Science and Health News

The family trees of the two families that had the MS-causing mutation. «M» denotes individuals with the mutation. Black circles denote individuals with MS and the age of disease onset. Gray circles/squares denote individuals with the mutation whose health is unknown.

Analyzes genome, cholesterol and heart disease data from 700,000 people in seven countries Individuals with a rare twelve-letter deletion from a gene on chromosome 17 have significantly reduced non-HDL cholesterol levels and a 35% lower than average risk of heart disease The development of therapeutic compounds to inhibit the protein made by the gene could deliver the same positive effect on cholesterol and heart disease in broad populations The same rare variant/common disease paradigm contributed to the development of PCSK9 inhibitors

Study Shows That Sea Urchins Defy Aging, Regardless of Lifespan

A team of scientists from the Federal State Budget Institution «Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology», MIPT, the Emanuel Institute for Biochemical Physics, and the Talrose Institute for Energy Problems of Chemical Physics have developed an approach for a method of non-invasive testing for pregnant women with a serious and complex condition called preeclampsia. In simpler terms, the scientists have found potential biomarkers in the urine of pregnant women. In the future, this urine-based diagnostic method will enable specialists to detect the disease in its early stages. A paper detailing the results has been published in the Journal of Proteomics.

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology (EIMB RAS), the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (IBCh) and a number of other Russian research centers have developed a new method of diagnosing colorectal cancer. The results of the study have been published in Cancer Medicine.

The structure of the light-driven ion pump KR2 may provide a blueprint for new optogenetic tools

The economic crisis of 2008–10, and the rise in unemployment that accompanied it, was associated with more than 260,000 excess cancer-related deaths-including many considered treatable-within the Organization for Economic Development (OECD), according to a study from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Imperial College London, and Oxford University.

Viriom, a biomedical developer and asset of the ChemRar High Tech Center in Khimki outside Moscow, has been working on Russia’s first HIV solution which is expected to go beyond import substitution-an across-the-board goal the Russians have been pursuing in many sectors since the current crisis and western sanctions began-and offer «high potential for international commercialization.»