IV Post

San Diego, California - Congenital heart defects account for five times more deaths annually than all childhood cancers combined. Alison Marsden, an assistant mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at the University of California at San Diego, has developed a unique set of computer modeling tools that are expected to enhance pediatric surgeons’ ability to perform heart surgery on children.

Cambridge, Massachusetts - By pinpointing two genes that cause autism-like symptoms in mice, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shown for the first time that multiple, interacting genetic risk factors may influence the severity of autistic symptoms.

Cambridge, Massachusetts - Small RNA molecules can effectively keep ovarian tumors from growing and spreading in mice, according to a team of researchers from MIT, the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.

Montreal, Canada - An investigational vaginal gel intended to prevent HIV infection in women has demonstrated encouraging signs of success in a clinical trial conducted in Africa and the United States. Findings of the recently concluded study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH, were presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Montreal.

Washington, DC - A new study demonstrates that a chemical mediator in the blood that influences immune cell migration also plays a key role in maintaining the balance between the build-up and breakdown of bones in the body. This mediator, which acts on cells that degrade bone, may provide a new target for scientists developing therapies and preventions for bone-degenerating diseases such as osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

San Diego, California - Memory loss, cognitive impairment, brain cell degeneration and cell death were prevented or reversed in several animal models after treatment with a naturally occurring protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).