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 MICROBIOLOGY: Study Adds Carbs to Immune Cell Menu
Invading pathogens are often chewed up into tiny bits by immune system scouts and spit out in the form of antigens that then trigger T cells to hunt down similar pathogens. For years, the antigen-presenting scouts have been thought to dine exclusively on proteins, avoiding the bacteria's gelatinous carbohydrate coat. It now appears that antigen-presenting cells consume a more eclectic diet than previously thought. Dennis Kasper, Brian Cobb (left to right), and their colleagues have essentially caught the cells in the act of taking in and degrading a set of carbohydrates. The findings, reported in the May 28 Cell, could open the door to new methods for rousing the immune system to fight disease.
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 PUBLIC HEALTH: How Doctors Might Curb Malpractice Claims
A new analysis of previous epidemiological studies on medical errors and malpractice leads HSPH researchers to conclude that the tendency of patients to sue is not as haphazard as doctors might think. "It's not totally random. There is a strong correlation between negligence of doctors and claiming behavior in patients," said Michelle Mello, who conducted the analysis with David Hemenway. But because true malpractice is rare and most claims do not involve negligence, the study shows that cutting errors alone may not substantially reduce the total number of malpractice claims brought against medical organizations. In their study, which appears online and in the July print edition of Social Science and Medicine, Mello and Hemenway suggest that other strategies, like improving doctor-patient communication, are important to reducing the risk of lawsuits.
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 GENETICS: Junk DNA Yields New Kind of Gene
In a region of DNA long considered a genetic wasteland, HMS researchers have discovered a new class of gene. Most genes carry out their tasks by making a product--a protein or enzyme. But the new one, found in yeast, does not produce a protein. It performs its function, in this case to regulate a nearby gene, simply by being turned on. Joseph Martens, Lisa Laprade, and Fred Winston (left to right) found that by switching on the new gene, they could stop the neighboring structural gene from being expressed. "It is the active transcription of another gene that is regulating the process," said Martens, lead author of the paper in the June 3 Nature.
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 HEALTH CARE POLICY: Largest International Mental Health Survey Finds Widespread Illness, Checkered Treatment
In the largest study of its kind ever undertaken, the WHO World Mental Health Consortium, headed by Ronald Kessler, has found that the proportion of mentally ill people who receive treatment is woefully inadequate. The survey, carried out in 14 countries across the globe, also revealed that as many as 85 percent of those with severe mental illness are not being treated at all, while many who are receiving treatment have no mental illness. The findings, published in the June 2 Journal of the American Medical Association, suggest that reallocation of resources may go part of the way toward getting treatment to the right patients.
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 TECHNOLOGY: Advanced Device to Probe Atomic Structures, Build Knowledge, Novel Therapies
In December, the Harvard/MIT Center for Magnetic Resonance will install the most powerful magnetic resonance (MR) spectrometer in New England, enabling researchers to more effectively probe the atomic structures of individual proteins and protein interactions. The role of MR spectrometry in drug discovery is expanding, says Gerhard Wagner (right), who founded the center with MIT's Robert Griffin. Wagner also expects the technology to be central to the growth of "metabolomics," a discipline in which metabolites in easily obtained clinical specimens like urine and saliva are measured to predict disease risk, confirm diagnosis, and assess the efficacy of treatment.
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Copyright 2004 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
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