Cell Cocktail Rice-resistant cancer cells, Nice to normal cells

Juice rice cells can knock out two types of human cancer cells as well or better than the potent anticancer drug Taxol, a scientist at Michigan Technological University discovered in laboratory tests. Moreover, Taxol does something you can not do: playing well with normal cells.
Biologist Wusirika Ramakrishna and his team made their fight against cancer shaker with drops of rice stem cells called callus, grown in the lab using garden-variety seed plant rice Oryza sativa. Then secretions collected from these calli and applied to the cells of the colon and kidney cancer in laboratory.
After 96 hours exposure to a solution of 20-a callus of rice-1, 95 percent of kidney cancer cells were killed along with 83 percent of colon cancer cells, while normal cells lung were virtually unscathed. Taxol was lethal to cancer cells well, but also kill significant numbers of normal cells.
Wusirika believes the rice callus culture can attack the cancer with the same kind of plant chemicals that make very healthy vegetables to eat.
"They are full of metabolic compounds that are good for us," he says. "We believe that is what is killing the cancer."
Then test the solution Wusirika like rice callus in the prostate, lung and breast cancer cells, the most common types of cancer .. "We will work with all of them, but we have to find out," he said.
He also wants to determine which of the compounds released by the rice callus has cancer-fighting properties and how they work against tumor cells. Or, he says, it is possible that the suite of biochemicals in callus solution work as a team to fight cancer.

'Anchors' Organize chromosomal DNA during cell division

'Anchors' Organize chromosomal DNA during cell division: New role of telomeres in cell growth may shed light on aging and age-related diseases

For humans to grow and to replace and heal damaged tissue, the cells of the body must play continuously, a process known as "cell division", by which a cell becomes two, two become four, and so successively. A key question is how bio-medical research chromosomes that are duplicated during cell division so that each daughter cell receives an exact copy of the genome of a person, are organized during this process.
Now, scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a new function of human cell division that can help explain how DNA is organized in the nucleus of cells reproduce. They found that telomeres, molecular caps protect the ends of chromosomes move toward the outer edge of the cell nucleus after they have been duplicated.
This image shows the telomeres (yellow), protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that have been moved to the outer edge of a cell nucleus (blue). Salk researchers discovered that anchor telomeres to the nuclear membrane after the cell duplicates its DNA during cell division, which can help organize chromosomes as the cell divides into two daughter cells.
While the consequences of this spatial reorganization of telomeres are not yet clear, the findings could shed light on how our genes are regulated and how programs are altered gene expression during cell division, an important step in understanding the aging and diseases arising from genetic mutations, such as cancer.
"What we have discovered is that telomeres not only protect our chromosomes, also help organize our genetic material in the nucleus," says Jan Karlseder, a professor in the Salk Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Darlene Shiley President and Donald. "This is important, because the three-dimensional position of the DNA in the nucleus influences gene expression profiling and how it changes over time in the genome."
Telomeres, a combination of protein and DNA are vital in DNA replication aging and tumor suppression. Whenever a primary human cell divides, the telomeres shorten until critically short telomeres lead to cell destruction. Much research has been focused on understanding the dynamics Karlseder telomeres to develop ways to influence the aging process, and thus limit the growth of cancer cells.
Besides explore the involvement of telomeres in aging syndromes and interactions between the mechanism of DNA damage and telomere Karlseder studies the role of telomeres during cell cycle. Previous studies on human cells have shown that telomeres change position during cell division, suggesting that also may play a role in the organization of the DNA into nuclei. However, these studies only provide instant telomeres isolated at different stages of the cell cycle.
In their new study, the researchers used advanced time lapse confocal microscopy Salk live cells to track the movement of telomeres in real time during the cell cycle. Continued for 20 hours telomeres in living cells molecules by labeling with bright under a microscope. They also recorded the movement of chromatin, a combination of DNA and proteins that form chromosomes.

Breast cancer risk increases

Breast cancer risk increases with repeated CT Nuclear Estimates :

Researchers reviewed the records of about 250,000 women included in an integrated system to provide health services found that the increased use of CT between 2000 and 2010 could result in an increased risk of breast cancer in some women, even younger patients and receiving the repeated examinations. According to the study, which was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), nuclear medicine examinations can also help increase breast cancer risk.CT ionizing radiation such as X-ray use produces cross-sectional images of the body. In nuclear medicine imaging, radio-pharmaceuticals - a compound that includes a small amount of a radioactive material - is given in the body to help visualize internal organs.

