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. In order to preserve our DNA, cells have developed an intricate system for monitoring and repairing DNA damage. Yet precisely how the initial damage signal is converted into a repair response remains unclear. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have now solved a crucial piece of the complex puzzle. http://www.physorg.com/news180847999.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:50:01 EST news180847999 A new study establishes a molecular link that bridges two rare inherited disorders and explains why these diseases result in genetic instability. The research, published by Cell Press in the December 24th issue of the journal Molecular Cell, may lead to a better understanding of the complex mechanisms that enable cells to repair damaged DNA. http://www.physorg.com/news180845857.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:30:03 EST news180845857 Stem cells that could one day provide therapeutic options for muscle and bone disorders can be easily harvested from the tissue of the umbilical cord, just as the blood that goes through it provides precursor cells to treat some blood disorders, said University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers in the online version of the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology. http://www.physorg.com/news180267244.html Biology Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:30:01 EST news180267244 (PhysOrg.com) -- Evolution places the highest premium on reproduction, natural selection`s only standard for biological success. In the case of replicating cells, life spares no expense to ensure that the offspring is a faithful copy of the parent. Researchers have identified a new player in this elaborate system of quality control, a gene whose mutation can cause a rare but lethal disease. http://www.physorg.com/news179522040.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:30:01 EST news179522040 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have discovered a new type of stem cell in the skin that acts surprisingly like certain stem cells found in embryos: both can generate fat, bone, cartilage, and even nerve cells. These newly-described dermal stem cells may one day prove useful for treating neurological disorders and persistent wounds, such as diabetic ulcers, says Freda Miller, an HHMI international research scholar. http://www.physorg.com/news179399989.html Medicine & Health Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:20:29 EST news179399989 Kangaroos may provide the key to a potential treatment to prevent skin cancer, Australian scientists said Monday. http://www.physorg.com/news178782503.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:26:17 EST news178782503 The ultimate goal in cancer research, a treatment that kills cancer cells whilst leaving healthy cells untouched, is brought nearer by the success of a new therapeutic approach. The potential therapy, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research, targets proliferation of cancer, but not normal, cells. http://www.physorg.com/news176623112.html Medicine & Health Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:30:02 EST news176623112 For the first time, scientists in the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University Health Network have successfully used gene therapy to repair injured human donor lungs, making them potentially suitable for transplantation into patients. This technique could significantly expand the number of donor lungs by using organs that are currently discarded, and improve outcomes after transplantation. http://www.physorg.com/news175960285.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:53:16 EST news175960285 Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that regeneration of central nervous system axons can be achieved in rats even when treatment delayed is more than a year after the original spinal cord injury. http://www.physorg.com/news175951809.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:30:39 EST news175951809 University of South Florida neuroscientist R. Douglas Shytle's discovery of successful new clinical uses for mecamylamine, a drug once used to treat hypertension, has led to several issued patents on mecamylamine and related compounds. Earlier this month, Shytle, associate professor and research scientist at the USF Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair and the USF Silver Child Development Center, received the university's 2009 "Excellence in Innovation" award. http://www.physorg.com/news175884914.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:56:07 EST news175884914 (PhysOrg.com) -- While gripping, lifting or manipulating an object such as drinking from a cup or placing a book on a shelf is usually easy for most, it can be challenging for those with neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's, or for people who had a stroke. For them, the tight gripping can cause fatigue, making everyday tasks difficult. http://www.physorg.com/news174746473.html Medicine & Health Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:00:01 EST news174746473 In new papers appearing this month in Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Illinois biochemistry professor Raven H. Huang and his colleagues describe the first RNA repair system to be discovered in bacteria. This is only the second RNA repair system discovered to date (with two proteins from T4 phage, a virus that attacks bacteria, as the first). http://www.physorg.com/news174582545.html Biology Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:10:42 EST news174582545 University of Washington (UW) researchers have succeeded in engineering human tissue patches free of some problems that have stymied stem-cell repair for damaged hearts. http://www.physorg.com/news174139339.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:02:58 EST news174139339 The repair of damaged nerve cells is a major problem in medicine today. A new study by researchers at the Montreal NeurologicaI Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) and McGill University, is a significant advance towards a solution for neuronal repair. http://www.physorg.com/news174132597.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:10:46 EST news174132597 Surgical treatment for mitral valve disease includes either repairing the patient's diseased valve or replacing it with a metal, mechanical valve or an animal tissue valve. The majority of those procedures are open-heart operations that require a major incision in the chest. Now, after a six-year study, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore conclude that minimally invasive mitral valve repair techniques, through only a two-inch incision in the right side of the chest, are safe, durable and effective. The results are published in the September 2009 Annals of Surgery. http://www.physorg.com/news173365214.