Česká Genetická Banka

NATURE: 3. - 9. 8. 2012

The week in science: Setback for Alzheimer’s drug; Higgs particle papers posted online; and astronomer Bernard Lovell dies.

Stem-cell pioneer banks on future therapies

"Japanese researcher plans cache of induced stem cells to supply clinical trials."

"Progress toward stem-cell therapies has been frustratingly slow, delayed by research challenges, ethical and legal barriers and corporate jitters. Now, stem-cell pioneer Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan plans to jump-start the field by building up a bank of stem cells for therapeutic use. The bank would store dozens of lines of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, putting Japan in an unfamiliar position: at the forefront of efforts to introduce a pioneering biomedical technology."

http://www.nature.com/news/stem-cell-pioneer-banks-on-future-therapies-1.11129

Gut microbiota composition correlates with diet and health in the elderly

"Alterations in intestinal microbiota composition are associated with several chronic conditions, including obesity and inflammatory diseases. The microbiota of older people displays greater inter-individual variation than that of younger adults. Here we show that the faecal microbiota composition from 178 elderly subjects formed groups, correlating with residence location in the community, day-hospital, rehabilitation or in long-term residential care. However, clustering of subjects by diet separated them by the same residence location and microbiota groupings. The separation of microbiota composition significantly correlated with measures of frailty, co-morbidity, nutritional status, markers of inflammation and with metabolites in faecal water. The individual microbiota of people in long-stay care was significantly less diverse than that of community dwellers. Loss of community-associated microbiota correlated with increased frailty. Collectively, the data support a relationship between diet, microbiota and health status, and indicate a role for diet-driven microbiota alterations in varying rates of health decline upon ageing."

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v488/n7410/full/nature11319.html