CHECKUP UCLA PROBES BREATHING, BRAIN.Byline: - From Staff and Wire Services UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX scientists have found a small group of brain cells from which they believe breathing originates. The discovery could lead to better treatment of such problems as sleep apnea sleep apnea, episodes of interrupted breathing during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea is a common disorder in which relaxation of muscles in the throat repeatedly close off the airway during sleep; the person wakes just enough to take a gasping breath. and sudden infant death syndrome sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or crib death, sudden, unexpected, and unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant under one year of age (usually between two weeks and eight months old). , researchers say. In a previous study, the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , team had pinpointed a specific region of brain tissue called the preBotzinger Complex as the command post for controlling breathing in mammals. Now, within the region, they distinguished a small group of neurons responsible for issuing the commands that generate breathing. Their finding appear in the September issue of Nature Neuroscience. ``We hypothesized that if these neurons were important, something unusual would happen to breathing if we destroyed them,'' explained Dr. Jack Feldman, Edith Agnes Plum professor, UCLA neurobiology Neurobiology Study of the development and function of the nervous system, with emphasis on how nerve cells generate and control behavior. The major goal of neurobiology is to explain at the molecular level how nerve cells differentiate and develop their chair and principal investigator. ``As it turned out, we were right.'' Using a rat model, the UCLA team zeroed in on the roughly 600 neurons. The researchers stained a unique marker on the cells' surfaces to identify and count them. Then they administered a toxin that targeted the marker to kill just these cells. The results proved striking in animals that lost more than 80 percent of their neurons. UCLA team's next step will be to locate the same set of neurons in a human brainstem, then compare their physiology and function with the neurons of people with breathing disorders. PREDICT CHEMO COMPLICATIONS: The strength of the body's earliest, bred-in-the-bone response to infection may signal which cancer patients are likely to suffer serious immune complications of chemotherapy. Two new studies show that variations in a blood protein called MBL MBL Mobile MBL Marine Biological Laboratory MBL Macquarie Bank Limited MBL Mannose-Binding Lectin MBL Marine Boundary Layer MBL Member Business Lending (credit unions) MBL Movimiento Bolivia Libre can predict how bad infections will be during drug treatment for leukemia and other cancers. Both studies appear in The Lancet, and taken together, they suggest that giving MBL to patients might help ease their risk of serious infection, experts say. Infections are a major and potentially life-threatening problem for people with leukemia and other cancers undergoing drug treatment that suppresses the immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. , leaving it particularly vulnerable to hostile microbes. For example, 65 percent of children who die of myeloid leukemia succumb to chemotherapy-related infections. |
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