http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Humans and mice have previously unknown and potentially critical differences in one of the genes responsible for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology have found that two major features of a key DMD gene are present in most mammals, including humans, but are specifically absent in mice and rats, calling into question the use of the mouse as the principal model animal for studying DMD. http://www.physorg.com/news179133827.html Medicine & Health Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:40:01 EST news179133827 It turns out that wearing a cap is good for you, at least if you are a mammal cell. http://www.physorg.com/news179003738.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:50:02 EST news179003738 When muscle cells need repair, they use odor-detecting tools found in the nose to start the process, researchers have discovered. http://www.physorg.com/news177598122.html Biology Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:49:29 EST news177598122 A study appearing in Science Translational Medicine puts scientists one step closer to clinical trials to test a gene delivery strategy to improve muscle mass and function in patients with certain degenerative muscle disorders. http://www.physorg.com/news177186395.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:40:02 EST news177186395 (PhysOrg.com) -- A compound already used to treat pneumonia could become a new therapy for an inherited muscular wasting disease, according to researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York. http://www.physorg.com/news176735848.html Medicine & Health Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:50:16 EST news176735848 A new Tel Aviv University drug, based on an older generation antibiotic, may provide doctors with an effective and innovative method of treating colon cancer in both its incipient and full-blown stages -- and minimize the need for painful, uncomfortable colonoscopies and surgical polyp removal. http://www.physorg.com/news174647816.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:18:05 EST news174647816 A new study from the University of Missouri may shed light on how to increase the level and quality of activity in the elderly. In the study, published in this week's edition of Public Library of Science - ONE, MU researchers found that gene therapy with a proven "longevity" gene energized mice during exercise, and might be applicable to humans in the future. http://www.physorg.com/news169915661.html Medicine & Health Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:10:02 EST news169915661 Muscular dystrophy, a group of inherited diseases characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, can be caused by mutations in any one of a number of genes. Another gene can now be added to this list, as Yukiko Hayashi and colleagues, at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Japan, have now identified mutations in a gene not previously linked to muscular dystrophy as causative of a form of the disease in five nonconsanguineous Japanese patients. http://www.physorg.com/news169150841.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:40:01 EST news169150841 (PhysOrg.com) -- Chemists at the University at Buffalo have used rational drug design to synthesize small, cell-permeable molecules that are effective in vitro against two common types of myotonic muscular dystrophy, a result that has implications for potentially curing muscular dystrophy, as well as other diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news168876812.html Chemistry Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:30:01 EST news168876812 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research at the University of Cincinnati has led to the first published structure of myostatin, a protein that regulates muscle growth in animals, offering hope for major advances in the fight against muscle-wasting diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news168192923.html Biology Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:40:02 EST news168192923 A new study by scientists at the University of Iowa shows why muscle membranes don't rupture when healthy people exercise. http://www.physorg.com/news167578418.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:34:04 EST news167578418 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found a way to block the genetic flaw at the heart of a common form of muscular dystrophy. The results of the study, which were published today in the journal Science, could pave the way for new therapies that essentially reverse the symptoms of the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news166974009.html Medicine & Health Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:30:07 EST news166974009 A new drug being studied for the treatment of muscle degenerating diseases has shown promising results. According to a study published today in the British Journal of Pharmacology, Debio 025 is as effective as current drugs but, crucially, does not cause unwanted immunosuppressive effects. http://www.physorg.com/news163905923.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:25:37 EST news163905923 Scientists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa have discovered a powerful new way to stimulate muscle regeneration, paving the way for new treatments for debilitating conditions such as muscular dystrophy. http://www.physorg.com/news163343157.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:06:21 EST news163343157 Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School have discovered a new therapy that shows potential to treat people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal disease and the most common form of muscular dystrophy in children. http://www.physorg.com/news162569608.