rat in Medical News

New method identifies rat poison in humans

Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) have developed a method to identify bromadiolone poisoning in humans. Bromadiolone is a rat poison that can be purchased freely in shops. A number of cases have been reported internationally where people have been poisoned, with a mort...

Globetrotting black rat genes reveal spread of humans and diseases

DNA of the common Black Rat (Rattus rattus) has shed light on the ancient spread of rats, people and diseases around the globe. Studying the mitochondrial DNA of 165 Black Rat specimens from 32 countries around the world, an international team of scientists has identified six distinct lineages ...

A new soldier in the war on cancer: The blind mole rat

If someone ever calls you a "dirty rat," consider it a compliment. A new discovery published online in the FASEB Journal ( http://www.fasebj.org ) shows that cellular mechanisms used by the blind mole rat to survive the very low oxygen environment of its subterranean niche are the same as those ...

Human Stem Cell Transplants Repair Rat Spinal Cords

Human nerve stem cells transplanted into rats’ damaged spinal cords have survived, grown and in some cases connected// with the rats’ own spinal cord cells in a Johns Hopkins laboratory, overturning the long-held notion that spinal cords won’t allow nerve repair. A report on the experiments w...

Explosion Of Rat Population Poses Health Threat In UK

The rat population has shown a 39 % increase since 1999 leaving the UK health department worried.// Fortnightly garbage collections, compulsory recycling policy and composting bins are said to be the cause of the increasing brown rat population. John Davison of the National Pest Technic...

Developing gene therapy to fight blindness

... The research team's next step is to show that such gene therapy is safe in further animal studies, to be conducted in China, along with additional rat studies that will be conducted at UC San Diego and at the University of Florida. Once safety for the procedure has been shown, the team hopes to p...

Quark Pharmaceuticals Announces Data Indicating Potential Utility of QPI-1007 for Treatment of Glaucoma

...herapeutics, today announced data suggesting that QPI-1007 prevents progressive retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss in an increased ocular pressure (IOP) rat model of glaucoma. The experiments performed by Prof. Adriana Di Polo of the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Universite de Montreal, indicat...

Mass. General team develops potentially safer general anesthetic

... rats showed that the new agent, MOC-etomidate, quickly produced anesthesia from which the animals recovered rapidly after administration ceased. The rat study verified that MOC-etomidate had little effect on blood pressure levels and no effect on adrenal activity, even when administered at twice the do...

Elsevier launches official version of BrainNavigator

....brainnav.com/info . This version includes complete information for the rat brain and the mouse brain, and ongoing releases of other species are planne...and this will permit scientists to navigate seamlessly between the brain of rat and mouse in the first instance and the human brain when the site is expand...

AlphaRx Reports Positive Preclinical Data on GAI-122 Against Liver Disease

...AI-122 markedly reduced ALT levels by 90% from baseline, where control ALT values were ~22,000 IU/L. Significant efficacy was also demonstrated in the rat TNFa/Gln model and in the Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) model. "DILI accounts for more than 50% of acute liver failure and there are no satisfact...

Stemedica Discovers Significant Breakthrough in the Use of Stem Cells and Stem Cell Factors for the Treatment of Retinal Degeneration

...obtained from human donor tissue. Various cells were injected into rats with hereditary pigmented degradation of retina. One eye of each participating rat served the treatment eye and the other eye served as the control eye. Healthy non-dystrophic and non-treated (normally dystrophic) animals were also u...

AlphaRx and Gaia BioPharma Report Positive Efficacy Results in a Pre-Clinical Trial of GAI-122 Injectable Nano-emulsion for Post-operative Delirium

...ion, for the preventive of this debilitating post-operative condition," said Dr. Michael Weisspapir, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Scientist of AlphaRx. In rat model studies, injected GAI-122 ameliorates learning and memory disturbances produced by cerebral embolization, cerebral ischemia or lesions in the ba...

Quark Pharmaceuticals Announces the Presentation of Data Indicating Potential Utility of QPI-1002 in Chronic Kidney Disease at the RNA Interference Summit

...he stress-response apoptotic pathway. Using intravital 2-photon in life microscopy to follow the distribution of fluorescent labeled siRNA in the rat kidney, Prof. Molitoris demonstrated rapid and predominant distribution of the siRNA to kidney proximal tubular cells (PTC), which are the main type o...

