causative in Biological News

The tiny difference in the genes of bacteria

... are vibrios: its species Vibrio cholerae is more commonly known as the causative agent of Cholera that spread in Europe until the 20th century. ... infectious diseases in which it is necessary to know which strain is the causative agent. Further information are whether it is just one or more strains and ...

The tiny difference in the genes of bacteria

... are vibrios: its species Vibrio cholerae is more commonly known as the causative agent of Cholera that spread in Europe until the 20th century. ... infectious diseases in which it is necessary to know which strain is the causative agent. Further information are whether it is just one or more strains and ...

Neuropathic pain: The sea provides a new hope of relief

... Journal of Pharmacology is that this new compound could be a candidate. Recent research suggests inflammation in the nervous system is a major causative factor for this condition. Inflammation activates supporting cells, such as microglia and astrocytes, that surround the nerve cells. These ...

Prostate Cancer Translational Research in Europe meeting: Search for biomarkers continues

... noted that the information on PSA genetics may improve utility in screening. Rafnar also pointed out that although ... work remains. finding causative variants at known loci define functions." The lecture by Prof. Freddie Hamdy (Oxford, UK), 'What is the best practice in bio-banking?' focussed ...

Small RNAs can play critical roles in male infertility/contraception

... hand, the number of unintended pregnancy is increasing yearly. Since these small RNAs are involved in the control of sperm formation, they can be causative factors in male infertility and also can be used as non-hormonal male contraceptive targets," added Yan. Yan's research is focused on ...

Iron is involved in prion disease-associated neuronal demise

... and affect both humans and animals; common examples are mad cow disease in cattle, scrapie in sheep, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. The causative agent is a misfolded protein referred to as PrP-scrapie that replicates itself by changing the conformation of neighboring copies of the same ...

Warmer climate causing huge increase in tree mortality across the West

... such as bark beetle epidemics, forest fire, increasing competition, fire exclusion, even old trees falling and crushing younger ones. But the only causative factor that consistently explained widespread and sustained mortality was regional warming and the associated drought stress, the scientists said. ...

Safe new therapy for genetic heart disease

... These data suggest that effectiveness of angiotensin II receptor blockers, such as candesartan, on HCM may vary depending on the nature of the causative mutation and that the treatment protocol, therefore, should be customized to individual patients. Future studies in Dr. Penicka's group will extend ...

Jefferson Department of Surgery announces new pancreas tumor registry

... pancreatitis and Peutz-Jegher's syndrome (a rare hereditary condition that results in gastrointestinal polyps). "While we have not identified a causative gene yet to allow predictive testing for pancreatic cancer, we can offer risk assessments and surveillance via imaging, blood tests and endoscopic ...

Phase III data show efficacy/safety of iclaprim in patients with complicated skin infections

... protocol violation was use of additional systemic or topical prohibited antibiotics or high-dose steroids registered as clinical failures. The causative pathogen distribution in the study population was well-balanced between treatment groups with Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) as the ...

Gene with probable role in human susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis identified

... has made an important new discovery of an alternative cellular receptor for one of the world's most important infectious agents, M. tuberculosis, the causative agent of TB," said Dr. Paul MacAry, Assistant Professor at National University of Singapore Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering. ...

New genes found for inflammatory bowel disease in children

... Inflammatory Bowel Disease at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "We will resequence the gene regions we have identified to pinpoint the causative mutations in these genes," added study leader Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Applied Genomics at Children's Hospital. "We ...

Researchers to study lyme-like illness in Texas

... Coordinating Board. They will receive $150,000 over two years to support their research into conflicting reports about the infectious nature and causative agent of Southern-Tick Associated Rash Illness (STARI) in Texas and other southern states. Tick-transmitted Lyme disease is a bacterial infection ...

Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology

... 1 diabetes is a common autoimmune disease that occurs when insulin-producing pancreatic cells are selectively destroyed. Rotaviruses are the major causative agents of severe, dehydrating diarrhea in infants and children and they have been previously implicated in the exacerbation of type 1 diabetes ...

Consumption of nut products during pregnancy linked to increased asthma in children

... E. Heffner, M.D., past president of the American Thoracic Society. "It is important, however, to emphasize that such associations do not confirm a causative linkage." While a strict low-allergen diet is not recommended for most expectant mothers because it risks both maternal and fetal malnutrition, ....

Footrot vaccine closer than ever

... determined the bacterium's complete DNA sequence, which was then analysed to identify proteins that are potentially exposed on the surface of the causative bacterium and therefore more likely to elicit an immune response," Professor Rood said. "The approach, called reverse vaccinology, identified 90 ...

Human Genomics and Proteomics

... and Proteomics, the first database journal affiliated with a database, FINDbase: the National/Ethnic Mutation Database documenting frequencies of causative mutations leading to inherited disorders in various populations worldwide. The first title to be launched through SAGE-Hindawi the joint ...

Stowers Institute researchers identify gene linked to vertebral defects in patient populations

... continue to work with colleagues to collect more samples from patients with congenital vertebral abnormalities and sequence more genes to look for causative mutations. Additionally, we will sequence MESP2 in a larger collection of DNA samples from Puerto Rico to determine the carrier frequency of this ...

A new gene trigger for pregnancy disorder identified

... for genes that regulate hypoxia. Seeing pregnant women with this disease in the clinic inspired me to dedicate our efforts to find likely causative genes that play a role in preeclampsia, says Kalluri. During pregnancy, hypoxia is associated with the formation of new blood vessels, explains ...

Viruses may play a role in lung cancer development

... Prof. Samuel Ariad from Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, Israel. "Most likely, it acts in modifying the effect of other carcinogens and not as a causative factor by itself." ...

