news archive June 2009

• Smog Stresses the Skin
  Ozone may have damaging effects on a skin enzyme that helps break down environmental pollutants.
  
• Odds on Serotonin Regulating Gambling Impulses
  Rats can learn to play the odds, which is useful because it helps shed light into how the brain regulates gambling behavior.
  
• Play It Again
  A published paper differs from previous theories that suggest that only replay during sleep is important for memory.
  
• How Nanotubes Suppress the Immune Function?
  Inhalation of carbon nanotubes activates cellular signals in the lung, which in turn activate signals in the spleen to suppress the immune function of mice.
  
• Activating Genes In Live Animals
  Tools to precisely regulate gene expression in single cells or whole organisms are reported.
  
• Nanomaterials in Biological Systems
  State-of-the-art understanding of the interactions between nanomaterials and proteins, cells, DNA and other biological surfaces is reviewed.
  
• Genome Screens Suggest Clues to Multiple Sclerosis Risk
  Several common gene variants point to ways in which individuals vary in their susceptibility to the autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), according to two studies.
  
• New Drug Target for Leukaemia
  A genetic change in leukaemia cells that is essential to their proliferation, but also makes the cells vulnerable to an existing drug, has been identified.
  
• Alzheimer's Assemblies Identified
  Assemblies of twelve units of the protein amyloid-beta42 are a probable key neurotoxic agent in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
  
• Can Alzheimer's Disease Be Infectious?
  Tangles observed in the brains of Alzheimer's patients induce the formation of similar inclusions when injected into the brains of healthy mice.
  
• Protein Translation Factor Causes Breast Cancer
  Factors that cause a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer are reported online.
  
• Getting Into the CNS
  Clues as to how leukaemia cells can get into the central nervous system (CNS) are reported.
  
• Copy Number Variation Linked to Neuroblastoma
  The presence of a particular DNA copy number variant (CNV) may be associated with the development of an aggressive, often fatal type of childhood cancer of the sympathetic nervous system.
  
• Sperm DNA Packaging
  A paper provides insights into how DNA in sperm is packaged during development, which could reflect the role the paternal genome has in the embryo.
  
• A New Vision for Eye Condition
  A potential detection marker for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is reported.
  

• Listen Up: Focus on Hearing
  Seven perspective and review articles cover recent advances in our understanding of how sounds are converted into neural signals, how these processes go wrong in hearing loss, and what attempts to rectify such hearing loss tell us about brain function.
  
• Suppressing Suppressors
  The discovery of an inhibitory signaling circuit that blocks the generation and function of regulatory T cells is reported.
  
• Genome Scan Uncovers Genetic Risks of Testis Cancer
  Gene variants accounting for some of the differences between men in their risk of developing testis cancer have been identified.
  
• Genetic Variation Influences Adverse Reaction to Common Antibiotic
  A common genetic difference between people influences their chance of developing a rare but serious liver injury as a side effect of taking the antibiotic flucloxacillin.
  
• How Do Inhibitors Activate Kinases?
  Inhibitor binding leads to pre-activation of two kinases.
  
• Targeting Muscle Disorders
  A molecular link between the loss of function of the enzyme MIP/MTMR14 and the muscle defects in mice is reported.
  
• Genetic Reprogramming
  Researchers have generated stem cells from patients with a rare genetic disease, corrected the cells' defect and reprogrammed to pluripotency.
  
• DNA Genie Bottle Assembles Itself
  A variety of complex self-assembled DNA shapes are revealed.
  
• How Down's Syndrome Protects
  A genetic explanation for why people with Down's syndrome have a reduced incidence of solid cancers.
  
• Nature Precedings: A preprint server for biomedical sciences
  A new online platform for the posting and sharing of preliminary findings and preprints
  

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