New technique provides novel approach to diagnosing ciliopathies
Brandeis University scientists capture highest resolution images of cilia ever
2014-12-18
(Press-News.org) Cilia, the cell's tails and antennas, are among the most important biological structures. They line our windpipe and sweep away all the junk we inhale; they help us see, smell and reproduce. When a mutation disrupts the function or structure of cilia, the effects on the human body are devastating and sometimes lethal.
The challenge in diagnosing, studying and treating these genetic disorders, called ciliopathies, is the small size of cilia -- about 500-times thinner than a piece of paper. It's been difficult to examine them in molecular detail until now.
Professor Daniela Nicastro and postdoctoral fellow Jianfeng Lin have captured the highest-resolution images of human cilia ever, using a new approach developed jointly with Lawrence Ostrowski and Michael Knowles from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. They reported on the approach in a recent issue of Nature Communications.
About 20 different ciliopathies have been identified so far, including primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and polycystic kidney disease (PKD), two of the most common ciliopathies. They are typically diagnosed through genetic screening and examination of a patient's cilia under a conventional electron microscope.
The problem is, conventional electron microscopy is not powerful enough to detect all anomalies in the cilia, even when genetic mutations are present. As a result, the cause of ciliary malfunctions can be elusive and patients with ciliopathies can be misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.
Nicastro and her team developed an approach that includes advanced imaging technique that entails rapidly freezing human samples to preserve their native structure, imaging them with transmission electron microscopy, and turning those images into 3D models. This cutting-edge imaging was in part made possible by the advanced instrumentation in the Louise Mashal Gabbay Cellular Visualization Facility at Brandeis. It is the first time this approach has been used on human cilia and patient samples.
We have a new window into the structure and defects in human cilia.
"For so long, researchers haven't been able to see the small defects in human cilia," Nicastro says. "Now, we can fill in the pieces of the puzzle."
INFORMATION:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2014-12-18
COLUMBIA, Mo. - A new study from University of Missouri and Virginia Tech researchers is challenging accepted ideas about how ancient soft-bodied organisms become part of the fossil record. Findings suggest that bacteria involved in the decay of those organisms play an active role in how fossils are formed--often in a matter of just a few tens to hundreds of years. Understanding the relationship between decay and fossilization will inform future study and help researchers interpret fossils in a new way.
"The vast majority of the fossil record is composed of bones and ...
2014-12-18
New Rochelle, NY, December 18, 2014--Internet addiction is an impulse-control problem marked by an inability to inhibit Internet use, which can adversely affect a person's life, including their health and interpersonal relationships. The prevalence of Internet addiction varies among regions around the world, as shown by data from more than 89,000 individuals in 31 countries analyzed for a study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Cyberpsychology, ...
2014-12-18
Health care systems and providers are not attuned to older adults' malnutrition risk, and ignoring malnutrition exacts a toll on hospitals, patients, and payers, according to the latest issue of the What's Hot newsletter from The Gerontological Society of America (GSA).
Under the title "Aging Policy: Preventing and Treating Malnutrition to Improve Health and Reduce Costs," the new installment points out that aging is a risk factor for malnutrition and highlights opportunities to improve nutrition awareness, interventions, and policy priorities.
Support for the publication ...
2014-12-18
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the report of the Kepler spacecraft's death was greatly exaggerated. Despite a malfunction that ended its primary mission in May 2013, Kepler is still alive and working. The evidence comes from the discovery of a new super-Earth using data collected during Kepler's "second life."
"Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Kepler has been reborn and is continuing to make discoveries. Even better, the planet it found is ripe for follow-up studies," says lead author Andrew Vanderburg of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
NASA's ...
2014-12-18
New Rochelle, NY, December 18, 2014--Pretreatment of cellulosic biomass using cell wall degrading enzymes is a critical step in the release of sugars needed to produce biofuels and renewable, biobased chemicals and materials. A new study that demonstrates and quantifies the impact of enzymatic hydrolysis and drying on the nanostructure and available reaction volume of pretreated hardwoods and switchgrass is published in Industrial Biotechnology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the Industrial Biotechnology website ...
2014-12-18
PHILADELPHIA - Type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients who have developed low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) as a complication of insulin treatments over time are able to regain normal internal recognition of the condition after receiving pancreatic islet cell transplantation, according to a new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published online in Diabetes. Severe hypoglycemia--a life-threatening complication of insulin treatment for T1D--can occur when the body's defense mechanisms against low blood sugar are broken down ...
2014-12-18
Detroit- A Wayne State University interdisciplinary research team in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has made a surprising discovery: older, more mature motorists -- who typically are better drivers in many circumstances -- are much worse than their younger counterparts when texting while driving. Currently published online and scheduled to be published in print in the January 2015 issue of Accident Analysis and Prevention, the study "The Effects of Texting on Driving Performance in a Driving Simulator: The Influence of Driver Age" explores ...
2014-12-18
Many of the worst West Coast winter floods pack a double punch. Heavy rains and melting snow wash down the mountains together to breach riverbanks, wash out roads and flood buildings.
These events are unpredictable and difficult to forecast. Yet they will become more common as the planet warms and more winter precipitation falls as rain rather than snow.
University of Washington mountain hydrology experts are using the physics behind these events to better predict the risks.
"One of the main misconceptions is that either the rain falls and washes the snow away, or that ...
2014-12-18
HEIDELBERG, 18 December 2014 - The quality of the colon mucus in mice depends on the composition of gut microbiota, reports a Swedish-Norwegian team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Oslo. The work, published in EMBO reports, suggests that bacteria in the gut affect mucus barrier properties in ways that can have implications for health and disease.
"Genetically similar mice with subtle but stable and transmissible intestinal microbiota showed unexpectedly large differences in the inner colon mucus layer. ...
2014-12-18
Eating bilberries diminishes the adverse effects of a high-fat diet, according to a recent study at the University of Eastern Finland. For the first time, bilberries were shown to have beneficial effects on both blood pressure and nutrition-derived inflammatory responses.
Low-grade inflammation and elevated blood pressure are often associated with obesity-related diseases. The study focused on the health effects of bilberries on mice that were fed high-fat diet for a period of three months. Some of the mice were fed either 5% or 10% of freeze-dried bilberries in the diet. ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] New technique provides novel approach to diagnosing ciliopathies
Brandeis University scientists capture highest resolution images of cilia ever