"When a woman undergoes CT or nuclear medicine imaging of the chest, abdomen or spine, breast tissue can absorb some of the radiation," said lead author Rebecca Smith-Bind-man, MD, professor of radiology and imaging Bio-medical at University of California, San Francisco. "Breast tissue is one of body tissues known to be susceptible to developing cancer as a result of exposure to radiation."

The study, led by Ginger Feliz, MD, MPH, fellow breast images Prentice Women's Hospital - Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, found that among the female members of the system, the use of CT increased by 99.8 TC 1,000 women in 2000 to 192.4 CT scans per 1,000 women in 2010 (an annual increase of 6.8 percent). In 2010, 46 percent of CT scans of the chest exposed to radiation. Nuclear medicine imaging lines declined from 39.3 per 1,000 women in 2000 to 27.5 lines per 1,000 women in 2010 (a decrease of 3.5 percent per year), however, in 2010, 84 percent of nuclear medicine studies exposed to radiation from the breast.

"So far, the impact of the increasing use of images in radiation exposure to breast tissue and subsequent risk of breast cancer is unknown," said Dr. Smith-Bindman. "Our goal was to quantify the use of imaging and radiation exposure to the breast among women who participated in delivery of integrated health system and use this data to determine the risk of images related to breast cancer in these studies. "

The research team collected information CT dose of 1,656 patients that underwent CT examinations exposed to radiation from the breast and, using a new method of automated calculation calculates the effective radiation dose patients and the amount of radiation absorbed in the chest. The team also analyzed the volume radio-pharmaceutical and associated radiation exposure to 5507 used in nuclear medicine procedures that exposed his chest to radiation. "We found that the estimated radiation dose for breast CT were highly variable between patients, with higher doses coming multipurpose cardiac CT and chest, where successive images are captured studied organ," said Dr. Smith-Bind-man.

Mouse Brain Cells

Mouse Brain Cells Activated, Reactivated in Learning and Memory :

Memories are made of this, says the song. Now neuro-scientists have shown for the first time individual cells turns mouse brain during learning and subsequently reactivated during memory recall. The results are published December 13.

We store episodic memories about events in our lives in a part of the brain called the hippo-campus  said Brian Wiltgen, now an assistant professor at the Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis. (Most of the work was done while working Wiltgen University of Virginia. In animals, the hippocampus is important for navigation and storage of memories about the places.

"The exciting part is that now we are able to answer a fundamental question about memory," Wiltgen said. "It has been long assumed that the hippocampus is essential for memory because it leads to the reactivation of neurons (nerve cells) in the crust. The reason I can remember an event of his life is that the hippocampus is able to recreate the pattern of cortical activity that was there at the time. "

According to this model, patients with hippocampal damage lost due to memory can not recreate the activity in the cortex of the memory when done. Wiltgen mouse experiment makes it possible to test this model for the first time.

"Now we can do a good test of hippo-cam-pal function," Wiltgen said.

Current thinking is that learning activates a group of neurons that undergo changes, making new connections with each other to store memory. Memory retrieval reactive network.

Researchers working with human subjects, UC Davis and elsewhere, using imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging to see which brain areas are activated and deactivated in learning and recovery. But f MRI can not select an object as small as a single cell.

Wiltgen and the University of Virginia graduate student Kaycie Tayler used a transgenic mouse carrying a gene for a modified green fluorescent protein. When nerve cells are activated in the mouse produce a long lasting green fluorescence persists for weeks and a short red fluorescence which disintegrates in a couple of hours.

However, the whole system can be suppressed by dosing mice with the antibiotic doxycycline and Wiltgen Tayler and could manipulate the point where they began to label activated cells.

The mice were placed in a new cage with a strange smell and given a few minutes to explore. They were then given a mild electric shock through the floor of the cage. When he returned to the cage for a couple of days later, the mice would remember the shock and stay frozen in one place.

When they examined the brains of mice, the researchers could see that the cells were initially activated to form memory and recall were reactivated after.

Ordinary Heart Cells Become 'Biological Pacemakers'

 Injection of Single Gene :

Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute researchers have reprogrammed normal heart cells to become exact replicas of highly specialized pacemaker cells by injecting a single gene (Tbx18)-an important step forward in the search for a therapy of a decade-long biological to correct irregular heartbeats and bankrupt.
Progress was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology .
"Although we and others have created primitive biological pacemaker before, this study is the first to demonstrate that a single gene can direct conversion of the heart muscle cells to genuine pacemaker cells. The new cells spontaneously generated electrical impulses were indistinguishable from native pacemaker cells, "said Hee Cheol Cho, PhD., a scientist at the Heart Research Institute.
Pacemaker cells generate electrical activity that spreads to other cells in the heart in an orderly pattern to create rhythmic muscle contractions. If these cells go wrong, the heart pumps erratically best, healthy patients undergoing surgery often use electronic pacemaker as the only option for survival.
The heartbeat originates in the sinoatrial node (SAN) in the upper right chamber of the heart, which are grouped pacemaker cells. Of the 10 billion heart cells, fewer than 10,000 are pacemaker cells, often known as SAN cells. Once reprogrammed by the Tbx18 gene, pacemaker cells newly created - "San" ISAN induced cells or cells - had all the key features of natural pacemaker SAN and kept their similar characteristics, even after the effects of Tbx18 gene was gone .
But researchers at Cedars-Sinai, using a virus designed to carry a single gene (Tbx18) plays a key role in embryonic development of pacemaker cells directly reprogrammed heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) to specialized pacemaker cells. The new cells made in the distinctive characteristics and function of native pacemaker cells, both in cells and in laboratory studies of guinea pig reprogramming.
Previous efforts to generate new cells result in pacemaker cells of the heart muscle that can overcome on their own. However, the modified cells were closest to the muscle cells for normal pacemaker cells. Other methods used to obtain embryonic stem cells pacemaker cells. However, the risk of contamination of cancer cells is a persistent obstacle to the realization of the potential of embryonic stem cell therapeutic approach. The new work, just amazing, have pacemaker cells that closely resemble native cancer risk free.
For his work on biological pacemaker technology, Cho, last author of the article, recently won the Louis N. and Arnold M. Katz Basic Research Prize, the Young Investigator Award from the American Heart Association.

Hybrid Tunnel

May Help Severed nerves Guide Back to Health :

Building a tunnel formed by two hard and soft materials to guide the re-connection of severed nerves can be the first step to help patients who have suffered extensive nerve trauma recover feeling and movement, according to a team biomedical engineering.
"Damage to the nerves in both the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system is a major health problem," said Mohammad Reza Abidian, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, Penn State. "According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, there are approximately 290,000 people in the U.S. who suffer from spinal cord injuries, with about 12,000 new injuries occurring each year."
Spontaneous nerve regeneration is limited to small injuries peripheral nervous system injury and actively suppressed in the central nervous system. When a nerve in the peripheral nervous system is a bit short, nerves can regenerate and reconnect. However, if the distance between the two is too late, growth can deviate and fail to connect.
The researchers, who published their findings in the current issue of the health of Advanced Materials, developed a new hybrid line consists of a soft material called hydro-gel, as an outside wall next to an interior wall made of an electrically active polymer conducting serve to guide tunnel regeneration and re-connection of severed nerve endings.
Abidian says the method may offer advantages over current surgeries used to reconnect severed nerves.
"Autografts are currently the gold standard value to close the gaps," said Abidian. "This is an operation that takes the nerve from another part of the body - for example - of a tendon, and then grafted into the injured nerve."

New Form of Cell Division Found

Natural Back-Up Mechanism for defective cell division

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center have discovered a new form of cell division in human cells.
They think that will act as a backup mechanism for cell division errors, prevents some cells from going down a path that can lead to cancer.
"If we could promote this new form of cell division called klerokinesis, we may be able to prevent certain types of cancer in developing countries," said lead researcher Dr. Mark Burkard, assistant professor of hematology-oncology at the School of Medicine University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Burkard presented the findings on Dec. 17 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco.
A medical researcher who see patients with breast cancer, cancer Burkard studies where cells contain too many chromosomes, a condition known as polyploidy.
About 14 percent of breast cancer cases and 35 percent of pancreatic cancers are three or more sets of chromosomes rather than two normal sets. Many other types of cancer cells containing chromosomes are defective and not too many or too few.
"Our goal in the laboratory has been to find ways to develop new treatment strategies for breast cancer with too many sets of chromosomes," he says. The original aim of the study was to make human cells that have extra sets of chromosomes. But after following the accepted pattern was observed unexpectedly new form of cell division.
So far, most Burkard and cellular biologists today accepted a century old hypothesis developed by the German biologist Theodor Boveri, who studied egg urchin populations. Boveri assumed that the error of cell division that leads to cells with abnormal chromosome set, then the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells defined. Evidence accumulated over the years, most researchers have come to accept the hypothesis.
Normal cell division is at the heart of the ability of an organism to grow from a single fertilized egg into a fully developed individual. More than a million rounds of division million to spend to make this happen. In each division, a stem cell daughter cells. Even in a fully grown adult, many types of cells routinely recreated through cell division.