Long Live the Liver

sea-maid submitted, created time 3 months 1 week (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

Humans have been trying to outrun old age for millennia, and new research might give us a step on the Grim Reaper. Scientists have prevented age-related liver decline in mice by restoring a key protein that helps the organ trash used proteins. It's not exactly the fountain of youth, but the findings could shed further light on the biological mechanisms of aging.....

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Growing blood in a dish

sea-maid submitted, created time 3 months 4 weeks (www.nature.com)

Developing a way to reliably produce hematopoietic stem cells is a bloody tough problem. Unlike most tissues, cells of the hematopoietic system emerge from several embryonic sites and then circulate through the body. This mobility has perplexed researchers, who hope that mimicking the in vivo environment will help them culture these stem cells. Now, two British research teams report in Cell Stem Cell their complementary techniques for isolating these cells. These methods could form the lifeblood of creating easier alternatives to bone marrow transplantation.

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Environmental and genetic modifiers of the progression to fibrosis and cirrhosis in hemochromatosis

sea-maid submitted, created time 6 months 3 weeks (bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org)

Hemochromatosis is a disease related to a relatively common and easily identifiable genetic defect, but the extent of clinical expression is variable and to a large extent remains unexplained. But this review explores recent developments in knowledge of environmental and genetic modifiers of this process.

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Short legs linked to liver disease in study

Direct glucocorticoid receptor–Stat5 interaction in hepatocytes controls body size and maturation-related gene expression

julie submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (www.genesdev.org)

"The glucocorticoid receptor regulates transcription through DNA binding as well as through cross-talk with other transcription factors. In hepatocytes, the glucocorticoid receptor is critical for normal postnatal growth. Using hepatocyte-specific and domain-selective mutations in the mouse we show that Stat5 in hepatocytes is essential for normal postnatal growth and that it mediates the growth-promoting effect of the glucocorticoid receptor through a direct interaction involving the N-terminal tetramerization domain of Stat5b

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Hepatic gene expression changes in hypothyroid juvenile mice

broadcast submitted, created time 1 year 6 months (endo.endojournals.org)

"The molecular mechanisms involved in the response of developing mice to disruptions in maternal thyroid hormone (TH) homeostasis are poorly characterized. We used DNA microarrays to examine a broad spectrum of genes from the livers of mice rendered hypothyroid by treating pregnant mice from gestational day (GD) 13 to post-natal day (PND) 15 with 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) in drinking water."

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A Successful Treatment with Repeated Surgery and Adjuvant Combination Chemotherapy on a Case of Advanced Undifferentiated Embryonal Sarcoma of Liver

MedUnion submitted, created time 1 year 6 months (www.mupnet.com)

Undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of liver (USL) is a rare pediatric cancer. It typically occurs in the liver of children and young adults. Most patients present it at stage when surgical resection is no longer possible and face a dismal prognosis. Multimodality treatment consisting of combinational systemic chemotherapy and surgery may improve the prognosis. We report a case of a young aged girl with advanced USL who is successfully treated with three times of surgical intervention and combination chemotherapy. Patient remains free of recurrence 49 months after diagnosis.

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Central and Peripheral Signals Set the Circadian Liver Clock