Research-in-Brief
BL: Researchers at Bart’s have discovered five new genetic variants associated with blood pressure. Analysing data taken from over 25,000 people, the group searched for DNA sequences that appeared to be associated with either particularly high or low blood pressure. One of the genes identified is linked to the production of nitric oxide, known for its ability to reduce blood pressure.
GKT: Researchers at King’s, have discovered that a protein called TRPA1, present in nerve cell membranes, is key to paracetamol’s analgesic effects. Removal of the protein from mice made them unable to withstand heat-induced pain. However, it is in fact a toxic breakdown product of paracetomol, NAPQI, that activates TRPA1, and researchers also discovered non-toxic compounds that activated the protein, which could lead to the development of safer analgesics in the future.
ICSM: A large-scale study of women with oestrogen receptorpositive breast cancer has shown a higher survival rate in those whose drug treatment is switched two years post-surgery. Currently, the ‘gold-standard’ is to treat with tamoxifen for around five years, but those who began treatment with exemestane after two years were 18% less likely to have disease recurrence and 14% less likely to have died than those who remained on tamoxifen. It is thought that some cancerous cells can become resistant to tamoxifen, and are subsequently killed by exemestane.
RUMS: Scientists have discovered that optimistic people learn more from positive experiences than negative ones. Subjects were given a string of negative scenarios and asked to estimate the likelihood of such an event happening to them. They were then told the average probability of it actually happening and asked to re-evaluate. The subjects tended to only update their estimates if it worked in their favour, suggesting that the brain blocks out negative information.
SGUL: Researchers have identified a mutated GATA2 gene can cause Emberger syndrome, which has symptoms including immunodeficiency, leukaemia, lymphodoema and deafness. A study of eight patients with the syndrome discovered that all had a GATA2 mutation. The discovery is important in the understanding the causes and mechanisms of lymphatic disorders.
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