs given in pre-planned, 7-day-on, 7-day-off cycles. This approach is known formally as ”short-cycle structured intermittent antiretroviral therapy” (SIT) or colloquially as the ”7-7” approach.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists report that brief, widely-spaced courses of the experimental immune-boosting drug interleukin-2 (IL-2) allow people with HIV to maintain near normal levels of a key immune system cell for long periods. The researchers, from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, describe their findings in the May 1 issue of the journal Blood. “These data provide strong evidence that IL-2 therapy, which can be self-administered by patients, could be an important adjunct to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART),” says NIAID Deputy Director John R. La Montagne, Ph.D.
With a budget deficit estimated at $521 billion this year, coupled with a commitment to halve it in five years, U.S. President Bush is proposing a budget that would mean cuts in research and development (R&D) funding for all but three federal agencies, according to the latest analysis from AAAS, the non-profit science society. “The projected cuts to most nondefense R&D programs would leave key programs with budgets well below recent historical levels,” said Kei Koizumi, director of the AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program. “Particularly during a Presidential election year, it’s important for policymakers and taxpayers to understand the impacts of any federal budget changes, especially any proposals that may have implications for the pace of scientific discoveries in coming years.”