Link Between Cholesterol And Heart Disease Explained
9/21/07
(www.americanheart.org)Cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis -- a condition that greatly increases the risk of heart attack and stroke -- by suppressing the activity of a key protein that protects the heart and blood vessels, according to a new article. These findings could lead to new therapies to treat or prevent heart disease - the leading cause of death in the United States - as well as answer key questions about other diseases associated with high cholesterol levels, including some types of cancer.
Possible Key To Autoimmune Disease
A self DNA-peptide complex triggers an immune response like that caused by a virus or other invading microbe. Researchers believe this response is both a likely key driver of autoimmune disease and an integral part of an early warning system that flags tissue damage to launch a protective inflammatory response to injury.
Toward A Faster Prenatal Test For Down Syndrome
Scientists are reporting an advance toward rapid testing for prenatal detection of Down syndrome and other birth defects that involve an abnormal number of chromosomes. The test has the potential for producing results for worried parents within two hours rather than the two weeks required with existing tests.
Blood Protein Detects Lung Cancer, Even At Earliest Stage
Biopharmaceutical researchers have found a protein in blood they say is linked to all stages of lung cancer but which rarely shows up in the blood of people without the disease. Testing for this protein might help physicians decide whether smokers or others at high risk for lung cancer should be referred for lung imaging, say investigators.
Brain's Messengers Could Be Regulated, Study Suggests
Tiny, spontaneous releases of the brain's primary chemical messengers can be regulated, potentially giving scientists unprecedented control over how the brain is wired. The work could lead to a better understanding of neurological diseases like schizophrenia. Sputtering electrical activity -- like a firecracker's leftover sparks after a big bang -- was long considered inconsequential background noise compared with the main cell-to-cell interactions underlying thought and memory. But researchers found that the miniscule events that follow a burst of electrical and chemical activity among neurons are far more important that previously thought.
Possible Key To Autoimmune Disease
A self DNA-peptide complex triggers an immune response like that caused by a virus or other invading microbe. Researchers believe this response is both a likely key driver of autoimmune disease and an integral part of an early warning system that flags tissue damage to launch a protective inflammatory response to injury.
Toward A Faster Prenatal Test For Down Syndrome
Scientists are reporting an advance toward rapid testing for prenatal detection of Down syndrome and other birth defects that involve an abnormal number of chromosomes. The test has the potential for producing results for worried parents within two hours rather than the two weeks required with existing tests.
Blood Protein Detects Lung Cancer, Even At Earliest Stage
Biopharmaceutical researchers have found a protein in blood they say is linked to all stages of lung cancer but which rarely shows up in the blood of people without the disease. Testing for this protein might help physicians decide whether smokers or others at high risk for lung cancer should be referred for lung imaging, say investigators.
Brain's Messengers Could Be Regulated, Study Suggests
Tiny, spontaneous releases of the brain's primary chemical messengers can be regulated, potentially giving scientists unprecedented control over how the brain is wired. The work could lead to a better understanding of neurological diseases like schizophrenia. Sputtering electrical activity -- like a firecracker's leftover sparks after a big bang -- was long considered inconsequential background noise compared with the main cell-to-cell interactions underlying thought and memory. But researchers found that the miniscule events that follow a burst of electrical and chemical activity among neurons are far more important that previously thought.
Labels: cholesterol, chromosomes, diseases, immune response, protein
