Latest Muscular system Stories

Case Western Reserve researchers identify role of Kruppel-like Factor 15 in fat burning and exercise endurance While exercise is accepted universally as the most beneficial prescription physicians can write for patients, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that generate its widespread health benefits. Researchers from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have shed light on this mystery by discovering that a genetic factor, Kruppel-like Factor 15 (KLF15), governs the body's...

An international team led by the University of Melbourne Australia, has found that increasing a specific protein in muscles could help treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a severe and progressive muscle wasting disease that affects young boys. Approximately one in every 3,500 boys worldwide is afflicted with DMD. There is no cure for the disease which causes muscle fragility, spinal curvature and premature death. Results from the studies published in Nature today showed that by...

Funds Will Support Testing of Anti-Inflammatory Compounds in Mice TUCSON, Ariz. and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Muscular Dystrophy Association announced today that it has awarded $120,000 to Cambridge, Mass.-based Catabasis Pharmaceuticals as part of a strategic partnership under which the biopharmaceutical company will test two compounds called CAT-1004 and CAT-1040 in the mdx research mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The award...

Researchers from the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Gothenburg have managed for the first time to obtain detailed information about the role of the protein metastasin in the spread of tumor cells. Published recently in the renowned Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study paves the way for the development of new drugs. Metastasin is a protein with a key role in the spread of tumor cells. Previous research has shown that it is...

Structural changes in heart muscle cells after heart failure can be reversed by allowing the heart to rest, according to research at Imperial College London. Findings from a study in rats published today in the European Journal of Heart Failure show that the condition's effects on heart muscle cells are not permanent, as has generally been thought. The discovery could open the door to new treatment strategies. Heart failure means that the heart muscle is too weak or stiff to pump blood as...

Russians born during the Leningrad Siege in World War II, which was responsible for some of the greatest losses of civilian life in history, are giving scientists new strategies to identify people who experienced intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and starvation during childhood at greatest risk of developing long term heart complications.vThe abstract study¹, presented at the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) meeting, in London, UK, 30 March to 1 April 2012, makes use of a...

In order to move, living beings need muscles, and, more specifically, skeletal muscles that are controlled by the nervous system. Skeletal muscles are composed of cylindrical muscle fibres with a multitude of peripheral nuclei. Until now, little was known about the mechanism used to position nuclei on the edge of muscle fibres. A team of French-American researchers has tried to better understand the reasons behind nuclei layout. Edgar Gomes and his team of collaborators have identified the...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an incurable, and progressive, disease caused by an inheritable defect in the gene SMN1. Depending on the severity of the mutation it can result in the loss of spinal cord motor neurons, muscle wasting (atrophy) and even death of an affected child. A new study published in Biomed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine shows that Fasudil, a ROCK inhibitor, can improve both the size of muscle fibers and their connection to motor neurons. Fasudil also...

Bad news for those who use their genetic makeup as an excuse not to hit the gym: Researchers have found that our DNA can be altered with just a few minutes of strenuous exercise. Writing in the March issue of Cell Press publication Cell Metabolism, researchers have posted results of a study which prove that strenuous exercise, even as brief as a minute, can immediately change our DNA. By studying healthy yet inactive men and women, these researchers found that we are more in control of...

Improvements seen in patients with heart failure and Type 2 diabetes in initial study A small clinical trial led by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) found that patients with advanced heart failure and type 2 diabetes showed improved mitochondrial structure after three months of treatment with epicatechin-enriched cocoa. Epicatechin is a flavonoid found in dark chocolate. The results of this initial study has led to the...