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JCI early table of contents for June 17, 2013

2013-06-17
(Press-News.org) Scouring the genome of adenoid cystic carcinoma Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a slow-growing and often fatal malignancy that can occur at multiple organ site, but is most frequently found in the salivary glands. The primary treatment is surgical removal; however, the majority of patients develop metastatic disease. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Andrew Futreal at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, MA, performed a type of genetic sequencing known as whole exome sequencing of 24 ACC cases. They identified a genetic translocation that can precipitate disease and determined that a large number of disease-associated mutations occurred in genes that modify DNA. In the accompanying commentary, Henry Frierson, Jr. of the University of Virginia emphasizes that identifying individual mutations will aid the development of personalized therapy. TITLE: Whole exome sequencing of adenoid cystic carcinoma AUTHOR CONTACT: P. Andrew Futreal
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, GBR
Phone: 7137944764; E-mail: AFutreal@mdanderson.org View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67201?key=d9e8a757b7c521272b6f ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY TITLE: Mutation signature of adenoid cystic carcinoma: evidence for transcriptional and epigenetic reprogramming AUTHOR CONTACT: Henry Frierson
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Phone: (434) 924-9171; E-mail: hff@Virginia.edu View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/69070?key=b1da65c50c2dc7a2e200 Variants in the SIM1 gene are associated with severe obesity Although body weight is largely determined by lifestyle factors, increasingly research is revealing that genetics also play an important role in determining an individual's susceptibility to obesity. Identifying the mutations that underlie the fraction of obese patients with monogenic obesity can help us to understand complex processes like metabolic rate, eating behavior, growth, and fat storage. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, two groups identified obesity-linked mutations in the gene SIM1. Sadaf Farooqi and colleagues at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, England, identified thirteen SIM1 mutations in obese patients, and found that reduced SIM1 function correlated with increased food intake and altered nervous system dysfunction. In an independent study, Philippe Froguel and colleagues at Imperial College London identified eight SIM1 mutations in morbidly obese adults and in patients with a disorder resembling Prader-Willi syndrome. In the patients studied, loss of SIM1 function was associated with inherited obesity. Taken together, these studies confirm a strong link between SIM1 dysfunction and obesity. TITLE: Rare variants in single-minded 1 (SIM1) are associated with severe obesity AUTHOR CONTACT: Sadaf Farooqi
Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, GBR
Phone: 44-1223-762-634; Fax: 44-1223-762-657; E-mail: isf20@cam.ac.uk View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/68016?key=feaa61c9a393337a621e ACCOMPANYING ARTICLE TITLE: Loss-of-function mutations in SIM1 contribute to obesity and Prader-Willi-like features AUTHOR CONTACT: Philippe Froguel
Imperial College London, London, GBR
Phone: +44 (0)20 8383 3989; Fax: +33-320.87.7229; E-mail: p.froguel@imperial.ac.uk View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/68035?key=f88789a26f0ff48e9899 Vitamin B3 blocks cyst formation in a mouse model of polycystic kidney disease Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is an inherited systemic disorder caused by mutations in PKD1 or PKD2 that predominately affects the kidneys and is characterized by the formation of cysts in the kidneys and other organs. Xiaogang Li and colleagues at the University of Kansas Medical Centr used a mouse model of ADPKD to explore the role of the protein sirtuin 1 in cyst formation. They found that inhibition of sirtuin 1 activity using vitamin B3 can reduced cyst formation in the kidneys of ADPKD mice. These findings suggest that therapeutics targeting sirtuin 1 could potentially be used to treat ADPKD. TITLE: Sirtuin 1 inhibition delays cyst formation in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease AUTHOR CONTACT: Xiaogang Li
University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA
Phone: 913-588-2731; E-mail: xli3@kumc.edu View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/64401?key=c91bce99794e2ba22c42 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE TITLE: Dependence receptor UNC5D mediates nerve growth factor depletion-induced neuroblastoma regression AUTHOR CONTACT: Akira Nakagawara
Chiba Cancer Center Research Institute, Chiba, UNK, JPN
Phone: 81-43-264-5431; Fax: 81-43-263-8175; E-mail: akiranak@chiba-cc.jp View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/65988?key=9274466c15dd91717819 TITLE: Nanoparticle clearance is governed by Th1/Th2 immunity and strain background AUTHOR CONTACT: James Bear
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Phone: 919-966-5471; E-mail: jbear@email.unc.edu View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66895?key=5c1c066faa651b34bfee TITLE: CD4+ follicular helper T cell infiltration predicts breast cancer survival AUTHOR CONTACT: Karen Willard-Gallo
Institut Jules Bordet, Brussels, UNK, BEL
Phone: +32-2-541-3739; Fax: +32-2-541-7325; E-mail: kwillard@ulb.ac.be View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67428?key=db12ebaa863498f02754 TITLE: iPSC derived beta cells model diabetes due to glucokinase deficiency AUTHOR CONTACT: Dieter Egli
The New York Stem Cell Foundation, New York, NY, USA
Phone: 212-851-5422; E-mail: de2220@columbia.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67638?key=f31a050a36b75d7bf98d TITLE: Dysregulation of voltage-gated sodium channels by ubiquitin-ligase NEDD4-2 in neuropathic pain AUTHOR CONTACT:
Hugues Abriel University of Bern, Bern, CHE
Phone: +41316320998; E-mail: Hugues.Abriel@dkf.unibe.ch View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/68996?key=8b2752687e6629aee2af TITLE: CpG-depleted adeno-associated virus vectors evade immune detection AUTHOR CONTACT: James M. Wilson
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Phone: 215-898-0226; Fax: 215-494-5444; E-mail: wilsonjm@mail.med.upenn.edu View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/68205?key=b093ba526b8f2c900eb7 ### END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Scouring the genome of adenoid cystic carcinoma