New Immune Approach for Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

...and R.R. Myers, Distribution and tumor necrosis factor-alpha isoform binding specificity of locally administered etanercept into injured and uninjured rat sciatic nerve. Neuroscience, 2009. 160(2): p. 492-500. 12. Tobinick, E.L., K. Chen, and X. Chen, Rapid intracerebroventricular delivery of Cu-DOTA-et...

Sangamo BioSciences Presents Positive Phase 2 ZFP Therapeutic Data at ADA 2009

...F-A has been demonstrated to have direct angiogenic, neurotrophic and neuroprotective properties. In preclinical animal efficacy studies in a diabetic rat model ( Diabetes , June 1, 2006; 55(6): 1847-1854), SB-509 has proven effective in protecting motor and sural nerve function from disease-induced nerv...

Scientists find city rats are loyal to their 'hoods

... In the rat race of life, one thing is certain: there's no pla...nown as the Jones Falls. Within these hemispheres, rat families form smaller communities of about 11 city...ale perhaps by targeting entire families at once. rat race won. ...

p90RSK: A new therapeutic target for liver fibrosis?

... and liver function damage. In our previous work, p90RSK is observed significantly up-regulated in association with elevated collagen type I levels in rat liver fibrosis. But detail mechanism of this phenomenon is still unknown. Now, there has a research article to be published on May 7, 2009 in the ...

PEAK Surgical Announces Positive Fascia Incision Healing Results From Preclinical Study of PEAK PlasmaBlade(TM) for Gynecologic Surgery

... the ACOG Annual Meeting, midline abdominal fascia incisions were made in a rat model using the PlasmaBlade, a standard scalpel blade and a traditional ele... healing. Results showed: Histological evaluation of the rat fascia incisions demonstrated that the PlasmaBlade produced a 75 percent re...

A new light on the mechanisms of early stage liver reperfusion injury

... the feature of the injury induced in the early stage of reperfusion in the rat liver. The authors examined the effects of 60 min lobar ischemia follow...is were the most important changes induced by in vivo lobar ischemia in the rat liver. However, during reperfusion not only some changes including bleb for...

BELLUS Health reports results for first quarter of fiscal 2009

... second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2009, at which time a decision may be made as to the future of this program. Results from a validated rat model of diabetes and metabolic syndrome have demonstrated that NC-503 decreases glycemic levels in obese diabetic Zucker rats, when compared to the c...

Penn State professor investigates estrogen, heart disease connection in women

...im Lancaster, who received his master's degree in kinesiology in 2008, Korzick has already identified nearly 600 proteins within the mitochondria of a rat heart cell. ...

Chemical can reproduce complications for some patients

...gned to measure edema formation, or the volume of water that has been retained in major organs of the body. After the animals were anesthetized, each rat received an infusion of either CHX or saline, which was allowed to circulate through the body for 2 hours. After 2 hours, the animal was euthanized, ...

New Hope for Relief of Chronic Sciatica

...and R.R. Myers, Distribution and tumor necrosis factor-alpha isoform binding specificity of locally administered etanercept into injured and uninjured rat sciatic nerve. Neuroscience, 2009. 160(2): p. 492-500. Further information: Institute for Neurological Research®, a private medical group...

Stanford researcher's discovery of ion channel turns ear on its head

..., scientists still haven't identified the ion channels responsible for this process. To pinpoint the channels' location, Ricci and colleagues squirted rat stereocilia with a tiny water jet. As pressure from the water bent the stereocilia, calcium flooded into the hair cells. The researchers used ultrafas...

Benefit of grapes may be more than skin deep

...tion in New Orleans. The researchers studied the effect of regular table grapes (a blend of green, red, and black grapes) that were mixed into the rat diet in a powdered form, as part of either a high- or low-salt diet. Comparisons were made between rats consuming the grape powder and rats that recei...

JCI online early table of contents: April 6, 2009

...ry, information that they hope might provide new avenues of research for those developing drugs to combat this condition. In the study, analysis of rat renal tubular cells in vitro following exposure to conditions that induce acute kidney injury in vivo, revealed that mitochondria fragmented before th...

