JCI early table of contents for Aug. 8, 2013
2013-08-08
(Press-News.org) Engineered rice protects against rotavirus
For children and immune compromised adults in developing countries, diarrheal disease induced by rotavirus can be life threatening. Current rotaviral vaccines are highly effective in the Western world, but are not as effective in developing countries. Additionally, these vaccines are not appropriate for use outside of a very narrow age window or in immune compromised individuals. In the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation Yoshikazu Yuki and colleagues at the University of Tokyo report the development of a strain of rice that produces a rotavirus-specific antibody. Both normal and immune deficient mice fed the engineered rice were protected against rotavirus. The researchers also report that the rice maintains its efficacy even after long-term storage and heat exposure. This study provides a low cost, efficient strategy for prevention of rotavirus infection.
TITLE: Rice-based oral antibody fragment prophylaxis and therapy against rotavirus infection
AUTHOR CONTACT: Daisuke Tokuhara
The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, UNK, JPN
Phone: 81-3-5449-5271; Fax: 81-3-5449-5411; E-mail: tokuhara@ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/70266?key=de80321a713532149b56
Tumor microenvironment allows cancer cells to hide from the immune system
Cancer progression is aided by the ability of tumors to evade recognition by the immune system. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Gerard Blobe and colleagues at Duke University identify a mechanism by which tumors evade detection. Using mouse models of breast cancer and melanoma, they show that loss of the Type III TGF-β receptor (TGFBR3) in tumors promotes cancer progression by altering signaling in tumor-associated immune cells. This study supports the use of TGF-β inhibitors to enhance the efficacy of therapies that promote immune-mediated elimination of tumor cells.
TITLE: Type III TGF-β receptor downregulation generates and immunotolerant tumor microenvironment
AUTHOR CONTACT: Gerard C. Blobe
Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Phone: (919) 668-1352; Fax: (919) 681-6906; E-mail: blobe001@mc.duke.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/65745?key=f673123b974c4089ed3b
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
TITLE: Retinoids activate the irritant receptor TRPV1 and produce sensory hypersensitivity
AUTHOR CONTACT: Hongzhen Hu
University of Texas Health Science at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Phone: 713-500-7525; E-mail: Hongzhen.Hu@uth.tmc.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66413?key=07980efc5faef311fc46
TITLE: Age-dependent hepatic lymphoid organization directs successful immunity to hepatitis B
AUTHOR CONTACT: Jody Baron
University of California, San Francisco, San Francsico, CA, USA
Phone: 415 476 5728; Fax: 415 476 0659; E-mail: jody.baron@ucsf.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/68182?key=4813eaa63d2ce5b8fb76
TITLE: Increased Fanconi C expression contributes to the emergency granulopoiesis response
AUTHOR CONTACT: Elizabeth Eklund
Northwestern University and Jesse Brown VHA Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
Phone: 312 503 3207; Fax: 312 908 5717; E-mail: e-eklund@northwestern.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/69032?key=1ae6052432e2d7e84f1e
TITLE: Nanoparticle-based flow virometry for the analysis of individual virions
AUTHOR CONTACT: Jean-Charles Grivel
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, Bethesda, MD, USA
Phone: 301 496 1298; Fax: 301 480 0857; E-mail: mailto:grivelj@mail.nih.gov
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67042?key=a318cc3a6f46bf3f4469
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2013-08-08
TITLE: Rice-based oral antibody fragment prophylaxis and therapy against rotavirus infection
AUTHOR CONTACT: Daisuke Tokuhara
The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, UNK, JPN
Phone: 81-3-5449-5271; Fax: 81-3-5449-5411; E-mail: tokuhara@ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/70266?key=de80321a713532149b56 END ...
2013-08-08
Cancer progression is aided by the ability of tumors to evade recognition by the immune system. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Gerard Blobe and colleagues at Duke University identify a mechanism by which tumors evade detection. Using mouse models of breast cancer and melanoma, they show that loss of the Type III TGF-β receptor (TGFBR3) in tumors promotes cancer progression by altering signaling in tumor-associated immune cells.
This study supports the use of TGF-β inhibitors to enhance the efficacy of therapies that promote immune-mediated ...
2013-08-08
India experienced a demographic transformation several thousand years ago, from a region in which mixture between highly different populations was common to one in which mixture even between closely related groups became rare. The finding, which will be published online on August 8, 2013 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, published by Cell Press, provides new information about the peopling of India and improves our understanding of the changes that led to the present-day structure of Indian populations.
"Prior to the population mixture and as recently as a few ...
2013-08-08
IDAHO FALLS — Modernizing nuclear power plants to help extend their operating lifetimes is no small task. But the endeavor offers an opportunity to improve control-room design and layout.
The Department of Energy's new Human System Simulation Laboratory (HSSL) at Idaho National Laboratory is a full-scale virtual nuclear control room that can test the safety and reliability of proposed technology replacements before they are implemented in commercial nuclear control rooms. The facility is now helping Duke Energy embark on an upgrade project for several of its nuclear ...
2013-08-08
Scientists from Harvard Medical School and the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, India, provide evidence that modern-day India is the result of recent population mixture among divergent demographic groups.
The findings, published August 8 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, describe how India transformed from a country where mixture between different populations was rampant to one where endogamy—that is, marrying within the local community and a key attribute of the caste system—became the norm.
"Only a few thousand years ago, the ...
2013-08-08
KANSAS CITY, MO—A little-studied factor known as the Little Elongation Complex (LEC) plays a critical and previously unknown role in the transcription of small nuclear RNAs (snRNA), according to a new study led by scientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and published in the Aug. 22, 2013, issue of the journal Molecular Cell.
"We have found that LEC not only has a role in this process—it is like the "Swiss Army knife" of snRNA transcription," says Stowers Investigator Ali Shilatifard, senior author of the study. "LEC does it all." The findings shed new ...
2013-08-08
LA JOLLA, Calif., August 8, 2013 — Scientists at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have identified a key factor that regulates the autophagy process, a kind of cleansing mechanism for cells in which waste material and cellular debris is gobbled up to protect cells from damage, and in turn, modulates aging. The findings, published in Nature Communications today, could lead to the development of new therapies for age-related disorders that are characterized by a breakdown in this process.
Malene Hansen, Ph.D., associate professor in Sanford-Burnham's Del E. Webb ...
2013-08-08
Hidden in the tangled, repetitious folds of DNA structures called centromeres, researchers from Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute have discovered the hiding place of 20 million base pairs of genetic sequence, finding a home for 10 percent of the DNA that is thought to be missing from the standard reference map of the human genome.
Mathematician Giulio Genovese, a computational biologist in genetics at HMS and at the Broad Institute, working in the lab of geneticist Steven McCarroll, HMS assistant professor of genetics and director of genetics for the Stanley ...
2013-08-08
Scientists used fruit flies to show for the first time that a new class of genetically engineered proteins can be used to watch nerve cell electrical activity in live brains. The results, published in Cell, suggest these proteins may be a promising new tool for mapping brain cell activity in multiple animals and for studying how neurological disorders disrupt normal nerve cell signaling. Understanding brain cell activity is a high priority of the President's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative.
Brain cells use electricity ...
2013-08-08
The current systems for the production of chemicals, fuels and materials heavily rely on the use of fossil resources. Due to the increasing concerns on climate change and other environmental problems, however, there has been much interest in developing biorefineries for the production of such chemicals, fuels and materials from renewable resources. For the biorefineries to be competitive with the traditional fossil resource-based refineries, development of high performance microorganisms is the most important as it will affect the overall economics of the process most significantly. ...
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[Press-News.org] JCI early table of contents for Aug. 8, 2013