How infants respond to their mother’s touches and smiles influences their development in a manner much like what young birds experience when learning to sing, according to a research project involving the Department of Psychology at Indiana University Bloomington and the Biological Foundations of Behavior program at Franklin and Marshall College.
Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have determined that a protein essential for the normal embryonic development of fruit flies is also used by mammals to assist in the timely healing of cuts and lacerations. Their discovery, detailed in the June 3 issue of the journal Developmental Cell, provides new insight for scientists into the molecular mechanisms responsible for wound healing in humans and may one day lead to the design of new drugs for individuals whose healing is compromised.
A research team led by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) has discovered that amyloid-beta (A-beta), the protein that forms plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, can also be detected in the lens of the human eye. The investigators were able to identify A-beta in lens samples from elderly individuals with and without the disorder; however, an unusual pattern of amyloid deposits was found only on the lenses of Alzheimer’s patients.
Investigators from the State University of New York at Buffalo have isolated the gene responsible for initiating normal tooth root formation in mammals and determined that tooth crown and root growth appear to be governed by separate genetic processes. Scientists from the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences tracked the development of a laboratory animal missing the gene responsible for encoding a protein in the nuclear factor I family.
America is facing a major roadblock to medical progress. For the speedy translation of promising scientific discoveries into patient treatment, we need a special breed of medical researchers who are trained to ask clinically relevant questions in a health research environment. It’s these individuals who transform clinical observations into research studies and eventual medical advances.
Smoking may play a dual role in the development of a cancer of the lymph glands called follicular lymphoma — first causing it to develop and then transforming it into diffuse large cell lymphoma, an aggressive cancer generally associated with a poor prognosis.
Researchers in Leicester, England and Michigan will begin tests on a new cancer prevention drug, based on a natural compound found in red wine. The compound, resveratrol, is a natural agent found in grapes, peanuts and several berries. It is present in fruit juice from these berries and in wine. Consumption of resveratrol has been proposed as one possible explanation for the low incidence of cardiovascular disease in Southern European countries with high red wine consumption, and resveratrol has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity in experimental models.