RING finger protein 5 may guide treatment for muscle disease in older adults

... Dr. Ronai, lead author of the study, says the link established between ER stress, RNF5 and sIBM strengthen one theory stating that ER stress is causative for the disease and will now allow further study of the mechanisms underlying this disabling and all too common muscle disease. We now have a ...

UM coral scientist Peter Glynn wins award for scholarly activity

... has focused on coral reef disturbance ecology in the equatorial eastern Pacific (Panama, Galapagos Islands, and Easter Island). He documented the causative relationship between El Nio-Southern Oscillation sea warming events and the coral bleaching and death that result. This work laid the foundation for ...

New, noninvasive prostate cancer test beats PSA in detecting prostate cancer

... two genes to stick together - are common in prostate cancer, and that by overriding molecular switches that turn off excess growth, they may be the causative factor in some forms of the disease. In 2005 they identified a prostate-specific gene called TMPRSS2 which fuses with either ERG or ETV1, two genes ...

MIT: blood may help us think

... Most people assume the symptoms of these diseases are a secondary consequence of damage to the neurons. But we propose that they may also be a causative factor in the disease process, and that insight suggests entirely new treatments. For example, in epilepsy people often have abnormal blood vessels ...

The importance of gene regulation for common human disease

... away. Genetic regulation in the human genome is complex and highly variable: a tool to detect such distant effects will expand the search for causative variants. The authors note, however, that the small sample size of 270 HapMap individuals is sensitive enough to detect only the strongest effects. ...

American Society for Microbiology honors Joanna Kubler-Kielb

... the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Highlights of her research include elucidating the structure of glycolipids from Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, and her contributions toward developing a new candidate vaccine against anthrax. Her dedication to research led to her ...

Study ties 'new' cell-death mechanism to developmental and degenerative brain disorders

... such as seizures, this is the first time they have been identified as causative factors ?and potentially therapeutic targets ?in neurodegenerative ... have been identified for involvement in the development of ataxias, and 10 causative genes or mutations have been determined. The gene and mutations in this ...

Potent possibilities for parasite attack

... to have been acquired from bacterial species that have very similar sequences. "CFAS is involved in virulence and persistence in Mycobacterium, causative agent of tuberculosis, so the identification of a CFAS gene in Leishmania raises the exciting possibility that some virulence factors are conserved ...

Gene responsible for common hearing loss identified for first time

... The outcome is a progressive hearing loss as the growing bone in the middle ear interrupts the sound waves passing to the inner ear. While the causative factors remain unknown, now one of the genetic components has been identified, Ms Thys told the conference. “The gene in which the variant is located ...

Molecule that destroys bone also protects it, new research shows

... TH-17 cells. This new information has forced scientists to revise completely how they view their favorite disease. Everyone now has to rethink the causative mechanism." Gaffen said IL-17 likely would be toxic if given systemically, so it may not be a therapeutic candidate to increase immunity. But ...

Antifungal drug kills TB bug

... drugs already target P450s as a way to treat, for example, systemic and more superficial infections caused by fungi such as Candida albicans (the causative agent of thrush). "The class of drugs called azoles are able to kill off fungal infections by blocking the actions of one of its P450s that is ...

Will the plague pathogen become resistant to antibiotics?

... are useful for treatment and for preventing the disease's spread. The researchers observe, "Our data imply that high levels of MDR in the causative agent of plague may rapidly evolve naturally, and present a vital biomedical, public health, and biodefense threat." ...

High HPV concentrations combined with smoking significantly raise risks of cervical cancer

... since it was one of the largest studies to examine this relationship, it strongly suggests directions that future research should take to explore a causative effect. The researchers also found a relationship between smoking duration and cancer. "We found a statistically significant multiplicative ...

International team analyzes human genetic variation in key immune region

... such as atherosclerosis, arthritis, diabetes, HIV, lupus, multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease. However, pinpointing the specific changes that are causative in these diseases has been complicated by two factors: the extremely high degree of genetic diversity that exists in the MHC among different ...

Scientists solve 30-year-old mystery of mutant mouse's kidney woes

... Scientists suspect a variety of environmental and genetic factors contribute to fetal hydronephrosis. However, they frequently cannot tie it to any causative factors, making it difficult to determine how normal molecular and cellular processes in kidney development break down in infants affected by the ...

Scientists tie several cancers to common 'oncogene engine'

... malignant melanoma, two forms of soft-tissue sarcomas, and a type of kidney cancer that mainly affects children. Still other cancers sharing the same causative mechanism may yet be found, the scientists said. "One would have never thought of grouping these tumors together," said David E. Fisher, MD, PhD, ...

U-M scientists identify major psoriasis susceptibility gene

... Its discovery could lead to new, more effective treatments for psoriasis without the risks and side-effects of current therapies. The gene's causative role in psoriasis was demonstrated in a University of Michigan Medical School study of 2,723 people from 678 families in which at least one family ...

Mutations in the BRAF gene predict sensitivity to a novel class of cancer drugs

... of Dr. Rosen's laboratory. This project, an outgrowth of the Human Genome Project, called the Cancer Genome Project, has the goal of identifying the causative mutations that cause human cancers. "This represents what we believe will be the first of a series of new drugs that specifically target cancer ...

New classification of eukaryotes has implications for AIDS treatment, agriculture and beyond

... the Irish famine in the 19th century, is now known not to be a fungus, which explains why fungicides are not effective treatments. 3) Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria, is now known to share ancestry with photosynthetic organisms and has a vestigial chloroplast, called the apicoplast. This knowledge ...