JCI early table of contents for April 1, 2013
2013-04-01
(Press-News.org) Promoting muscle regeneration in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a degenerative skeletal muscle disease caused by mutations in the protein dystrophin. Dystrophin functions to protect muscle cells from injury and loss of functional dystrophin results in break down and loss of muscle cells. A cellular signal relay system, known as a MAP kinase cascade, regulates the function of muscle stem cells, serving as a source of the new cells that are required for muscle regeneration. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Anton Bennett at Yale University identified the protein MKP-5 as a negative regulator of MAP kinase cascades in muscle stem cells. Loss of MKP-5 in a mouse model of DMD enhanced the development of new muscle cells (myogenesis) and helped prevent muscle degeneration. These results identify MKP-5 as an important suppressor of myogenesis and suggest that therapeutics that inhibit MKP-5 could be useful in the treatment of degenerative muscle diseases.
TITLE:
Improved regenerative myogenesis and muscular dystrophy in mice lacking MKP-5
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Anton Bennett
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
Phone: 203-737-2441; Fax: 203-737-2738; E-mail: anton.bennett@yale.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/64375?key=bbd026972477a9b98a24
Alternative fuel for your brain
Tight control of blood glucose levels is critical to mitigating the long-term complications of diabetes; however, the intensive insulin therapy required for this control is frequently accompanied by recurrent episodes of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Hypoglycemic episodes have been implicated in brain damage and cognitive impairment. Though the brain depends predominantly on glucose as an energy source, it can also use alternative fuels, such as lactate, to satisfy its energy requirements. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Raimund Herzog and colleagues at Yale University used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure the concentrations and enrichment of different energy substrates and their metabolites in a rat model of recurrent hypoglycemia. They found that recurrent hypoglycemia enhances neuronal uptake of lactate which allows the brain to retain normal neural activity during hypoglycemia. These observations suggest that lactate supports neuronal function and indicate that supplementation of alternative fuels could protect the brain during hypoglycemia.
TITLE:
Lactate preserves neuronal metabolism and function following antecedent recurrent hypoglycemia
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Raimund I. Herzog
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
Phone: 203-737-4773; E-mail: raimund.herzog@yale.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/65105?key=b71f996b96b91c84d096
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
TITLE:
MicroRNA-26 governs profibrillatory inward-rectifier potassium current changes in atrial fibrillation
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Stanley Nattel
Montreal Heart Institute, Montreal, PQ, CAN
Phone: (514) 376-3330 ext. 3990; Fax: (514) 376-1355; E-mail: stanley.nattel@icm-mhi.org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/62185?key=ef2561a4a7949ec7f659
TITLE:
Melanoma adapts to RAF/MEK inhibitors through FOXD3-mediated upregulation of ERBB3
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Andrew Aplin
Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Phone: 215 503 7296; E-mail: Andrew.Aplin@KimmelCancerCenter.Org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/65780?key=f9536e266df3ab73b9f1
TITLE:
SLITRK6 mutations cause myopia and deafness in humans and mice
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Mustafa Tekin
University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
Phone: 305-243-2381; Fax: 305-243-2703; E-mail: MTekin@med.miami.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/65853?key=b2bb9afa9e0cee02bd6b
TITLE:
Co-operativity of imprinted genes inactivated by acquired chromosome 20q deletions
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Anthony Green
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, , GBR
Phone: +44-1223-336829; E-mail: arg1000@cam.ac.uk
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66113?key=73dc8fe4bcb928ca86e4
TITLE:
The phosphatase CD148 promotes airway hyperresponsiveness through SRC family kinases
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Arthur Weiss
Dept. Of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone: 415/476-8983; Fax: 415-502-5081; E-mail: aweiss@medicine.ucsf.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66397?key=e400e2a8f6ccf1c7863b
TITLE:
Discovering naturally processed antigenic determinants that confer protective T-cell immunity
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Sebastian Joyce
Vanderbilt Univ. School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA
Phone: 615-322-1472; E-mail: Sebastian.Joyce@Vanderbilt.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67388?key=c7801a36d65b917a2097
### END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2013-04-01
Tight control of blood glucose levels is critical to mitigating the long-term complications of diabetes; however, the intensive insulin therapy required for this control is frequently accompanied by recurrent episodes of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Hypoglycemic episodes have been implicated in brain damage and cognitive impairment. Though the brain depends predominantly on glucose as an energy source, it can also use alternative fuels, such as lactate, to satisfy its energy requirements.