2013-06-17
Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a slow-growing and often fatal malignancy that can occur at multiple organ site, but is most frequently found in the salivary glands. The primary treatment is surgical removal; however, the majority of patients develop metastatic disease. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Andrew Futreal at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, MA, performed a type of genetic sequencing known as whole exome sequencing of 24 ACC cases. They identified a genetic translocation that can precipitate disease ...

Variants in the SIM1 gene are associated with severe obesity

2013-06-17
Although body weight is largely determined by lifestyle factors, increasingly research is revealing that genetics also play an important role in determining an individual's susceptibility to obesity. Identifying the mutations that underlie the fraction of obese patients with monogenic obesity can help us to understand complex processes like metabolic rate, eating behavior, growth, and fat storage. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, two groups identified obesity-linked mutations in the gene SIM1. Sadaf Farooqi and colleagues at Addenbrooke's Hospital ...

Eating behaviors of preschoolers may be related to future risk of heart disease

2013-06-17
Eating behaviours of preschoolers may be associated with risk of cardiovascular disease in later life, suggests a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). A study of 1076 preschool children aged 3–5 years in the TARGet Kids! practice-based research network in Toronto, Ontario, looked at the link between eating habits and serum levels of non–high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, which is a surrogate marker of later cardiovascular risk. Parents filled out questionnaires assessing eating behaviours, such as watching television while eating, dietary ...

Mobile health devices can improve health care access in developing countries, remote regions

2013-06-17
Mobile health technology has substantial potential for improving access to health care in the developing world and in remote regions of developed countries, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). In many countries, access to health care is hampered by lack of medical professionals and health care infrastructure, limited or poor equipment, sporadic power and other obstacles. However, the development of remote-presence medical devices can help fill this void by connecting people in remote locations with experienced health care professionals for ...

Abnormalities in new molecular pathway may increase breast cancer risk

2013-06-17
PHILADELPHIA — A new molecular pathway involving the gene ZNF365 has been identified and abnormalities in that pathway may predict worse outcomes for patients with breast cancer, according to data published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "Genomic instability is an increased tendency for abnormal changes in DNA, like the addition of extra copies of chromosomes, DNA breaks and mutations," said Ji-Hye Paik, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in ...

Exposure to BPA in developing prostate increases risk of later cancer

2013-06-17
Early exposure to BPA (bisphenol A) – an additive commonly found in plastic water bottles and soup can liners – causes an increased cancer risk in an animal model of human prostate cancer, according to University of Illinois at Chicago researcher Gail Prins. Prins presented her findings at the ENDO 2013 meeting in San Francisco June 17. "This is the first direct evidence that exposure to BPA during development, at the levels we see in our day-to-day environment, increases the risk for prostate cancer in human prostate tissue," said Prins, professor of physiology and director ...

New 'embryonic' subduction zone found

2013-06-17
A new subduction zone forming off the coast of Portugal heralds the beginning of a cycle that will see the Atlantic Ocean close as continental Europe moves closer to America. Published in Geology, new research led by Monash University geologists has detected the first evidence that a passive margin in the Atlantic ocean is becoming active. Subduction zones, such as the one beginning near Iberia, are areas where one of the tectonic plates that cover the Earth's surface dives beneath another plate into the mantle - the layer just below the crust. Lead author Dr João Duarte, ...

An innovative material for the green Earth

2013-06-17
Ulsan, S. Korea, June 17, 2013 - Researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), S. Korea, developed a novel, simple method to synthesize hierarchically nanoporous frameworks of nanocrystalline metal oxides such as magnesia and ceria by the thermal conversion of well-designed metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The novel material developed by the UNIST research team has exceptionally high CO2 adsorption capacity which could pave the way to save the Earth from CO2 pollution. Nanoporous materials consist of organic or inorganic frameworks with ...

Researchers unmask Janus-faced nature of mechanical forces with the Julich supercomputer

2013-06-17
The harder you pull, the quicker it goes. At least, that used to be the rule in mechanochemistry, a method that researchers apply to set chemical reactions in motion by means of mechanical forces. However, as chemists led by Professor Dominik Marx, Chair of Theoretical Chemistry at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum now report in the journal "Nature Chemistry", more force cannot in fact be translated one to one into a faster reaction. With complex molecular dynamic simulations on the Jülich supercomputer "JUQUEEN" they unmasked the Janus-faced nature of mechanochemistry. Up to ...

Jet stream changes cause climatically exceptional Greenland Ice Sheet melt

2013-06-17
Research from the University of Sheffield has shown that unusual changes in atmospheric jet stream circulation caused the exceptional surface melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) in summer 2012. An international team led by Professor Edward Hanna from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography used a computer model simulation (called SnowModel) and satellite data to confirm a record surface melting of the GrIS for at least the last 50 years - when on 11 July 2012, more than 90 percent of the ice-sheet surface melted. This far exceeded the previous surface ...

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[Press-News.org] JCI early table of contents for June 17, 2013