heath care

Cocaine-addicted individuals say they find the drug much less enjoyable after years of use, but they have great difficulty quitting. A new brain imaging study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai reveals why this might be so, as well as why a common psychological therapy may not work in addicted cocaine users. Their study, published September 5 in  Addiction Biology , finds that chronic users have a "global impairment" in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), an area of the brain that is linked to impulse and self-control, and is responsible for the kind of learning that assigns value to objects and behaviors. The Mount Sinai study investigated a specific type of learning called extinction -- the process by which a new, affectively neutral, association replaces an old, affectively arousing association -- to identify the neurobiological mechanism that underlies the persistence of drug seeking in addiction despite negative consequences ...

Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Sema4, and collaborating institutions published results of an in-depth, multi-omics approach to characterizing the immune component of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). These results provide new insights into the biologic networks involved in IBD with potential to identify new targets and eventually novel interventions for the treatment of patients living with IBD. The article appeared online in  Nature Genetics . In the United States, some 3 million adults are diagnosed with IBD, which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and is associated with immune and inflammation mechanisms. Previous genome-wide association studies to detect the genetic source of this condition turned up more than 200 genes, but those explain just a small fraction of IBD cases. For this study, scientists used a wide variety of data -- including DNA variation, gene expression, regulatory elements, and clinical information -- gathered ...

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a new approach to the "reprogramming" of ordinary adult cells into stem cells. In a study published in an Advance Online paper in  Nature Biotechnology , the TSRI scientists screened a library of 100 million antibodies and found several that can help reprogram mature skin-like cells into stem cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs). Making IPSCs from more mature types of cells normally involves the insertions of four transcription factor genes into the DNA of those cells. The antibodies identified by the scientists can be applied to mature cells -- where they bind to proteins on the cell surface -- as a substitute for three of the standard transcription factor gene-insertions. "This result suggests that ultimately we might be able to make IPSCs without putting anything in the cell nucleus, which potentially means that these stem cells will have fewer mutations and overall better propert...

A Northeastern research team has developed new technology that optimizes DNA sequencing using nanophysics and electric currents. In a paper published in  Nature Nanotechnology , Northeastern Professor of Biological Physics Meni Wanunu, in partnership with Pacific Biosciences, a biotechnology company with a focus on DNA sequencing, developed a method for loading DNA into sequencing wells with orders of magnitude higher efficiencies. "Apart from being a multi-billion dollar a year market, DNA sequencing is one avenue where incremental improvements in research, like discovery of a new gene, for example, can have immediate clinical consequences," said Wanunu. Our human DNA is a genome composed of 23 pairs of chromosomes, which breaks down into six billion pieces that all come together to give each person their unique characteristics and properties. While we have the ability to sequence important parts of the genome, the ability to know the entire sequence has the potential...

Adding 48 minutes of moderate exercise per week is associated with improvements in overall physical functioning and decreases in risks of immobility in older adults who are sedentary, finds a new study led by researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University. In the study, published in  PLOS ONE  on Aug. 18, the researchers evaluated how different doses of exercise for adults age 70-89 would impact the benefits. While the researchers saw improvements in all participants who added some physical activity to their routine, those who got more exercise saw greater changes. The work is part of the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) study. "These are people who want to live healthy , independent lives and are at risk for losing that. Maintaining functional independence for older adults is an important public health issue. In our first LIFE study, we confirmed that regular exercise can help impro...