Futurity.org » Columbia University

Not all congenital heart disease is inherited

Bill Hathaway-Yale — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:13:43 +0000

YALE (US) — New mutations that are absent in parents but appear in their children account for at least 10 percent of severe congenital heart disease, a new study reveals.

The analysis of all the genes of more than 1800 individuals found hundreds of mutations that can cause congenital heart disease, the most common form of birth defect that afflicts nearly 1 percent of all newborns.

Hundreds of possible ways to starve cancer

Michelle Falling-Columbia — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:04:41 +0000

COLUMBIA U. (US) — An analysis of gene expression from 22 types of tumors has come up with hundreds of potential drug targets that could cut off cancer’s fuel supply.

Scientists say the results should ramp up research into drugs that interfere with cancer metabolism, a field that dominated cancer research in the early 20th century and has recently undergone a renaissance.

Global warm-up not seen in last 1,400 years

Kim Martineau-Columbia — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:30:05 +0000

COLUMBIA (US) — Earth’s climate warmed more between 1971 and 2000 than during any other three-decade interval in the last 1,400 years.

Experts base the finding on new regional temperature reconstructions covering all seven continents.

Gene tied to double Alzheimer’s risk in African Americans

Michelle Falling-Columbia — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:57:20 +0000

COLUMBIA (US) — African Americans with a specific gene variant have almost double the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease compared with African Americans who lack the variant.

The ABCA7 gene is involved in the production of cholesterol and lipids, which suggests that lipid metabolism may be a more important pathway in Alzheimer’s disease in African Americans than in whites.

New path may lead to better HIV vaccine

Karl Bates-Duke — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:13:57 +0000

DUKE (US) — For the first time, researchers describe the co-evolution of antibodies and virus in a person with HIV whose immune system mounted a broad attack against the pathogen.

Most vaccines work by inducing this antibody response, but the HIV virus has proved to be a difficult vaccine target. When HIV antibodies are produced, they typically have a limited range, and the virus changes rapidly to escape harm, leading to an arms race that the virus usually wins.

The current research, published in Nature, was aided by new technologies that can detect early infection and track the subsequent immune response and virus evolution. It fills gaps in knowledge that have impeded development of an effective vaccine for a virus that has killed more than 30 million people worldwide.

Volcano event lines up with pre-dino die-offs

Kevin Krajick-Columbia — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:18:36 +0000

COLUMBIA U. (US) — New evidence from around the world links the abrupt disappearance of half of Earth’s species 200 million years ago to a precisely dated set of gigantic volcanic eruptions.

The eruptions may have caused climate changes so sudden that many creatures were unable to adapt—possibly on a pace similar to that of human-influenced climate warming today.

Better robotics to treat bladder cancer

David Salisbury-VU — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:11:18 +0000

VANDERBILT (US) — A new telerobot could improve bladder cancer treatment by giving surgeons a better view and sub-millimeter precision movement.

Although bladder cancer is the sixth most common form of cancer in the US and the most expensive to treat, the basic method that doctors use to treat it hasn’t changed much in more than 70 years.

To heal heart, treat depression, too

Wilson Valentin-Columbia — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:25:14 +0000

COLUMBIA U. (US) —Treating people for depression after a heart attack could reduce the risk of death or another attack, new research shows.

Researchers completed a randomized controlled trial with 150 patients with elevated depressive symptoms two to six months after hospitalization for heart disease.

Lego-style templates build complex tissue

Holly Evarts-Columbia — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:33:38 +0000

COLUMBIA U. (US) — A new way to fabricate tissue—such as heart, skeleton, or vasculature—uses tiny shapes to organize cells on a hydrogel template.

The study reveals new ways to better mimic the enormous complexity of tissue development, regeneration, and disease, and is published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Did wastewater pressure rumble Oklahoma?

Kevin Krajick-Columbia — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:25:02 +0000

COLUMBIA U. (US) — New research links the magnitude 5.7 earthquake that struck near Prague, Oklahoma, in November 2011 to wastewater injection.

The new study in the journal Geology is the latest to tie a string of unusual earthquakes, in this case, in central Oklahoma, to the injection of wastewater deep underground. In particular, the November 6, 2011 earthquake may also be the largest ever linked to wastewater injection.

Felt as far away as Milwaukee, more than 800 miles away, the quake—the biggest ever recorded in Oklahoma—destroyed 14 homes, buckled a federal highway and left two people injured. Small earthquakes continue to be recorded in the area.