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How the heart turns into bone

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The determine exhibits calcium deposits within the hearts of mice (A,D ) and the impact of two medicine, ARL67156 (B,E) and etidronate (C,F), in lowering the extent of calcium deposits after coronary heart harm. Credit score: Pillai and Li et al./Cell Stem Cell 2016 Connective tissue cells within the coronary heart flip into bone-producing cells in response to harm, College of California, Los Angeles scientists report November 17 in  Cell Stem Cell . The invention helps clarify why some individuals who survive coronary heart injury develop irregular calcium deposits -- the primary part of bone -- within the valves or partitions of the center. The researchers additionally present that coronary heart calcification may be prevented in mice by blocking an enzyme that regulates bone mineralization with small molecules. Tissues outdoors of the bones do not naturally calcify, but ...

Study finds cause of pulmonary fibrosis in failure of stem cells that repair lungs

The study is a major step toward understanding and one day treating pulmonary fibrosis , which affects about 100,000 people in the U.S. The disease often is called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis because, in most cases, the cause cannot be found. While the prognosis is unpredictable, patients typically survive only three to five years after diagnosis, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Pulmonary fibrosis slowly robs patients of breath and finally life," said Paul W. Noble, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine and director of the Women's Guild Lung Institute at Cedars-Sinai. "In our study, we identified novel potential pathways to finding treatments for this relentless disease." Noble was the study's principal investigator. The investigators focused on alveoli, the small air sacs at the ends of lung airways. In the alveoli, oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged with blood during respiration. Epithelial cells that line ...

Researchers uncover a survival mechanism in cancer cells

An international study led by scientists from the Crick Institute in London and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem revealed a survival mechanism in cancer cells that allows the disease to erupt again even after aggressive treatment. In a paper published in  Science  the researchers describe the mechanism by which cancer tumor cells become cancer stem cells that can sustain long-term growth. When cancer develops, the generated cells are not uniform in their biological properties and contribute differently to tumor development. Only a small portion of cancer cells can form new tumors or metastases, and these are called "cancer stem cells." This disparity between tumor cells poses major challenges in understanding the nature of the tumor, its sensitivity to drugs, and planning an effective treatment that will eliminate all tumor cells. "Many chemotherapy drugs leave a small amount of cancer stem cells that cause a renewed outbreak of the disease after a few years. It ...