Researchers at Oxford University’s Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics have located a variant form of a polynucleotide sequence in the MHC region of chromosome 6p and identified its association with an increased secretion of TNF. Potential applications for this discovery include the diagnosis of asthma in patients, or a predisposition to asthma, and a patients’ suitability for treatment with anti-TNF therapy.

Asthma is a disease in which the airways become inflamed leading to blockage a

UH Research Suggests Possible Therapies for Eye Disorders, Injury

A new study designed to find out why cells in the eye die when exposed to lead may provide novel therapies for retinal damage caused by injury or diseases such as diabetes and retinitis pigmentosa.

The study, published in the Feb. 4 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focused on identifying how low-level lead exposure during development in mice injures and eventually kills rod-shaped

Scientists study those vaccinated more than 60 years ago versus one year ago

Oregon Health & Science University researchers are studying the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine in patients who received inoculations decades ago compared with those vaccinated more recently. The universal belief has been that smallpox vaccinations provide protection for only three to five years. Until now scientists and physicians assumed that anyone vaccinated more than five years ago had little to n

Allowing calcium to get inside colorectal cancer cells may be one way to stop their growth.

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia knew that the same bacterial toxin that causes traveler’s diarrhea can stem the growth of metastatic colorectal cancer cells. Now, they may have found out how.

The scientists discovered that the toxin appears to open a cellular door, permitting calcium into tumor cells, which

Researchers in Oxford University’s Department of Inorganic Chemistry have devised a novel method for separating polar organic compounds, providing a useful alternative to the usual methods of chromatography or crystallisation.

The separation of mixtures of organic and inorganic compounds is of considerable importance in most areas of industrial and academic chemistry. In particular, isomeric mixtures are often difficult to separate and can require highly specialised techniques.

Con

Researchers in Oxford University’s Department of Inorganic Chemistry have devised a method for the selective separation and recovery of nucleoside phosphates from complex reaction mixtures using Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH) materials.

Nucleoside phosphates are used extensively in industry as intermediates or additives in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical preparation, as well as in medical and separation science. In particular many new antiviral agents are based on nucleosides. Supplying the