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Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) are found in most heated foods and in commercial infant formulas. Also found, reducing AGEs improves adult diabetes.

‘Genetic Biopsy’ Could Help Pick Best Eggs for IVF
Analyzing genetic material in polar bodies, shed at fertilization, can yield information about gene expression in the egg without disturbing the egg itself.

Sox2 Marks Pluripotency in Most Adult Stem Cells
Sox2 appears to be the only transcription factor appearing in all stem cell stages – embryonic, fetal and adult. It may also indicate pluripotent adult stem cells.

Stem Cell Reprogramming Safer than Thought
Selecting better donor cells and using more sensitive genome-survey techniques allows identifying and reprogramming methods safer than in current use.

October 6, 2011--------News Archive

Invasive Melanoma Higher in Children Than Adults
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All Human Egg Donors Should Be Compensated
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Chronic Stress Short-circuits Some Parents
Moms with higher depressive responses exhibit symptoms of extreme stress with distinct types of problem parenting, from neglect and hostility to insensitivity.

October 5, 2011--------News Archive

Intensive Exposure Best for Reading Difficulties
Intensive daily training for a limited period is better for children with reading and writing difficulties than the traditional remedial tuition offered by schools.

A Shot of Cortisone Will Stop Traumatic Stress!
A single injection of cortisone can prevent PTSD in 60% who experience trauma.

Asthma Guidelines Do Not Reduce Readmissions
Hospital compliance with The Children's Asthma Care (CAC) guidelines makes little difference in a patient's return for another asthma attack.

October 4, 2011--------News Archive

How the Brain Makes Memories: Rhythmically!
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Anesthesia Exposure Linked to Learning Disability
Research has found a link among children undergoing multiple surgeries requiring general anesthesia before age 2 and learning disabilities later in childhood.

How Vertebrates Establish Left–Right Asymmetry
Although we appear bilaterally symmetrical on the outside, our internal organs are asymmetrically positioned along a left–right axis.

October 3, 2011--------News Archive

Glucosamine-like Supplement Suppresses MS Attacks
UCI study shows promise of metabolic therapy for autoimmune diseases.

Early to Bed and Barly to Rise - Keeps Kids Lean
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Discovered: "Flexible" Brain DNA Changes to Suit
Finding has implications for treatment of wide range of diseases.

Mother's Love Unravels Gene Sequencing Mystery
A mother's determination solves the strange symptoms in her twins. Personalized medicine through genome sequencing is working for this family.

Genome Architecture Foretells Genome Instability
In normal cell division, DNA gets copied perfectly and distributed between daughter cells evenly. But occasional breaks during division rearrange the results.

Our internal organ asymmetry is influenced by two growth factors, Nodal and BMP. Complexity in it's varying outcomes has spawned much detailed research.

A research team at the Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht, demonstrates a mechanism by which left–right asymmetry in the body is established and maintained. The study, published in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics on September 29, offers a new model of how families of genes interact to promote and direct body asymmetry.

Although organisms appear bilaterally symmetrical when observed from the outside, internal organs are positioned asymmetrically along the left–right axis, and the organs themselves exhibit intrinsic left–right asymmetries.

While complete organ reversal (situs inversus) rarely gives rise to medical complications, severe medical problems occur in infants with partial organ reversal (situs ambigious or heterotaxia), including improper connections of the major vessels to the heart. These heart defects are often lethal if not immediately corrected after birth by cardiac surgery, meaning that the establishment of correct left–right asymmetry is a critical process.

The researchers, led by Dr. Jeroen Bakkers, identified a receptor for bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) as a regulator of left–right patterning in zebrafish using a forward genetic screen.

Two growth factors, Nodal and BMP, have previously been shown to be important for orchestrating left–right asymmetry, but the mechanism and hierarchy for the regulation of this process had been unclear.

Data presented in this study reveals a new mechanism by which these proteins pattern the embryo along the left–right axis, through the induction and maintenance of a genetic midline 'barrier'.

Dr. Bakkers and colleagues conclude that further studies are required to tease out whether there are species–specific differences during the development of embryonic left–right patterning, but this study and another by other researchers studying mouse development lend support for a conservation of this pathway in regulating organism left–right asymmetry.

CITATION: Smith KA, Noël E, Thurlings I, Rehmann H, Chocron S, et al. (2011) Bmp and Nodal Independently Regulate lefty1 Expression to Maintain Unilateral Nodal

Activity during Left-Right Axis Specification in Zebrafish. PLoS Genet 7(9): e1002289. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002289

About PLoS Genetics
PLoS Genetics (http://www.plosgenetics.org) reflects the full breadth and interdisciplinary nature of genetics and genomics research by publishing outstanding original contributions in all areas of biology. All works published in PLoS Genetics are open access. Everything is immediately and freely available online throughout the world subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors. The Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution License.

About the Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org.

Original article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/mc-mcs092911.php