Shaped-beam radiation therapy is a promising treatment for life-threatening metastatic liver tumors, according to researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center who report an 88 percent success rate for controlling the lesions. This is the first evidence that doctors can treat these tumors with radiation, and the results doubled the average length of survival.
“Radiation therapy has not been a recommended treatment for liver metastases because of the poor results w
Researchers scrambling to combat a virulent form of bird flu that could mutate into a form easily spread among humans should consider developing vaccines based on DNA, according to British biochemical engineers. DNA vaccines, they say, can be produced more rapidly than conventional vaccines and could possibly save thousands of lives if a global influenza outbreak occurs.
A DNA-based vaccine could be a potent weapon against this emerging threat, particularly if enough conventio
Synthesis of Yttrium Aluminum Garnet by modifying the citrate precursor method
Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) is an important material used in the production of laser systems, for coating electronic devices, for tubes of cathodic rays and recently it has been considered as a suitable material for structural applications at high temperatures. In order to be successful in these applications the material properties such as optical properties, chemical stability at high temperature
An international team of researchers has partially untangled the genetic details of a mysterious disorder that formerly caused seizures and death in infant boys within a month of birth.
The researchers discovered a rare change in the DNA of two eastern Missouri families with a history of a condition called X-linked recessive idiopathic hypoparathyroidism (XLHPT): a portion of the X chromosome, a human sex chromosome, has been removed and replaced by a copy of a much larger sectio
Harvard Center for Risk Analysis explores this issue
Fish has been a staple of human nutrition in many cultures, but there has been some controversy recently about the benefits and risks of fish consumption. For example, fish supplies polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), substances that might protect against coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. On the other hand, fish supplies methyl mercury (MeHg), a compound implicated in impairment of cognitive development and IQ. How can the
One of the isomers of conjugated linoleic acid, a group of fatty acids found in milk, is a natural regulator of the COX-2 protein, which plays a significant role in inflammatory disease such as arthritis and cancer, according to a study published by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
“It’s clear from previous research that conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, prevents inflammatory damage resulting from immune response,” says Mark Cook, a professor of animal science in U
Climate warming brought on in part by human activities is producing major ecological changes in remote arctic lakes at an alarming rate, according to new University of Alberta research–the first study to show a whole lake biological response to warming in these waters. Even in the most remote, pristine parts of the earth–far from the direct influence of human activities–changes are occurring in entire ecosystems, says Dr. Neal Michelutti, a post-doctoral fellow in the U of A’s Faculty
Research from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute
The humble yeast has revealed the molecular workings of an anti-cancer drug that stops the growth and spread of tumours in humans by starving their blood supply.
Until now, University of New South Wales scientists who developed the drug (GSAO) knew that it was lethal against endothelial cells but not why it had no direct impact on tumours themselves.
The new study reveals that endothelial cells lack th
Huda Zoghbi, of Baylor College of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Juan Young, also of Baylor and colleagues report in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, posted the week of October 17, 2005, that the Rett Syndrome gene, MECP2, regulates RNA splicing. This work was funded in part by the Rett Syndrome Research Foundation (RSRF).
Rett Syndrome (RTT) is a severe neurological disorder diagnosed almost exclusively in girls.
Purdue University engineers are helping the U.S. Coast Guard deal with a possible 10-fold increase in vibration that could result from installing a larger observation window in a search-and-rescue aircraft to improve visibility during missions.
Presently, the Lockheed Martin HC-130J Hercules search-and-rescue plane has a circular observation window that is about a foot in diameter, and the Coast Guard would like to install a window that is about 4 feet long by 3.5 feet wide.
Treating a rare form of eye cancer with radiation therapy can spare patients from significant vision loss, according to new research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
The research involved 57 patients with malignant melanoma of the uvea which is the pigmented layer of the eye. The results were reported today at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) meeting in Denver.
“These are very encouraging results,” said Kathryn Greven,
Therapeutic use for umbilical cord blood may broaden
A team of bioengineers led by the University of Toronto has discovered a way to increase the yield of stem cells from umbilical cord blood, to an extent which could broaden therapeutic use of these cells.
In a paper published in the October issue of Experimental Hematology, researchers working in the University of Toronto’s Stem Cell Bioengineering Laboratory have identified an important component blocking the growth
A combination of airway-opening drugs and inhaled inflammation-reducing steroids works better at preventing severe asthma attacks than a normal dose of steroids alone, according to a new review of recent studies.
However, higher doses of steroids seem to be just as effective as the combination therapy in preventing these attacks, a second review concludes.
The studies focus on the effects of long acting beta-2 agonist (LABA) drugs. Unlike “rescue” inhalers, which can i
Findings may lead to new treatments for asthma and other inflammatory-related diseases
Defects in immune system cells called T helper cells may lead to diseases characterized by a faulty inflammatory response such as autoimmunity and asthma. Understanding the molecular steps involved in how T helper cells mature may help researchers develop treatments for these diseases.
Helper T cells differentiate into two different types of cells –Th1 or Th2 – which are responsible
Formula could lead to better tools to predict weather, pollution and water movement
To most people, turbulence is the jolt felt by jet passengers moving through a rough pocket of air. But to scientists, turbulence is the chaotic flow of a gas or liquid, in which parts of the current curl into irregular, ever smaller, tight eddies. It’s a very common phenomenon that can affect weather conditions, greatly alter the movement of pollutants, dampen a vehicle’s speed, or pl
A new study of wild chimpanzees shows that the biggest predictor of territorial boundary patrols is the number of males in the group. The more males in the group, the more often they will patrol their territory.
Chimpanzees will sometimes attack and kill their neighbors during the rarely observed boundary patrols, said John Mitani, professor of anthropology at University of Michigan and co-author of the paper “Correlates of Territorial Boundary Patrol Behavior in Wild Chimpanze
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