Critical role in programmed cell death identified
Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have found links in the cell death machinery of worms and mammals, opening new avenues for studying and targeting a process vital to development and implicated in cancer and autoimmune diseases. The work, reported in the February 17 issue of Nature, demonstrates the role of mitochondria, the cellular power plant, in prompting worm cells to self destruc...It's not fair! We are programmed to resist weight loss
Research confirming the human body is designed to strongly resist attempts to lose weight will be presented at an international gathering of obesity experts hosted by QUT this week. Queensland University of Technology appetite regulation and energy balance researcher Dr Neil King, from the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), said our bodies have strong mechanisms to defe...Researchers unveil strategy for creating actively-programmed anti-cancer molecules
The new study, which was published July 5 in an advanced, online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, achieved a significant enhancement of the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in animal models. The study showed the new hybrid compound remained in circulation for a week. In comparison, the small molecule drug was cleared in a matter of minutes. "Although th...Heart failure: Intervention possibilities from imaging programmed cell loss
Using a nuclear medicine technique and molecular imaging to "see" programmed cell loss—the body's normal way of getting rid of unneeded or abnormal cells—may help in early identification of those individuals who are at risk of developing heart failure, say researchers in the April Journal of Nuclear Medicine. "Our study indicates that it is feasible to noninvasively identify cell loss—or a...