McGill University
For more than 40 years, the prevailing explanation of why we get old has been tied to what is called oxidative stress. This theory postulates that when molecules like free radicals, oxygen ions and peroxides build up in cells, they overwhelm the cells' ability to repair the damage they cause, and the cells age.
Just in time for the holidays, researchers have identified a new way to reduce fat and cholesterol levels in the body. Their program, which combines consuming plant-derived sterols (or oils) with exercise, may benefit those who are at risk of coronary heart disease. These findings were recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Contraceptive pills have received bad press in the past -- here's some good news. Not only is pregnancy avoided by taking oral contraception, so is knee injury, according to new researchers. The findings show that female athletes on the pill may have more stable knee joints than those not taking the pill. This is good news for female swimmers to soccer players. The results suggest women on contraceptives have tighter knee joints and may be less susceptible to ligament tears or injuries.
A Canadian palaeontologist has found physical proof that Canada's Arctic regions once had a Jurassic era. Scientists have suspected that dinosaurs lived in Canada's great north eons ago, yet it remained an unproven theory, since no bones had ever been uncovered. Not anymore. The researcher discovered tyrannosaurus dinosaur bones, which until now, had only been located in Canada's Prairie Provinces, as well as in the Western United States. ''We were able to clarify that dinosaurs -- large predatory dinosaurs -- and a great variety of plants lived in the High Artic.''
Children on the witness stand are likely to tell the truth about a parental transgression--even when their parents have asked them to lie--according to new research conducted at the University of California, San Diego, and McGill University and Queens University in Canada. The researchers were interested in trying to determine how accurate and truthful children usually are in courtroom situations, especially in light of the significant increase in child witnesses over the last few years. ''With a substantial number of young children testifying in U.S., Canadian and other courts, we wanted to test the accuracy and veracity of child witnesses. We found that when the children were questioned--as they are in standard courtroom processes--about lying and telling the truth, and when they were also asked to promise to tell the truth, the level of honesty went up.''
Scientists have for the first time found AIDS patients infected simultaneously with two different forms of drug-resistant HIV. This infection with a second HIV virus is called superinfection. ''These emerging drug resistant viruses present a treatment challenge and the existing drug cocktails will need to be tailored accordingly.''
Nearly everyone has heard the popular notion that the blind hear better than the sighted -- possibly to make up for their inability to see. Now, researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University and at the Universit? de Montr?al have shown that the blind really do hear notes more precisely but only if they became blind when they were very young.
In a report recently published in the Lancet, physicians have described a new way to preserve the fertility of women who must undergo chemotherapy. This method, which can be done quickly, does not involve surgery or hormonal stimulation of the ovaries.
New research findings from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) provide hope for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), one of the most common and devastating diseases of the nervous system. These findings, published in today in Neuron, characterize an enzyme that plays a central role in the onset and progress of MS. " We have identified a key enzyme that triggers MS-like disease in an animal model," says MUHC neuroscientist and Professor of Medicine at McGill University, Dr. Sam David. "We also show that blocking this enzyme has a remarkable effect in preventing disease and relapses."
A remarkable range of antibiotics under development may compromise our natural defences against infection, warns McGill evolutionary biologist Graham Bell. His paper, entitled Arming the Enemy: the evolution of resistance to self-proteins and co-authored by Pierre-Henri Gouyon, was published in the journal Microbiology this week.
Genetics may play a role in the success of anti-cancer therapy, according to researchers. Their study, published in today's issue of Clinical Cancer Research, shows that some colorectal cancer patients with a particular gene mutation respond much better to therapy than those without this genetic change.
A gene associated with red hair and fair skin may also be responsible for how females respond to painkillers, according to a study conducted by lead researcher Jeffrey Mogil, a McGill University psychology professor, and collaborators in the United States. Results of their study are to be released today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (article #03-0053). "While we believe pain is the same in all women of all hair colours," explained Mogil, "our study shows women with red hair respond better to the pain-killing drug we tested than anyone else -- including men."
A Montreal researcher has discovered that nerve cells can bypass the body's normal protein-making machinery in the same way that viruses do when they infect a cell. Why would they? To produce large quantities of a particular protein under certain physiological conditions.
An international research team has identified a gene on human chromosome 6 that makes people vulnerable to leprosy. The study will be published in the March 2003 issue of Nature Genetics. Leprosy, a chronic disease caused by infection with the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae, affects approximately one million people worldwide. While it is a rare disease in Canada and the United States, the World Health Organization has identified 91 countries in which leprosy infection is highly prevalent. Symptoms of leprosy include pigmented skin lesions, permanent nerve damage leading to numbness of the feet and hands and, if left untreated, the disease may result in gross disfiguration including loss of finger, toes, feet and hands.
In an advance illustrating the power of genomic information, an international team of researchers today announced it has identified a gene that causes Leigh Syndrome, French Canadian type (LSFC), a fatal inherited disorder affecting 1 in 2000 live births each year in the Saguenay-Lac St Jean region of Quebec. The paper appears in the January 14 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings will have immediate clinical implications for families in the Saguenay-Lac St-Jean region in the Quebec province in Canada, where the disorder is common and is associated with high infant and childhood mortality.