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 May 2009 15:15:29 EST news162569608 Boys show signs of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) for 2 ½ years before they obtain a diagnosis and disease-specific treatment, about the same length of delay children have endured for the past 20 years despite advances in genetic testing and treatment. A simple and inexpensive blood test for any boy with symptoms and signs of motor delays and abnormalities could speed up the process while pilot studies on newborn screening are conducted. http://www.physorg.com/news161266397.html Medicine & Health Mon, 11 May 2009 13:13:55 EST news161266397 Skeletal muscle disease and vision deficits might seem unrelated, but a frog model of muscular dystrophy shows it is not such a leap. http://www.physorg.com/news159515221.html Medicine & Health Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:47:31 EST news159515221 Researchers have cleared a safety hurdle in efforts to develop a gene therapy for a form of muscular dystrophy that disables patients by gradually weakening muscles near the hips and shoulders. http://www.physorg.com/news159030717.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:15:59 EST news159030717 In a new study this week in Nature, researchers at Brandeis University and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Cambridge, U.K.) for the first time shed light on a crucial step in the complex process by which human genetic information is transmitted to action in the human cell and frequently at which point genetic disease develops in humans. http://www.physorg.com/news157374235.html Medicine & Health Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:05:28 EST news157374235 Using a novel genetic technology that covers up genetic errors, researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have developed a successful treatment for dogs with the canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a paralyzing, and ultimately fatal, muscle disease. http://www.physorg.com/news156451433.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:45:36 EST news156451433 Genetic researchers at Children's National Medical Center and the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Tokyo published the results of the first successful application of "multiple exon-skipping" to curb the devastating effects of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in an animal larger than a mouse. Multiple exon-skipping employs multiple DNA-like molecules as a "DNA band-aids" to skip over the parts of the mutated gene that block the effective creation of proteins. http://www.physorg.com/news156435829.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:25:36 EST news156435829 An experimental procedure that dramatically strengthens stem cells' ability to regenerate damaged tissue could offer new hope to sufferers of muscle-wasting diseases such as myopathy and muscular dystrophy, according to researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW). http://www.physorg.com/news155472213.html Medicine & Health Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:43:55 EST news155472213 Muscular dystrophy, which affects approximately 250,000 people in the United States, occurs when damaged muscle tissue is replaced with fibrous, bony or fatty tissue and loses function. While scientists have identified one protein, dystrophin, as an important piece to curing the disease, another part of the mystery has eluded scientists for the past 14 years. Now, one University of Missouri scientist and his team have identified the location of the genetic material responsible for a molecular compound that is vital to curing the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news154893866.html Medicine & Health Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:10:26 EST news154893866 A protein that was first identified for playing a key role in regulating normal heart rhythms also appears to be significant in helping muscle cells survive the forces of muscle contraction. The clue was a laboratory mouse that seemed to have a form of muscular dystrophy. http://www.physorg.com/news151072585.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:36:25 EST news151072585 Current research suggests laminin, a protein that helps cells stick together, may lead to enhanced muscle repair in muscular dystrophy. The related report by Rooney et al, "Laminin-111 restores regenerative capacity in a mouse model for alpha 7 integrin congenital myopathy," appears in the January 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology. http://www.physorg.com/news149838489.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:48:09 EST news149838489 Scientists have identified a promising set of new compounds in the fight against muscular dystrophy. Using a drug-discovery technique in which molecules compete against each other for access to the target - the strand of toxic RNA that causes the most common form of muscular dystrophy in adults - a team at the University of Rochester Medical Center has identified several compounds that, in the laboratory, block the unwanted coupling of two molecules that is at the root of the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news146313948.html Chemistry Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:45:48 EST news146313948 Approximately 250,000 people in the United States have some form of muscular dystrophy. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common type of the disease, predominantly affecting males. Boys with DMD will lose the ability to walk by their teens and typically die before the age of 30. For years, scientists have studied the use of gene therapy as a possible way to correct the muscle deterioration, but hurdles such as the need to treat all muscles in the body, including both skeletal muscle and heart muscle, have challenged researchers looking for an effective therapy until now. http://www.physorg.com/news144494576.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:22:56 EST news144494576 A University of Iowa study suggests that the prolonged fatigue after mild exercise that occurs in people with many forms of muscular dystrophy is distinct from the inherent muscle weakness caused by the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news144249601.html Medicine & Health Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:20:01 EST news144249601 Robots may be the solution for people with disabilities who are struggling to regain the use of their limbs, thanks to a research team that includes engineers and students from Rochester Institute of Technology. http://www.physorg.com/news137324826.html Medicine & Health Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:47:06 EST news137324826