Large-scale genetic study sheds light on the causes of hemorrhoids (piles)
Research Centers Found at the very end of the digestive tract, hemorrhoids are blood filled cushions that help contain stool and control defecation in humans. Often confusing, hemorrhoids is also what we usually call hemorrhoidal disease (or piles), which is when hemorrhoids swell, causing pain, itching and sometimes bleeding, thus limiting everyday activities. While they mostly remain mild enough to be resolved with over-the-counter treatments, more severe forms of hemorrhoids require surgical treatment associated with considerable disease burden. Many risk factors have been suggested including a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, reduced dietary fiber intake, spending excess time on the toilet or straining during defecation, strenuous lifting and others, with several being controversially reported. Possibly due to their intimate and embarrassing nature, hemorrhoidal disease has been generally u
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IMAGE: The collaborative team successfully used their computer-guided design tool IRENE to reconstruct the gene regulatory network controlling the identity of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). view more
Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
(BOSTON) There is a great need to generate various types of cells for use in new therapies to replace tissues that are lost due to disease or injuries, or for studies outside the human body to improve our understanding of how organs and tissues function in health and disease. Many of these efforts start with human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that, in theory, have the capacity to differentiate into virtually any cell type in the right culture conditions. The 2012 Nobel Prize awarded to Shinya Yamanaka recognized his discovery of a strategy that can reprogram adult cells to become iPSCs by providing them with a defined set of gene-regulatory transcription factors (TFs). However, progressing from there
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IMAGE: A) Spatial organisation of the catalytic biostructures. B) and C) Detail of the two types of amino acids and their interactions. view more
Credit: IBB-UAB
Researchers at the UAB have designed minimalist biostructures that imitate natural enzymes, capable of carrying out two differentiated and reversibly regulated activities thanks to a unique combination of structural and functional properties. The strategy used opens the door to the creation of intelligent nanomaterials with tailor-made combinations of catalytic functions.
There is an increasing interest in synthetic systems that can execute bioinspired chemical reactions without requiring the complex structures that characterise enzymes in their components. One of the most explored approaches is the self-assembly of peptides - molecules smaller than proteins - due to their biocompatibility and how their structural and functional properties can be controlled.