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Tag: Massachusetts General Hospital
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Health
Surprise route found for spread of breast cancer
Cancer cells are thought to enter the lymph nodes through the lymphatic system — a multipurpose welter of vessels — but how the cells actually make their way out of a primary tumor and into the lymphatic system has been an enduring puzzle. Massachusetts General Hospital researchers reported recently that they have identified a new…
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Studies show new players and patterns in vertebrate heart development
Cell biologists have identified proteins capable of promoting heart development — at least in frogs and birds. They report that the proteins Dkk1 and Crescent, which inhibit regulatory proteins of the Wnt family, can induce formation of a beating heart in tissue culture from Xenopus laevis and chick embryos. Other Wnt antagonists lacked this activity.…
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Gene for familial dysautonomia discovered
Familial dysautonomia is a neurodegenerative disease that mainly targets Ashkenazi Jews. The disease, which affects one in every 3,600 members of this group, impairs the development of the sensory and autonomic nervous systems. Babies born with the disease often have trouble sucking and swallowing, forcing many to be tube fed. Nor can they taste or…
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Genetic link discovered for late onset Alzheimer’s
Although they have not yet identified the actual gene, researchers have evidence that a gene located on human chromosome 10 could be more potent than previous risk factors for late onset Alzheimer’s disease. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be a bigger Alzheimer gene than APOE4,” said Rudolph Tanzi, Harvard Medical School…
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First indications that aging may be regulated by brain
A little worm called Caenorhabditis elegans was the first creature to have all its genes sequenced, more than 19,000 of them. When the human genome was sequenced, researchers found that C. elegans shares about 40 percent of its genes with human beings. Two such genes — with potentially important consequences for humans — were recently…
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Tiny creatures offer clues to human aging
When its aging gene is not working right, a worm named C. elegans lives three times longer than normal, according to Harvard researcher Gary Ruvkun. The development gene keeps an animal forever youthful in the sense that it never develops into a reproducing adult. There is a corresponding human gene, opening up fascinating possibilities. Worms…
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Hypnosis found to alter the brain
“Hypnosis has a contentious history,” notes Stephen Kosslyn, professor of psychology at Harvard and leader of a study in which people were hypnotized to see color where only shades of gray exist, and to see gray when actually looking at brightly colored rectangles. “Some insist it’s a state of mind that differs from normal states…
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Tissue engineering produces an artificial gland
Your thymus is a walnut-sized gland that sits just above your heart. The master gland of the immune system, one of the thymus’ chief functions is to produce T lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell that works to prevent disease. In July 2000, a team of Harvard Medical School researchers at Massachusetts…
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New treatment effective against psoriasis
Psoriasis is a skin disease that disfigures people’s bodies with scaly red plaques. Thirteen patients had portions of their psoriasis patches irradiated with intense beams of ultraviolet laser light at Massachusetts General Hospital. Other parts of the plaques were left untreated for comparison. After only five treatments, one patient’s redness, scales, and discomfort disappeared from…
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Biological clock genes identified
“We’ve identified the molecules that we believe form the essential gears of the 24-hour clock,” says researcher Steven Reppert, who is a professor of pediatrics at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. “This understanding could lead to quicker and more efficient ways to reset the clocks of those suffering from jet lag or genetic sleep disorders, or…
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Researchers face up to liars
What category of people do you think would be best at detecting lies? It’s not Secret Service agents, or psychiatrists, or even mothers. Investigators working at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have found that aphasics — people who, because of stroke or other forms of brain damage, have been robbed of their ability to understand…
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Birth of new brain cells induced in birds
Stem cells that are naturally present in the brains of finches were induced to replace lost cells and restore the birds’ ability to sing their distinctive song. “Our results represent the restoration of a brain circuit involved in a complex learned behavior,” says Jeffrey Macklis, associate professor of neurology in the Division of Neuroscience at…