Newsbriefs ------------------------------- Protein may be link to Huntington's disease ------------------------------- Hopkins scientists have identified a potential direct protein link in the chain reaction that causes Huntington's disease. The link may provide a target for novel drugs to treat the fatal disease. Huntington's associated protein-1 became known by the company it keeps: it's the first protein ever found that chemically binds to huntingtin, the protein produced by the Huntington's disease gene itself. "Finding [the HAP-1 protein] is like finding a gun at a murder scene," said Chris Ross, an associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience. Huntington's disease is an inherited disorder that causes brain cells to degenerate. It affects 25,000 people in the United States, and about 150,000 have the mutant gene that leads to the disease. There is no known treatment for the disease, which typically begins in middle age, and patients who develop the disease die within 15 to 20 years. ----------------------------- Food allergies may cause children's stomach pains ----------------------------- Food allergies not detected by standard tests might be the cause of some forms of stomach-related problems in children. In the November issue of Gastroenterology, researchers at the Hopkins Children's Center suggest that if their theory proves correct, physicians might be able to introduce new ways to evaluate and treat kids for problems like severe nausea, pain, vomiting and poor weight gain, which are currently treated with medication to stop acid production. In some cases, surgery is recommended to stop acid regurgitation. But Kevin Kelly, who directed the study when he was at Hopkins, said acid reflux may not be the problem at all, and treatment may be as simple as restricting certain foods. ----------------------------- News from the American Heart Association meeting ----------------------------- Scientists, led by cardiology fellow Raymond J. Kim, have developed a rapid nuclear magnetic resonance imaging test that can identify animal heart cells that have died after blood flow stops and restarts. The finding may eventually speed up non-invasive diagnosis and treatment of heart attacks in humans. Findings by cardiology fellow Wendy S. Post and her research team suggest that as some people age, their risk for coronary artery disease rises because a genetic change in their heart's blood vessels makes the vessels unable to benefit from estrogen. This study is the first to show that the deactivation of the estrogen receptor gene occurs in cardiovascular tissue. A study may have found the first inherited risk factor for the development of blood clots that cause heart attacks-- especially in younger people. And one in five Americans may have it. The risk factor is an abnormality in the shape of a hooklike protein prong that blood-clotting platelets use to link up, "like bending a slightly barbed wire into the shape of a fish hook," said fourth-year medical student Ethan Weiss, the study's lead author. "Just as a deeply curved hook would snag a fish more easily, the abnormally shaped prong may make the platelets link up more easily," Weiss said. A study directed by Thomas Aversano, an associate professor of medicine, reveals that African Americans may have heart attacks earlier than white Americans because cholesterol build-up affects more of the heart's blood vessels. Although fatty material affected the same number of arteries with the same severity in both racial groups, it covered twice the surface area in the African Americans, he said. Scientists hope the findings will help persuade high-risk patients to adopt a healthier lifestyle before a heart attack occurs.