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Cholesterol-Regulating Genes Identified By Scientists
Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the University of Heidelberg, Germany, have come a step closer to understanding how cholesterol levels are regulated. In a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism, the researchers identified 20 genes that are involved in this process. Besides giving scientists a better idea of where to look to uncover the mechanisms that ensure cholesterol balance is maintained, the discovery could lead to new treatments for cholesterol-related diseases.
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Vigils Held Worldwide To Protest Jailing Of Iranian Physicians Who Addressed HIV/AIDS
Health professionals on Tuesday held vigils in several cities worldwide to protest the imprisonment of Iranian brothers Kamiar and Arash Alaei -- physicians and leading HIV/AIDS advocates in the country -- following the release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, the Albany Times Union reports. Vigils were held in cities such as New York City and Washington, D.C., as a day of global protest against the brothers" imprisonment. Vigils also were held in cities across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, according to the Times Union.Jonathan Hutson -- a spokesperson for Physicians for Human Rights, which is leading a campaign for the brothers" release -- said, "The release of Ms. Saberi has shifted the world"s attention to the plight of others who are likewise jailed in Iran on trumped-up charges." He added, "This is not an issue of politics, but of global health. The only battle they were engaged in is the public health battle to prevent and treat the deadly epidemic of AIDS. They need to be allowed to return to their lifesaving work" (Grondahl, Albany Times Union, 5/13). Related Editorials
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European Scientific Committee Positive Recommendation From For A New Once Daily Mirapexin(R) Formulation For The Treatment Of Parkinson's Disease
Boehringer Ingelheim announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has issued a positive opinion recommending the approval of a once daily formulation for Mirapexin®/ Sifrol® (pramipexole), in all countries of the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The CHMP recommendation states that the new prolonged-release formulation is indicated for treatment of the signs and symptoms of idiopathic Parkinson"s disease, alone (without levodopa) or in combination with levodopa, i.e. over the course of the disease, through to late stages when the effect of levodopa wears off or becomes inconsistent and fluctuations of the therapeutic effect occur (end of dose or "on off" fluctuations).
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3D Printing For New Tissues And Organs

A more effective way to build plastic scaffolds on which new tissues and even whole organs might be grown in the laboratory is being developed by an international collaboration between teams in Portugal and the UK. Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, researchers explain how a technique known as rapid prototyping, or three-dimensional printing, could enable tissue engineering that replicates the porous and hierarchical structures of natural tissues at an unprecedented level. Scaffold structures for tissue engineering that allow researchers to grow cells, whether skin, muscle, or even kidney, in a three-dimensional could allow medical science to create natural artificial organs. Such scaffolds are increasingly important for the future direction of regenerative medicine. However, conventional techniques have several limitations. In particular, current scaffold construction lacks full control of the often microscopic pores and their architecture. Tissue engineering usually involves cellular implantation. Cells might be derived from the patient or a donor. They are combined in the laboratory with a degradable scaffold that can then be implanted to replace damaged tissues. The presence of the structure scaffold also triggers the body to rebuild damaged tissue. Ceramics are usually used to help rebuild bone, while polymers might be used to rebuild soft body tissues. Paulo Bç¡rtolo and Henrique Almeida of the Institute for Polymers and Composites, at Leiria Polytechnic Institute, and Tahar Laoui of the Department of Manufacturing and Systems at the University of Wolverhampton, are borrowing a technique from more conventional manufacturing to solve this problem. In rapid prototyping, a computer controls a laser that cures a vat of polymer resin layer by layer and building up a solid object. It allows designers and manufacturers to rapidly produce a prototype component created on a CAD machine from anywhere in the world. But, it is the precision with which a material can be constructed that could be crucial to developing rapid prototyping as a tissue engineering technique. The researchers suggest that rapid prototyping overcomes many of the limitations of conventional scaffold techniques, such as stereolithography, which etches a block of material into shape. Rapid prototyping might one day allow kidney, liver and muscle tissues to be constructed in the laboratory from a patient"s own cells with close-to-natural detail ready for transplantation. Inderscience


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