Cell signaling news
Here we present recent news items specially selected from Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.
June 2007
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News | News in brief | News Features
News
Cancer atlas maps out sample worries
Progress on the US National Institutes of Health's Cancer Genome Atlas, which aims to catalogue the genetic characteristics of various cancers, has suffered from a lack of high-quality brain tumor samples.
Nature (28 June 2007)
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Academic freedom under threat in Iran
The jailing of three US–Iranian academics raises concerns about a growing threat to the freedom of research in Iran.
Nature (21 June 2007)
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Monkey stem cells cloned
A US research group claimed to have generated cloned embryonic stem cells from monkeys, thereby renewing hopes that similar cells can be produced for humans.
Nature (21 June 2007)
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Fossils challenge DNA in the dating game
A recent fossil discovery suggests that modern mammals arose only after the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, thus contradicting dates derived from the DNA of living mammals.
Nature (21 June 2007)
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Darwin down but not out
The British government has withdrawn its bid to have Charles Darwin's home designated as a World Heritage Site, at the same time expressing strong concern over the way in which sites of scientific heritage are judged.
Nature (21 June 2007)
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Can a Saudi university think free?
Plans for the multibillion-dollar King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia have been met with much enthusiasm and some skepticism.
Nature (14 June 2007)
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Genome project turns up evolutionary surprises
Even after analyzing just 1% of the human genome in the encyclopedia of DNA elements (ENCODE) project it has become clear that biologically relevant DNA does not resist change over evolutionary time.
Nature (14 June 2007)
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Plans falter over EU research infrastructure
An EU plan to build large research facilities for scientists to share has been halted after the meeting participants could not agree which projects to support.
Nature (14 June 2007)
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Stem-cell paper corrected
The authors of a controversial paper on stem cells publish a correction of their work in Nature, but say their overall conclusions still stand.
Nature (14 June 2007)
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Indian scientists battle journal retraction
A high-profile case in India continues to escalate as a government committee clears a top cancer researcher and his group of wrongdoing after a US journal retracted their paper — examining signaling pathways in the development of skin cancer — over charges of data manipulation.
Nature (14 June 2007)
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London hospital launches infectious disease 'biobank'
The infectious disease biobank of Guy's & St Thomas' hospital in London intends to offer researchers a resource for uncovering which genes render some people more susceptible to infectious diseases than others.
Nature Medicine 13, 653 (June 2007)
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Is it possible to make a Cox-2 inhibitor that's safe?
Several leading drug researchers have been asked whether it is possible to create a painkiller free from serious side effects.
Nature Medicine 13, 653 (June 2007)
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Emergency trials of blood substitutes skirt ethical questions
Patients have been unwittingly enrolled in a phase 3 clinical trial for the blood substitute PolyHeme that is allowed under a US Food and Drug Administration rule covering emergency research.
Nature Medicine 13, 654 (June 2007)
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AIDS vaccine group expands operations in New York
With no AIDS vaccine in sight, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is ramping up operations in a 36,000-square-foot facility in New York City.
Nature Medicine 13, 654 (June 2007)
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Australia tackles bird flu using RNAi
RNAi technology could prevent virulent strains circulating in poultry, such as the influenza strain H5N1, from directly infecting humans.
Nature Biotechnology 25, 605-606 (June 2007)
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FDA likely to further restrict erythropoietin use for cancer patients
The FDA has left no doubt that it plans to continue pressuring sponsors of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents for more definitive clinical data.
Nature Biotechnology 25, 607-608 (June 2007)
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Licensing deals morph to acquisitions in seller's market
Pharma's pipeline problems, coupled with the trend toward acquisition, are giving biotechs more leverage in licensing discussions.
Nature Biotechnology 25, 609-610 (June 2007)
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User-fee bill passes US Senate, but legislative hurdles remain
In the US House of Representatives, the renewal of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act raises concerns about the escalation of user fees.
Nature Biotechnology 25, 611 (June 2007)
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Simple switch turns cells embryonic
The retroviral expression of four transcription factors in mouse fibroblasts causes the cells to become pluripotent; the search for an analogous system in human cells is underway.
Nature (7 June 2007)
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Genome miners rush to stake claims
New standards presented by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) urge independent replication of large-scale genome-wide association studies that link genetic mutations to human disease.
Nature (7 June 2007)
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Diplomatic talks spur hope in Libya HIV case
Diplomats are cautiously optimistic that a deal may be within reach to spare the lives of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor condemned to death in Libya for allegedly deliberately injecting over 400 children with HIV in 1998.
Nature (7 June 2007)
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Sibling rivalry hits Swiss institutes
Faculty members at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETHZ) claim that its board has sneakily siphoned its budget off to Switzerland's other federal institute, the EPFL in Lausanne.
Nature (7 June 2007)
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Weighing up the evidence
A meta-analysis of 42 clinical trials for the diabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia) finds a significant risk of heart attack in patients, but the reliability of meta-analyses versus traditional clinical trials in predicting adverse responses remains to be determined.
Nature (31 May 2007)
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Man on a mission
Steven Nissen, the clinical cardiologist who expressed doubts about the safety of Avandia, critically evaluates clinical-trial data to catch hidden risks in drugs before FDA approval.
Nature (31 May 2007)
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Academics strike back at spurious rankings
Twenty-nine US colleges have called for a boycott of the US News & World Report college ranking system, calling it fundamentally flawed.
Nature (31 May 2007)
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Science high on French political agenda
The newly elected French government places high importance on ecological and environmental issues.
Nature (31 May 2007)
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Complex set of RNAs found in simple green algae
A class of RNA molecule, called a microRNA, has been found in a unicellular green alga, dismantling the popular theory that the regulatory role of microRNAs in gene expression is tied to the evolution of multicellularity.
Nature (31 May 2007)
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News in brief
| Stem-cell bill once again falls to Bush veto
| US genomics centre settles lawsuit with Icelandic firm
| US House votes to free up federal stem-cell funding
| Big Pharma vies for mice
| Bush requests $30 billion to fight AIDS worldwide
| University union calls for academic boycott of Israel
| Plane passengers asked to check in over TB risk
| Foundation reasserts claims in stem-cell patents
| Japan's health ministry calls for tests on Tamiflu
| Xtreme team takes the high road for blood tests
| Abrupt end for Australian foray into Singapore
| NIH calls halt to breeding chimps for research
| Gotham prize hedges bets for fight against cancer
News Features
Passive smoking: Out from the haze
Smoking bans are becoming increasingly prevalent, but epidemiologists are still arguing about the effects of second-hand smoke.
Nature (28 June 2007)
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Science in Germany: A beacon of reform
Long a symbol of East German pride, the Charité medical school is flourishing in a twenty-first-century shake-up of German universities.
Nature (7 June 2007)
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Obesity: The two faces of fat
The adipokines secreted by fat cells differ depending on the amount of lipid contained within the cell, opening up possibilities for new avenues for obesity treatment.
Nature (31 May 2007)
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