Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
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Silencing Huntington's Disease
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MONDAY, July 5 (HealthDayNews) -- Gene therapy designed to silence a disease gene in the brains of mice prevented neurological damage and symptoms caused by an ailment similar to Huntington's disease in humans, a new study says. If this method can be used in humans, it could offer a way to treat Huntington's disease and other related neurological diseases. "This is the first example of targeted gene silencing of a disease gene in the brains of live animals, and it suggests that this approach may eventually be useful for human therapies," senior author Beverly Davidson, a professor of internal medicine, physiology and biophysics, and neurology at the University of Iowa, said in a prepared statement. "We have had success in tissue culture, but translating those ideas to animals models of disease has been a barrier. We seem to have broken through that barrier," she said. The research appears in the July 4 online issue of Nature Medicine. More information The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about Huntington's disease.
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