news archive genetic news - May 25, 2004

May 25, 2004

your information resource in human molecular genetics

-	Blocking Brain Masculinization With Aspirin Research paper reports that drugs like aspirin that block the synthesis of testosterone can interfere with brain masculinization and later male sexual behavior in rats.
-	A Placebo Response In The Brain Sometimes just pretending to give a drug can alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, as long as the patient believes that the treatment is effective.
-	Prion Proteins In The Human Food Chain A new study reports that Prion proteins can be found in the muscles of infected sheep.
-	Antidepressant Takes The Gloom Off Spinal Injury The antidepressant rolipram help rats recover from spinal cord injury.
-	Stem Cells Key To Sperm Production Researchers report the first discovery of a protein expressed within germline stem cells that allows them to proliferate and renew themselves, a process essential to maintain a supply of sperm.
-	Taming Transposons Research shows how retrotransposons might 'fine tune' the genome by modulating the expression of bona fide genes, and also how they might be harnessed to make useful additions to the biotechnological toolkit.
-	Sperm Donations Human sperm also provide the female sex cell with paternal messenger RNAs.