How Cancer-drug Resistance OccursUsing the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered a mechanism by which cancer cells become resistant to a specific class of drugs.
They observed that a mutation in a single protein in the worm renders a potential new cancer drug ineffective. The drug is a derivative of a compound called hemiasterlin. Because hemiasterlin compounds are being tested as a way to fight multi-drug........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 10/9/2006 8:26:35 PM)
More Than Meets The EyeEver watch a jittery video made with a hand-held camera that made you almost ill? With our eyes constantly darting back and forth and our body hardly ever holding still, that is exactly what our brain is faced with. Yet despite the shaky video stream, we commonly perceive our environment according tofectly stable.
Not only does the brain find a way to compensate for our constantly flickering gaze, but scientists at the Salk Institute for........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 10/8/2006 5:12:24 PM)
Cola Might Increase Osteoporosis RiskAs per the National Osteoporosis Foundation, approximately 55 percent of Americans, mostly women, are at risk of developing osteoporosis, a disease of porous and brittle bones that causes higher susceptibility to bone fractures. Now, Katherine Tucker, PhD, director of the Epidemiology and Dietary Assessment Program at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, and his colleagues have reported findings in........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 10/6/2006 4:42:51 AM)
Three Molecular Targets For Leukemiahe road to better treatment for the most common form of adult leukemia will require blocking multiple molecular pathways that fuel the disease, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Oct. 1 edition of the journal Blood.
The research team examined blood and bone marrow samples of 188 adults with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and then followed the patients' progress to gauge the cumulative impact........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 10/3/2006 9:54:29 PM)
How White Blood Cells Eat Virus-infected CellsScientists at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI) at Oregon Health & Science University have demonstrated how certain white blood cells literally eat virus-infected cells while fighting disease at the microscopic level. The research not only helps provide a clearer understanding of the body's immune system, it also offers hope of a new method for gauging vaccine effectiveness. The research is reported in the current edition of the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 10/2/2006 9:39:10 PM)
What Drives Your Taste BudsWhat are the genes that are crucial to the taste bud development?
The gene, SOX2, stimulates stem cells on the surface of the embryonic tongue and in the back of the mouth to transform into taste buds, according to the researchers. Stem cells are immature cells that can develop into several different cell types depending on what biochemical instructions they receive.
"Not only did we find that SOX2 is crucial for the development of taste........Go to the News-blog (Added on 10/1/2006 8:16:11 PM)
Treatment For Sleeplessness In The ElderlyInsomnia or lack of sleep is a common problem among elderly people. It is a more widespread problem than we recognize. Now scientists are suggesting that a brief behavioral therapy for insomnia (BBT) could help those elderly individuals suffering from insomnia.
Brief behavioral therapy for insomnia (BBTI) appears to be a promising intervention for elderly adults who suffer from insomnia.
The study, conducted by Anne Germain, PhD, and his........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 10/1/2006 7:48:05 PM)
Free Drug Samples And Physician PracticeDo you think that your doctor is prescribing for a particular brand, because he or she is getting free samples and may be some incentives?
A recent researh suggest that one in three doctors agree that free drug samples influence prescribing, finds a small but representative US survey published in the Journal of Medical Ethics.
But they also think that other doctors are more likely to be influenced by incentives than they are, the data........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 10/1/2006 6:52:41 PM)
Gene Transfer Using Mutant Form Of Good CholesterolTransfer of a gene that produces a mutant form of good cholesterol provides significantly better anti-plaque and anti-inflammation benefits than therapy using the "normal" HDL gene, according to a mouse study conducted by cardiology researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and reported in the Oct. 3 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Apolipoprotein A-I is a naturally occurring component of normal HDL (high-density........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/28/2006 9:43:48 PM)
Binge-drinking teenagersTeenagers who drink alcohol are at higher risk of becoming victims of violence, a Cardiff University study has found.
A team from the School of Dentistry's Violence Research Group studied drinking habits in children aged 11-16 in England. They found not only a link between drink and aggression but also that children who drank were more likely to be hit, even if they weren't violent themselves.
The researchers are now calling for measures........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/27/2006 9:12:47 PM)
The Mystery of Flesh-Eating BacteriaA Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar in Israel has discovered one reason why so-called "flesh-eating" bacteria are so hard to stop.
