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1. Drug helps, doesn’t hurt, lung disease » Respiratory distress syndrome patients treated with a neuromuscular blocker are more likely than those on a placebo to survive 90 days, and show no increase in muscle weakness—a common concern among doctors.
L. Papazian et al., N Engl J Med, 363:1107-16, 2010. Evaluated by A. Benson & I. Douglas, Univ Colorado and Denver Health; M. Gropper, UCSF; R. Basner, Columbia Univ College of Physicians and Surgeons; J. Sellares & A. Torres, Hosp Cln de Barcelona; M. Gama de Abreu, Clinic Carl Gustav Carus; J. Neely & A. Vuylsteke, Papworth Hosp; G. Martin, Emory Univ; M. O’Connor, Univ Chicago; P. Fassbender & M. Eikermann, Mass Gen Hosp. Free F1000 Evaluation
2. Skip the surgery? » A nonsurgical treatment for severe aortic stenosis, a type of heart disease characterized by the narrowing of the aortic valve opening, may provide an alternative for patients who are not candidates for open-heart surgery. The treatment replaces the aortic valve through a catheter.
M.B. Leon et al., N Engl J Med, 363:1597-607, 2010. Evaluated by A. Jacobs & Z. Nedeljkovic, BU Sch of Med; J. Fleg, NHLBI; S. Anwaruddin & S. Kapadia, Cleveland Clin; W. Schoels, HD; B. Iung, Bichat Hosp; N. Al-Attar, Bichat Hosp; A. Alonso & J. Paraskos, UMass Med School. Free F1000 Evaluation
3. How T regs limit inflammation » T regulatory cells can multiply their numbers by secreting the cytokine interleukin IL-35, which converts the population of killer T cells into regulatory cells that suppress inflammation, providing a new explanation for how inflammation is reeled in after an infection is cleared.
L.W. Collison et al., Nat Immunol, 11:1093-101, 2010. Evaluated by A. Bhandoola, Univ Penn; C. Engwerda, Queensland Inst Med Res; L. Chen, Johns Hopkins Univ Sch of Med; D. Serreze, The Jackson Lab; X. Ma, Weill Med Coll of Cornell Univ; S. Cobbold, Univ Oxford; S. Perlman, Univ Iowa. Free F1000 Evaluation
4. Natural helpers fight infection » A novel population of innate immune cells, identified in the gut adipose tissue of humans and mice and nicknamed “natural helper cells,” produce large amounts of cytokines and may play an important role in fighting off parasites.
K. Moro et al., Nature, 463:540-44, 2010. Evaluated by A. Bhandoola, Univ Penn; J.G. Foster & S. Ward, Univ Bath; T. Randall, Univ Rochester; D. Umetsu, Child Hosp Boston; D. Seshasayee & F. Martin, Genentech; J. Di Santo, Institut Pasteur; R. Locksley, UCSF. Free F1000 Evaluation
5. Cells sticking together » In response to tension from adjacent cells, alpha-catenin, a cell adhesion protein, recruits actin binding proteins to strengthen cell-to-cell junctions, rapidly reacting to rearrangements in the local environment.
S. Yonemura et al., Nat Cell Biol, 12:533-42, 2010. Evaluated by C. Niessen, Univ of Cologne; M. Labouesse, CNRS; M.A. Schwartz, Univ Virginia; D. Leckband, Univ Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; R. Zaidel-Bar, Nat Univ Singapore. Free F1000 Evaluation
6. Silent effects » Mutations in exons that do not change protein sequences can still have dramatic effects on gene expression in E. coli. Surprisingly, these effects are caused by changes in mRNA stability, not by codon bias.
G. Kudla et al., Science, 324:255-58, 2009. Evaluated by P. Benos, Univ Pittsburgh; D. Dykhuizen, Stony Brook; J. Bahler, UCL; N. Dhar & J. McKinney, EPFL; A. Gasch, Univ Wisc–Madison. Free F1000 Evaluation
7. Rat dad’s diet affects pups » Male rats fed a high-fat diet had daughters with diabetes-like beta-cell dysfunction, showing, for the first time in mammals, that environment of the father can influence the phenotype of the offspring.
S.F. Ng et al., Nature, 467:963-66, 2010. Evaluated by R. Bonduriansky, Univ New South Wales; E. Avvedimento, Univ Federico II; Q. Tong & P. Bickel, Univ Texas; A. Iriki, RIKEN Brain Sci Inst; M. Hussain, Johns Hopkins Univ; W.H. Colledge, Univ Cambridge. Free F1000 Evaluation
The F1000 Top 7 is a snapshot of the highest-ranked articles from a 30-day period on Faculty of 1000. Faculty Members evaluate and rate the most important papers in their field. To see the latest rankings, search the database, and read daily evaluations, visit http://f1000.com/.
