Team deciphers how myotonic dystrophy generates lethal heart dysfunctions

Roughly 80% of people with myotonic dystrophy—a common form of muscular dystrophy—experience dangerous heart ailments, and heart rhythm defects are the second-leading cause of death in those with the condition. In a new study, researchers traced the molecular events that lead to heart abnormalities in myotonic dystrophy and recreated the disease in a mouse model.
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A new strategy to prevent the most aggressive tumors from generating resistance to chemotherapy

One of the most frequent problems when treating cancer is that the tumors develop resistance to therapies; at that point, treatments cease to be effective at stopping tumor growth. This is especially relevant in patients with aggressive diseases such as pancreatic cancer or patients with metastases, who must often undergo frequent changes in treatment. Now, a study led by the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) in collaboration with researchers from the Weill Cornell Medicine Center and Pfizer Inc. (U.S.), proposes a novel combined approach to avoiding pancreatic cancer resistance to chemotherapy, and thus treat these tumor cells effectively. The work is forthcoming in the journal Cancer Cell.
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Researchers develop novel approach to capture hard-to-view portion of colon in 3D

In a groundbreaking discovery, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) developed a new imaging method that allows scientists to view the enteric nervous system (ENS) – a key part of the human colon—in three dimensions by making other colon cells that normally block it invisible. The ENS has previously only been visible in thin tissue slices that provide limited clinical information. The findings were published online today in the journal Gastroenterology.
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