Team Regrows Neurons Controlling Movement in Rats

... (HealthDay News) -- Using genetically engineered cells and a virus as a delivery method, researchers were able to regenerate a type of nerve fiber in rat brains that controls movement. This isn't the first time researchers have shown it's possible to re-grow some neurons responsible for movement. But...

Angiogenesis inhibitor improves brain tumor survival by reducing edema

...ma, which has significant consequences within the brain, or from a direct anti-tumor effect. The researchers implanted fluorescently labeled human or rat glioblastoma cells into the brains of mice and directly observed the tumors and surrounding tissue through transparent windows through the skull. Onc...

Long-term L-carnitine supplementation prevents development of liver cancer

...used an experimental model of hepatocarcinogenesis under conditions of carnitine depletion and carnitine supplementation. In the carnitine-depleted rat model, there were a progressive increase in the activities of liver enzymes as well as massive degenerative changes and evidence of pre-neoplastic les...

Lab-grown nerves promote nerve regeneration after injury

...the host tissue in order to bridge a damaged section of nerve." Previously, Smith and colleagues have "stretch-grown" axons by placing neurons from rat dorsal root ganglia (clusters of nerves just outside the spinal cord) on nutrient-filled plastic plates. Axons sprouted from the neurons on each plate...

'Good Feelings' From Alcohol Only Come With Fewer Drinks

... rat study suggests pleasurable endorphin release ends as drinking gets heavier THURSDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests th...

New study shows how spikes in nitrite can have

...strokes. To study the molecular underpinnings of this protective effect of nitrite, the researchers at Boston University School of Medicine used a rat model in which they administered nitrite only once, causing a short spike in circulating levels, as a way to simulate the types of naturally occurring...

Electroacupuncture protects acetylsalicylic acid-induced acute gastritis in rats

...the protective effects of acupuncture against NSAID-induced ulceration in a rat model. In their study, 72 rats were randomly divided into three groups ...istered 100 mg/kg ASA) and EA group (administered EA + 100 mg/kg ASA). Each rat was fasted for 18 to 24hours before experimentation, and lesion scores, gas...

BELLUS Health reports results for the fourth quarter of 2008

...ed. The study is a randomized 26-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Interim results are anticipated in early 2009. Results from a validated rat model of diabetes and metabolic syndrome have demonstrated that NC-503 decreases glycemic levels in obese diabetic Zucker rats, when compared to the c...

Blood pressure compound may benefit brain tumor patients

...earchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. The findings offer the hope of an improved quality of life for cancer patients. Using a rat model, the study drew on a hypothesis from previous studies that a compound similar to the anti-hypertensive drug losartan can prevent the cognition l...

Mutant rats offer clues to medical mystery

...und that common rats with a genetic mutation have developed a resistance to rat poison, aka warfarin. That's good news for the rats, but it comes at a pric...t attacks, stroke and blood clots. In bigger doses, it once excelled as rat poison; rats that ingested the poison would simply bleed to death. But a mu...

Male fertility expert Marvin Meistrich elected AAAS Fellow

...em cells to restore sperm production after radiation or chemotherapy. "This was exactly backwards from what we expected to find," Meistrich said. rat experiments showed that surviving stem cells could not make the next step in sperm development - differentiation into spermatocytes - because of testo...

American Heart Association 2008 Wrap-Up Report: Top Research Advances Include Studies That Influence Medical Care, Apply Science To 'Real World' Communities

...problems to be solved before new hearts can be grown for patients dying from heart failure, but one hurdle was overcome this year. In a study using a rat model, researchers demonstrated that it is possible to create a functioning bioartificial heart using a matrix from which cells had been removed as a ...

JCI online early table of contents: Jan. 12, 2009

...in neuropathic pain in rodents. They therefore suggest that it might be a new drug target for the treatment of humans with neuropathic pain Using a rat model of neuropathic pain, it was shown that administration of a leptin antagonist to the spinal cord prevented and reversed the condition. Consistent...

Scientists May Isolate Stem Cells From Rats, Other Mammals

...efinitely the basic embryonic stem cells of a mammal, including long-sought rat stem cells. If the findings hold up, scientists will then be able to mi...racterization of genes," Ying's group wrote. "Now, the availability of true rat embryonic stem cells provides an opportunity to adapt the technology develo...