Investigators have discovered that a protein causing mature cells to commit suicide also helps primitive muscle cells called myoblasts fuse together, allowing them to develop into muscles. The finding of this unexpected new role for the protein, called FKHR, suggests that future research might offer clues to how mutated forms of this molecule cause a form of muscle cancer in children called rhabdomyosarcoma.
Lack of exercise – and not diet – causes obesity and diabetes among those who are predisposed to the conditions, suggests new research on wild baboons. In addition, researchers discovered that obese animals were NOT the ones with the highest cholesterol levels, suggesting cholesterol problems and obesity are triggered by different mechanisms. “Figuratively speaking, if humans don’t exercise, some are likely to become obese and as fat as baboons.”
Researchers at the University of Washington have found a species of crow that distinctly alters its behavior when attempting to steal food from another crow, depending on whether or not the other bird is a relative. The Northwestern crow (Corvus caurinus) uses a passive strategy when it attempts to take food from kin but becomes aggressive when it tries to steal a morsel from a non-related crow. This is believed to be the first time that such a behavior pattern has been observed in any bird species.
A long-term study of patients in Rochester, Minn., with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa found that their survival rates did not differ from the expected survival rates of others of the same age and sex. The results, published in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, add to the knowledge of anorexia nervosa and point to other areas that need greater study from researchers. “Although our data suggest that overall mortality is not increased among community patients with anorexia nervosa in general, these findings should not lead to complacency in clinical practice because deaths do occur,” says L. Joseph Melton, III, M.D., Mayo Clinic epidemiologist and an author of the report.
Children’s viewing of violent TV shows, their identification with aggressive same-sex TV characters, and their perceptions that TV violence is realistic are all linked to later aggression as young adults, for both males and females. That is the conclusion of a 15-year longitudinal study of 329 youth published in the March issue of Developmental Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association (APA). These findings hold true for any child from any family, regardless of the child’s initial aggression levels, their intellectual capabilities, their social status as measured by their parents’ education or occupation, their parents’ aggressiveness, or the mother’s and father’s parenting style.
A new study from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) and Stanford University suggests that the malfunctioning of brain cells called astrocytes may be behind the accumulation of amyloid protein in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease, most researchers believe, is caused when small peptides called beta-amyloid accumulate in the brain. Everyone makes these peptides at all times during their life, but in people with Alzheimer’s, either too much is made or too little is degraded or both.
Studying mice, scientists have successfully prevented a molecular event in brain cells that they’ve found is required for storing spatial memories. Unlike regular mice, the engineered rodents quickly forgot where to find a resting place in a pool of water, the researchers report in the March 7 issue of the journal Cell. The experiments are believed to be the first to prove that subtly altering the chemistry of a certain protein can profoundly affect a brain cell’s ability to respond to external stimulation, a process called neuronal plasticity, long thought to underlie learning and memory.
While studying mice with a mutant gene whose counterpart causes inherited glaucoma in humans, researchers have discovered a second gene mutation that worsens the structural eye defect that causes this type of glaucoma. The newly discovered gene mutation affects production of L-DOPA. The researchers suggest that it might be feasible to prevent glaucoma by administering L-DOPA, which is used in treating Parkinson’s disease.
Stress may be the most significant inherited risk factor in people who develop heart disease at a young age, according to a first-of-its-kind study conducted at Henry Ford Hospital. Stress also appears to have a greater impact on men than women. “The inherited nature of early heart disease may be largely due to the family transmission of psychosocial and emotional distress, and specifically anger in males,” says lead author Mark W. Ketterer, Ph.D., of Henry Ford Hospital’s Department of Behavioral Health.
A study by researchers at Harvard University has provided more evidence that using stimulant medications such as methylphenidate to treat children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may reduce their risk of developing drug and alcohol use disorders later in life.
In older people with high blood pressure, a sharp increase in blood pressure in the morning increases the risk of stroke and is linked to brain lesions known as “silent” strokes, according to a study in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. “This study is the first to show that an excessive morning blood pressure surge is a predictor of stroke in elderly people with high blood pressure,” says lead author Kazuomi Kario, M.D., from the department of cardiology at Jichi Medical School in Tochigi, Japan.
Medical advice rarely supports a high-fat diet, but a team of UC Irvine researchers has found that such a diet protects newborn brain cells from damage caused by prolonged seizures. New findings from a study on infant rats suggest that the high-fat diet of newborns, and the related increased production of a specific protein, protects their brain cells from damage that otherwise may accompany prolonged seizures. The finding may lead to new strategies to prevent brain injury in adults.
