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Study Examines 'Elite' Group Of HIV-Positive People Who Appear 'Protected' From Developing AIDS
An international contingent of nearly 500 researchers and physicians are taking part in the International HIV Controllers Study, which is examining "the phenomenon," in which certain people living with HIV seem "somehow protected from AIDS," the Washington Post reports. Fewer "than one in every 300 cases, or perhaps 5,000 of the more than 1 million infected Americans" living with HIV are deemed ""elite controllers" because their ability to combat the virus puts them in exceptional company among infected individuals," according to the Post. The article states, "No one knows how their bodies keep AIDS at bay. Are their immune systems exceptionally strong and effective? Do they possess some genetic trait that protects them? Or does a combination of still-unknown factors set them apart?" Researchers anticipate that studying the T cell levels - which helps determine the progression to AIDS - of the elite controllers, will enable them "to uncover what shields these rare few from AIDS. And perhaps in the process they"ll find a way to safeguard everyone else as well," the Post reports (Slack, 7/7).

Further Gene Mutations Linked To Autism Risk
Pieces in the complex autism inheritance puzzle are emerging in the latest study from a research team including geneticists from the University of
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More Gene Mutations Linked To Autism Risk
More pieces in the complex autism inheritance puzzle are emerging in the latest study from a research team including geneticists from The Children"s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and several collaborating institutions. This study identified 27 different genetic regions where rare copy number variations missing or extra copies of DNA segments were found in the genes of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but not in the healthy controls. The complex combination of multiple genetic duplications and deletions is thought to interfere with gene function, which can disrupt the production of proteins necessary for normal neurological development.
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One Step Closer To An Artificial Nerve Cell

Scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet and Linkç¶ping University are well on the way to creating the first artificial nerve cell that can communicate specifically with nerve cells in the body using neurotransmitters. The technology has been published in an article in Nature Materials. The methods that are currently used to stimulate nerve signals in the nervous system are based on electrical stimulation. Examples of this are cochlear implants, which are surgically inserted into the cochlea in the inner ear, and electrodes that are used directly in the brain. One problem with this method is that all cell types in the vicinity of the electrode are activated, which gives undesired effects. Scientists have now used an electrically conducting plastic to create a new type of "delivery electrode" that instead releases the neurotransmitters that brain cells use to communicate naturally. The advantage of this is that only neighbouring cells that have receptors for the specific neurotransmitter, and that are thus sensitive to this substance, will be activated. The scientists demonstrate in the article in Nature Materials that the delivery electrode can be used to control the hearing function in the brains of guinea pigs. "The ability to deliver exact doses of neurotransmitters opens completely new possibilities for correcting the signalling systems that are faulty in a number of neurological disease conditions", says Professor Agneta Richter-Dahlfors who has led the work, together with Professor Barbara Canlon. The scientists intend to continue with the development of a small unit that can be implanted into the body. It will be possible to program the unit such that the release of neurotransmitters takes place as often or as seldom as required in order to treat the individual patient. Research projects that are already under way are targeted towards hearing, epilepsy and Parkinson"s disease. The research is being carried out in collaboration between the research groups of Professor Agneta Richter-Dahlfors and Professor Barbara Canlon, together with Professor Magnus Berggren"s group at Linkç¶ping University. The work falls under the auspices of the Center of Excellence in Organic Bioelectronics, financed by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research and led by Magnus Berggren and Agneta Richter-Dahlfors. Publication: "Organic electronics for precise delivery of neurotransmitters to modulate mammalian sensory function", Daniel T. Simon, Sindhulakshmi Kurup, Karin C. Larsson, Ryusuke Hori, Klas Tybrandt, Michel Goiny, Edwin W. H. Jager, Magnus Berggren, Barbara Canlon and Agneta Richter-Dahlfors, Nature Materials, Advance Online Publication, 5 June 2009. Sabina Bossi Karolinska Institutet


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