Emanuel Hanski, a microbiologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and colleagues have found that the success of group A Streptococcus is due in part to a protein that blocks the immune system's distress calls. The findings, published in the October 4, 2006, issue of the EMBO........Go to the News-blog (Added on 9/27/2006 8:36:19 PM)
Islet Transplantation Has Potential BenefitsThe results of the world's first multicenter clinical trial of islet transplantation have confirmed the technique's potential benefits in patients with difficult-to-control type 1 (or "juvenile") diabetes. Published in the September 28, 2006 issue of the New England Journal (NEJM), the international team of scientists report that the Edmonton Protocol for islet transplantation can safely and successfully promote long-term stabilization of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/27/2006 8:21:24 PM)
Investigational Anti-cancer Drug AT9283Astex Therapeutics today announced that it had begun dosing first patients in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial of its investigational anti-cancer drug AT9283. Astex discovered AT9283, a potent inhibitor of Aurora kinases, using its innovative fragment-based drug discovery technology, Pyramid-.
This is Astex's second product to enter clinical development. The company's lead product, AT7519, is already in a Phase I trial at sites in the US and the........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/26/2006 7:41:07 PM)
A Drop Of Blood Predicts Stomach CancerStomach cancer is the fifth-most common cancer in Taiwan. A team of researchers at National Taiwan University Hospital have improved our abilities to detect stomach cancer earlier. After years of hard work, they discovered a toxic factor "GroES" that causes stomach cancer. In the future, a simple blood test will give a positive or negative result for the presence of this substance, allowing immediate access to endoscopic examinations for........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/25/2006 4:53:49 PM)
Combination of Xeloda And Taxol Metastatic Breast CancerCombination of Xeloda and Taxol is an effective treatment for women with metastatic breast cancer. New research from US Oncology Network and the University of North Carolina has recently reported that the combination of Xeloda (capecitabine) and Taxol is an effective and tolerable regimen for initial treatment of women with metastatic breast cancer. Women who were HER-2 negative were not included in the study. This is a phase II study and it........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/25/2006 4:44:02 PM)
Disease of older adults now seen in young, obese adultsAcute diverticulitis, a disease traditionally seen in patients older than 50 years old, is now being seen in younger adults who are obese, as per a research studyconducted by the University of Maryland Medical Center's department of radiology in Baltimore, MD.
Acute diverticulitis is one of the most frequently encountered acute diseases of the colon and is usually correlation to a low fiber diet. Increased pressure in the colon causes........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/22/2006 4:35:30 PM)
Gi Complications Due To NSAIDsNonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) provide a broad range of benefits for patients who require their use, but health care providers need to carefully consider the associated risks before prescribing these drugs for their patients, as per a multi-disciplinary panel of experts convened by the AGA Institute. Gastrointestinal (GI) morbidities are the most common adverse events linked to NSAID use, including complications in both the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/20/2006 9:49:14 PM)
Thrive After Breast CancerBeyond: Live & Thrive After Breast Cancer, a new semi-annual publication from Meredith Special Interest Media, part of the Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP) will debut with the Fall/Winter 2006 issue.
The magazine, which provides women who have or had breast cancer the support and latest information on treatment and recovery, hits newsstands September 19, 2006, with a $5.99 cover price.
"Since more than two million American........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/20/2006 8:43:15 PM)
Too little fat! May not be the best thingToo much body fat may be a bad thing, but there is increasing evidence that too little fat also may have some surprisingly negative consequences.
Researchers at UC Irvine have found that fat droplets - tiny balls of fat that exist in most cells - appear to have an intriguing role to play when it comes to regulating excess proteins in the body. In a study with fruit flies, developmental biologist Steven Gross and colleagues found that these........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/19/2006 10:07:06 PM)
Cellular Traffic Backups ImplicatedA defective link in the intracellular protein "transit system" may lie at the heart of some craniofacial defects, new research in zebrafish suggests.
In the Sept. 17 online issue of Nature Genetics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers report the identification of a mutation that causes severe skeletal deformities in zebrafish by shutting down a critical protein transport pathway.
