Mixed Bag

Researchers identify likely causes, treatment strategies for systemic scleroderma
Using mice, lab-grown cells and clues from a related disorder, Johns Hopkins researchers have greatly increased understanding of the causes of systemic sclerosis, showing that a critical culprit is a defect in the way certain cells communicate with their structural scaffolding. They say the new insights point the way toward potentially developing drugs for the disease, which affects approximately 100,000 people in the United States. MedicalXpress

Weight loss through the use of intestinal barrier sleeves
In their study, a flexible tube, called a DES (duodenal-endoluminal sleeve), was placed in the small intestine. Tschöp, Habegger, and colleagues observed that this intervention in an animal model potently corrects obesity while improving glucose metabolism. The metabolic benefits of this novel surgical intervention seem to be mediated via reduced nutrient absorption in the intestinal lumen and reactive mucous membrane growth in the other intestinal sections, a shift which may lead to improved nutrient utilization. The intervention carries the great advantage that it is less invasive and removable at any time. Eurekalert!

After almost a century, a question answered; genes protect themselves against being silenced Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have settled a century-old debate over whether occurrence of DNA methylation acts to silence gene expression, or if genes are turned off by other means before they are methylated.

As explicated today in the journal Nature, methylation in fact enforces gene silencing, and it is levels of a newly identified form of RNA produced by individual genes that determines whether they are turned off by the addition of a methyl (CH3) group by the enzyme DNA methylase 1 (DNMT1). Eurekalert!