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The reduction in the regulating capacity of some regulators of the immune system seems to play a critical role in the onset of type 1 diabetes. The immune system needs to be regulated so that it attacks only the site of an inflammation and focuses its attack on pathogens rather than on the body tissues, causing an autoimmune disease.

Researchers have identified a weakness in the defenses of the anthrax bacterium that could be exploited to produce new antibiotics. The researchers found that nitric oxide (NO) is a critical part of Bacillus anthracis's defense against the immune response launched by cells infected with the bacterium. Anthrax bacteria that cannot produce NO succumb to the immune system's attack.

Daily consumption of caffeine in coffee, tea or soft drinks increases blood sugar levels for people with type 2 diabetes and may undermine efforts to control their disease. The findings add more weight to a growing body of research suggesting that eliminating caffeine from the diet might be a good way to manage blood sugar levels.

The French Nobel laureate Jacques Monod famously said, "What's true for E.coli is true for an elephant." With this in mind, researchers at Rockefeller University set out to determine the function of Tel2, a protein originally found in yeast where it maintains the length of chromosome tips called telomeres. But one experiment after another informed the group that Tel2 in humans plays an altogether different role.

A tiny, implantable device has pulled adult stem cells out of a living rat with a far greater purity than any present technique. This is a new field; manipulating stem cells, white blood cells, and even cancer cells by exploiting the mechanics of the cells' movement with great precision. Researchers are even having success capturing and reprogramming several cell types as they pass through the device.

For many elderly Americans, the day begins and ends with a dose of one or more prescription medications. However, some patients could be less likely to receive the wrong dosage or type of medications than others are, according to a recent study of more than 800,000 U.S. seniors.

Multipotent adult progenitor stem cells extracted from bone marrow, and known as MAPCs, have proved to be effective in the regeneration of blood vessel tissue and also in muscle tissue when treating peripheric vascular disease.

A molecule designed by a Purdue University researcher to stop the debilitating symptoms of Alzheimer's disease has been shown in its first phase of clinical trials to be safe and to reduce biomarkers for the disease. CoMentis, the pharmaceutical company developing the drug, announced completion of its Phase 1 study of a treatment based on the molecule. Results from the study indicate that the treatment is safe and well tolerated.

More and more people in Western society are suffering from auto-immune diseases. Discovering the cause of these chronic inflammations is a first important step in the search for targeted medicines. Researchers can now describe the function of MALT1, a key player in controlling inflammatory reactions.

A new chemical synthesis method is based on a catalyst worth many times the price of gold and providing a far more efficient and economical method than traditional ones for designing and manufacturing extremely novel pharmaceutical compounds.