The findings are surprising, said Ela Knapik,........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/18/2006 9:56:13 PM)
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Maggot Therapy Without The MaggotsResearchers in the United Kingdom have developed a new wound dressing that could bring the benefits of maggot treatment to patients without putting live Greenbottle fly (blowfly) larvae into non-healing wounds. The joint research project of Stephen Britland from Bradford University and David Pritchard of Nottingham University included colleagues from the Bradford-based biotechnology company AGT Sciences Ltd. It describes development and........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 10/8/2006 6:27:41 PM)
Breast Reconstruction Not Very Safe For ObeseSignificantly obese women may wish to consider delaying breast reconstruction following mastectomy until they achieve a healthier body weight. As per findings presented today at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery 2006 conference in San Francisco, women who are significantly obese are at higher risk for complications and have a lower satisfaction rate than do normal and overweight patients.
"Just because someone........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 10/8/2006 6:18:29 PM)
New Technique To Boost Protein AnalysisImagine you had to break a secret code, but you could see only part of the message. That's the kind of frustration researchers face when trying to identify proteins and characterize how those proteins are modified in cells by biological processes.
But now, Cornell researchers have extended a powerful technique to increase by fourfold the size of a protein that can be analyzed, to those containing more than 2,000 amino acids, up from about........Go to the News-blog (Added on 10/5/2006 10:20:51 PM)
New Drug To Blocks Influenza Virus And Bird FluOpening a new front in the war against flu, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have reported the discovery of a novel compound that confers broad protection against influenza viruses, including deadly avian influenza.
The new work, reported online this week in the Journal of Virology, describes the discovery of a peptide -- a small protein molecule -- that effectively blocks the influenza virus from attaching to and entering........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 10/4/2006 9:53:55 PM)
Progress In Pancreatic Cancer ResearchResearchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and the Brooklyn VA Hospital have found that when a human protein, PNC-28, is administered to pancreatic tumor cells in animals, the tumors are destroyed. The research was reported in the October 1st edition of the International Journal of Cancer.
Matthew R. Pincus, MD, PhD, professor of pathology at SUNY Downstate and chairman of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Brooklyn VA, said, "The........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 10/3/2006 5:08:34 AM)
Tamiflu Reduces Death From InfluenzaTamiflu (oseltamivir), is effective in reducing the risk of death linked to seasonal influenza in severely ill patients,1 as per new data presented today. Treatment of infected adults was linked to a 71 per cent reduction in mortality.1 These results demonstrate the importance of the role of antivirals in the management of seasonal influenza and highlights the seriousness and risk of mortality linked to it.
"The neuraminidase class of........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 10/1/2006 8:35:10 PM)
Cloned mice created from non-stem celDid you know that stem cells are not actually required for cloning?
New research dismisses the notion that adult stem cells are necessary for successful animal cloning, proving instead that cells that have completely evolved to a specific type not only can be used for cloning purposes, but they may be a better and more efficient starting point. As proof, researchers report they created two mouse pups from a type of blood cell that itself is........Go to the News-blog (Added on 10/1/2006 8:09:07 PM)
Predicting drug sensitivity in lung cancerWhat if we can clearly predict which of those patients with non-small cell lung cancer would respond to a cisplatin-based chemotherapy. This would benefit many patients with non-small cell lung cancer, since oncologists could use another drug combination to treat these patients. This is what researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center is trying to achieve.
Non-small cell lung cancer cells with a defective version of a potential tumor........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 10/1/2006 7:39:47 PM)
Anti-angiogenesis To Fight CancerA researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health has discovered a new part of the complicated mechanism that governs the formation of blood vessels, or angiogenesis.
The finding may help halt tumor growth in cancer patients, says Emery Bresnick, the senior author on the study, a professor of pharmacology and member of the UW-Madison Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The research,........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/28/2006 9:38:06 PM)
Virulence Of 1918 Influenza VirusIt always puzzled the scientists, why the pandemic flu in 1918 was so rampant and the virus was so virulent.