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:10:08 EST news173365214 The genes that may contribute to drug resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be predicted. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Cancer found good correlation between genes believed to be involved in drug sensitivity and resistance and actual in vitro chemosensitivity. http://www.physorg.com/news170536281.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:20:01 EST news170536281 New research has provided insight into the molecular regulators of the function of muscle cells in the walls of blood vessels, i.e., vascular smooth muscle cells. Specifically, the acquisition and/or maintenance of the ability of VSMCs to contract and relax, thereby modulating blood pressure and distributing blood to the areas of the body that need it most, was found to be controlled in mice by two small RNA molecules known miR-143 and miR-145. http://www.physorg.com/news169749696.html Medicine & Health Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:20:01 EST news169749696 Scientists have known for a long time that when DNA is damaged, a key enzyme sets off a cellular "alarm bell" to alert the cell to start the repair process, but until recently little was known about how the cell detects and responds to this alarm. In a study published today in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, have identified a whole family of proteins capable of a direct response to the alarm signal. http://www.physorg.com/news169403192.html Biology Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:27:06 EST news169403192 A protein specialist that opens the genomic door for DNA repair and gene expression also turns out to be a multi-tasking workhorse that protects the tips of chromosomes and dabbles in a protein-destruction complex, a team lead by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Aug. 13 edition of Molecular Cell. http://www.physorg.com/news169385115.html Biology Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:27:28 EST news169385115 The Stowers Institute's Conaway Lab has uncovered a previously unknown function of a gene product called Amplified in Liver Cancer 1 (Alc1), which may play a role in the onset of cancer. The work was published yesterday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science Early Edition. http://www.physorg.com/news168967407.html Medicine & Health Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:30:03 EST news168967407 As the body creates antibodies to fight invaders, a three-protein DNA repair complex called MRN is crucial for a normal gene-shuffling process to proceed properly, University of Michigan research shows. http://www.physorg.com/news168678106.html Biology Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:50:01 EST news168678106 In a major step in spinal cord injury research, scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have demonstrated that regenerating axons can be guided to their correct targets and re-form connections after spinal cord injury. Their findings will be published in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience on August 2. http://www.physorg.com/news168439968.html Medicine & Health Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:53:37 EST news168439968 (PhysOrg.com) -- Penny Beuning, an assistant professor of chemical biology and biotechnology at Northeastern, this month received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early-Career Development grant to study how cells adapt to DNA-damaging agents. http://www.physorg.com/news166895987.html Chemistry Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:00:47 EST news166895987 The "sloppier copier" discovered by USC biologists is also the best sixth man in the DNA repair game, an article in the journal Nature shows. http://www.physorg.com/news166885099.html Biology Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:50:02 EST news166885099 Investigators from Hospital for Special Surgery have shown that a biodegradable scaffold or plug can be used to treat patients with damaged knee cartilage. The study is unique in that it used serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and newer quantitative T2 mapping to examine how the plug incorporated itself into the knee. The research, abstract 8372, will be presented during the annual meeting of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, June 9-12, in Keystone, Colo. http://www.physorg.com/news166346991.html Medicine & Health Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:33:16 EST news166346991 The Archaea are single-celled organisms and a domain unto themselves, quite apart from the so called eukaryotes, being bacteria and higher organisms. Many species live under extreme conditions, and carry out unique biochemical processes shared neither with bacteria nor with eukaryotes. Methanogenic archaeans, for example, can produce methane gas out of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. http://www.physorg.com/news165748836.html Biology Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:21:37 EST news165748836 For a human cell, this is a scary world. Each of the 60 trillion or so cells in the average person's body is damaged tens of thousands, perhaps a million, times a day, scientists say. http://www.physorg.com/news165692290.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:10:01 EST news165692290 Deleting two genes in mice responsible for repairing DNA strands damaged by oxidation leads to several types of tumors, providing additional evidence that such stress contributes to the development of cancer. That's the conclusion of a recent study in DNA Repair by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Oregon Health and Science University and the New York University School of Medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news165668725.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:50:01 EST news165668725 Scientists have uncovered new evidence suggesting that damage to nerve cells in people with multiple sclerosis accumulates because the body's natural mechanism for repair of the nerve coating called "myelin" stalls out. http://www.physorg.com/news165669818.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:24:25 EST news165669818 Like a mechanic popping the hood of a car to get at a faulty engine, a tumor-suppressing protein allows cellular repair mechanisms to pounce on damaged DNA by overcoming a barrier to DNA access. http://www.physorg.com/news164631248.html Biology Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:54:32 EST news164631248