In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Raimund Herzog and colleagues ...
2013-04-01
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a degenerative skeletal muscle disease caused by mutations in the protein dystrophin. Dystrophin functions to protect muscle cells from injury and loss of functional dystrophin results in break down and loss of muscle cells. A cellular signal relay system, known as a MAP kinase cascade, regulates the function of muscle stem cells, serving as a source of the new cells that are required for muscle regeneration. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Anton Bennett at Yale University identified the protein ...
2013-04-01
BETHESDA, MD – April 1, 2013 -- A surprising research discovery in mosquitoes could affect future prospects for malaria control. A team of scientists from West Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom found that the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, which was thought to be splitting into two completely new species, may actually have a more complex range of forms due to frequent inter-mating. The resulting hybrids may have implications for insecticide resistance and malaria parasite infectivity. The study published in the April 2013 issue of the journal GENETICS, documents ...
2013-04-01
Bethesda, MD—April 1, 2013 – Listed below are the selected highlights for the April 2013 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal, Genetics. The April issue is available online at http://www.genetics.org/content/current. Please credit Genetics, Vol. 193, April 2013, Copyright © 2013.
Please feel free to forward to colleagues who may be interested in these articles on a wide array of topics including methods, technology and resources; gene expression; genetics of complex traits; genome integrity and transmission; population and evolutionary genetics; cellular ...
2013-04-01
Millbrook, NY – Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams, with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality. So reports a new Ecological Applications paper, which highlights the ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste and the need for more research into environmental impacts.
Lead author Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall, a scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, comments: "Pharmaceutical pollution is now detected in waters throughout the world. Causes include aging infrastructure, sewage overflows, and agricultural runoff. Even ...
2013-04-01
AURORA, Colo. (April 1, 2013) – Although guns are used in over half of all American suicides, a new study shows that many emergency room doctors and nurses do not routinely ask suicidal patients about their access to firearms.
"In our study, less than half of emergency room medical providers believe most or all suicides are preventable and many rarely ask about the availability of firearms," said Marian Betz, MD, MPH, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "There is a great opportunity to save lives here that many are not taking ...
2013-04-01
Even if you didn't eat your veggies or drink your milk as a child, your height is still in your hands, reveal new findings by economists from the University of Southern California, Harvard University and Peking University.
Using unique data from a new massive longitudinal survey of 17,708 adults beginning at age 45, the researchers show for the first time that lifestyle choices we make in adulthood — and not just the hand we're dealt as children — influence how tall we stand as we age.
"Had we only examined the correlations between measured height and health, we would ...
2013-04-01
DETROIT – In a first-of-its-kind experiment using microvesicles generated from mesenchymal bone marrow cells (MSCs) to treat cancer, neurological researchers at Henry Ford Hospital have discovered a novel approach for treatment of tumor.
Specifically, the research team found that introducing genetic material produced by MSCs, significantly reduced a particularly resistant form of malignant brain tumor in living lab rats.
"This is the first foray of its type in experimental cancer therapy, and it represents a highly novel and potentially effective treatment," says Michael ...
2013-04-01
Although sildenafil is best known for promoting erections, it may also serve as a weight loss aid by coaxing our bodies to store more healthy "brown fat" relative to unhealthy "white fat" than it would otherwise do on its own. According to new research published online in The FASEB Journal, this is because sildenafil inhibits the breakdown of cyclic GMP, which has been well known as a messenger molecule used by the body to control blood pressure and flow, and has now been shown to play an important role determining which type of fat—white or brown—the body stores.
"There ...
2013-04-01
If you're pulling and all-nighter to finish a term paper, a new parent up all night with a fussy baby, or simply can't sleep like you once could, then you may be snoozing on good health. That's because new research published in The FASEB Journal used mice to show that proper sleep patterns are critical for healthy metabolic function, and even mild impairment in our circadian rhythms can lead to serious health consequences, including diabetes and obesity.
"We should acknowledge the unforeseen importance of our 24-hour rhythms for health," said Claudia Coomans, Ph.D., a ...
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[Press-News.org] JCI early table of contents for April 1, 2013