The first comprehensive analysis of an animal's immune response to the 1918 influenza virus provides new insights into the killer flu, report federally supported scientists in an article appearing online today in the journal Nature. Key among these insights, they found that the 1918 virus triggers a hyperactive immune response that........Go to the News-blog (Added on 9/28/2006 8:31:50 PM)
Inheriting a Tendency to Brain InfectionMight some infectious diseases run in families because one inherits susceptibility to them? Eventhough scientists generally agree that an individual's genetic makeup contributes in subtle ways to susceptibility to infectious disease, new findings from scientists in France support the controversial idea that an error in a single gene is enough to dramatically alter an individual's susceptibility to certain infections.
Howard Hughes Medical........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/27/2006 8:41:13 PM)
Spinal Cord Stimulators For Migraine HeadachesAnyone who has gone through the experience of migraine headache knows the misery of this miserable disease. Now there is some active research going on in this field that might interest those who are suffering from those miserable headaches.
A new therapy for migraine headaches is in the horizon: occipital nerve stimulation, a surgical procedure in which an implanted neurostimulator delivers electrical impulses to nerves under the skin at the........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/27/2006 7:22:44 PM)
Laser probe may offer insight into Parkinson's diseaseIn a finding that may offer clues about Parkinson's disease, a team led by Duke University scientists used a sophisticated laser system to gain evidence that a dark brown pigment that accumulates in people's brains consists of layers of two other pigments usually found in hair.
Other researchers previously had determined via chemical analysis that the dark pigment, called neuromelanin, is composed of the two pigments: eumelanin, found in........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/25/2006 9:47:21 PM)
New Study For Multiple SclerosisAcorda Therapeutics, Inc. today announced positive results from its Phase 3 clinical trial of Fampridine-SR on walking in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Statistical significance was achieved on all three efficacy criteria defined in the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A significantly greater proportion of people taking Fampridine-SR had a consistent improvement in walking speed, the study's........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/25/2006 9:37:22 PM)
How Much Parents Know Aboutteenage Alcoholism?Previous assessments of child psychopathology have shown that parents can be helpful in reporting symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). A new study examines just how helpful parents are in assessing their children's alcohol and/or drug use and abuse. The answer? Not much.
Results are published in the recent issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/24/2006 10:19:08 PM)
Alcoholics And Decision-makingNew research has observed that alcoholics with certain coexisting personality disorders (PDs) have decision-making abilities that are especially impaired.
Results are reported in the recent issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
"Normally, we make choices by weighing immediate benefits of different options relative to possible negative consequences in the longer term," said Geert Dom, head of therapy at the Alexian........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/24/2006 10:09:13 PM)
Painless prostate biopsyProstate biopsy need not be the painful ordeal that many men anticipate, according to findings presented at the annual meeting of North Central Section of the American Urological Association in San Diego.
By administering topical anesthetic several minutes prior to lidocaine injection at the prostate apex and the surrounding rectal tissue significantly reduces pain during the procedure, scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota,........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/20/2006 8:48:55 PM)
Insights into chemotherapy bad taste problemAbout two million cancer patients currently receiving certain drug therapies and chemotherapy find foods and beverages to have a foul metallic flavor, as per a medical study. In general, more than 40 percent of hospitalized patients suffer from malnutrition due to taste and smell dysfunction.
"Unfortunately, these problems that impact nutrition and quality of life are underestimated and understudied by oncologists," said Andrea Dietrich,........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/20/2006 5:11:38 AM)
Thyroid Surgery Could Be Done As OutpatientThyroid surgery can be performed safely as an outpatient procedure for most patients. These findings and conclusion are from a study that followed 91 patients at two hospitals.
"This is a logical benefit of doing less-invasive surgical techniques," says Dr. David Terris, chair of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Otolaryngology -Head and Neck Surgery. "Now patients are able to go home the same day they have surgery".
With........Go to the Health-blog (Added on 9/19/2006 9:38:26 PM)
Progress in Leukemia ResearchScientists from Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests that the genetic change comes early in the disease, and that it over-activates a second gene that helps govern blood cell development.
Now a mouse model of leukemia is set to help with the therapy of acute myeloid leukemia. This new research has developed a new strain of mice that should help reveal how an unusual change in a certain gene contributes to a particularly........Go to the Cancer-blog (Added on 9/19/2006 8:54:01 PM)
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