A new study finds the number of women getting routine screening mammography may be less than previously reported. The study, published in the October 15, 2005 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, finds as many as one in three women have never had a mammogram or have not had one in more than two years, and that many women have one or two mammograms then fail to return for regular screenings.
While screening mammography has been credited with sig
Clioquinol, an antibiotic that was banned for internal use in the United States in 1971 but is still used in topical applications, appears to block the genetic action of Huntington’s disease in mice and in cell culture, according to a study reported by San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) researchers.
The study, led by principal investigator Stephen M. Massa, MD, PhD, a neurologist at SFVAMC, was reported in the August 16, 2005 issue of Proceedings of the National Acade
New approach could help fight HIV, herpes, flu and antibiotic-resistant bacteria
FINDINGS: First identified more than 20 years ago at UCLA, defensins are peptides naturally produced by the immune system to ward off viruses. However, it was unclear how defensins worked. Now UCLA and NIH scientists have discovered that a specific defensin called retrocyclin-2 (RC2) binds to carbohydrate-containing proteins in cell membranes. This mechanism erects molecular barricades that
Unexpected findings may lead to new research directions in developmental biology
Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston, who specialize in studying the genetics of rare eye-movement disorders, have found a rare genetic syndrome whose implications go far beyond the eye, raising intriguing questions about human cardiovascular and brain development.
The syndrome involves a mutation to HOXA1, a gene that has been extensively studied in mice, but about which little is kn
The tissue-specific elongation factor eEF1A2 might be an oncoprotein involved in breast cancer. Research published in the open access journal BMC Cancer shows that eEF1A2, which is usually present only in muscle cells and neurons, is abnormally expressed in two thirds of breast tumours. This means it could be used as a new diagnostic marker and, once its role as been identified, as a therapeutic target for the treatment of breast tumours.
Catherine Abbott, Victoria Tomlinson and colleagu
Mayo Clinic study details treatment for bile duct cancer patients
A new treatment for patients with a type of bile duct cancer promises a greater chance at survival by combining radiation, chemotherapy and liver transplantation, Mayo Clinic physicians report in the September issue of the Annals of Surgery.
The five-year survival rate for patients who received a liver transplant after radiation and chemotherapy was 82 percent, significantly higher than for those who ha
The newest promising material for advanced technology applications is diamond nanotubes, and research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is giving new insight into the nature of nanodiamond.
Argonne researcher Amanda Barnard, theorist in the Center for Nanoscale Materials, is working with colleagues at two Italian universities who produced innovative diamond-coated nanotubes.
The diamond-coated tubes resemble a stick of rock candy, hol
New processes have applications in bioimaging and solar conversion
Efficient and highly scalable new chemical synthesis methods developed at the University at Buffalo’s Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics have the potential to revolutionize the production of quantum dots for bioimaging and photovoltaic applications.
A patent has been filed on the methods, which were described last month in papers in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and Applied Phy
Analysis of a key protein in different subtypes of avian flu viruses shows that resistance to the antiviral drug amantadine in H5N1 occurs worldwide, but is especially prevalent in China, according to St. Jude
Resistance to the antiviral drug amantadine is spreading more rapidly among avian influenza viruses of H5N1 subtype in Southeast Asia than in North America, according to the study done by investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The St. Jude tea
A new website with a Global Information System will provide valuable information for assessing environmental hazards caused by Hurricane Katrina. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health, created the website to provide the most up-to-date data to public health and safety workers on contaminants in flood waters, infrastructure and industry maps, as well as demographic information for local populations.
The NIEH
Diet effective with no limits on portion size
A low-fat, plant-based diet is more effective at helping women lose weight and improve insulin sensitivity than an omnivorous diet, shows a new study appearing in the September issue of The American Journal of Medicine. The study, involving 59 overweight, postmenopausal women, was conducted by Neal D. Barnard, M.D., president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), together with colleagues at Georgetown Universi
Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, a team of astronomers led by the University of Rochester has detected gaps ringing the dusty disks around two very young stars, which suggests that gas-giant planets have formed there. A year ago, these same researchers found evidence of the first “baby planet” around a young star, challenging most astrophysicists’s models of giant-planet formation.
The new findings in the Sept. 10 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters not only r
Astronomers have glimpsed dusty debris around an essentially dead star where gravity and radiation should have long ago removed any sign of dust — a discovery that may provide insights into our own solar system’s eventual demise several billion years from now.
The results are based on mid-infrared observations made with the Gemini 8-meter Frederick C. Gillett Telescope (Gemini North) on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea. The Gemini observations reveal a surprisingly high abundance
If you suffered from piles, would you want your friends asking about your condition in public? Most people wouldn’t, yet new research suggests that the older you become the more likely you are to make someone blush with embarrassment in that way.
But old people may not intend to be rude: in fact, age-related changes in brain function may explain their lack of tact, according to a new Australian study just published in the journal Psychology and Aging.
Tests carried ou
Two common weight loss supplements promoted as ephedra-free and safe for dieters caused increased heart rate among healthy people, and could have harmful health effects in some people, according to a study by UCSF scientists. Their placebo-controlled clinical study is the first to examine the pharmacological effects of these re-formulated dietary supplements.
The research examined the effects on blood pressure and heart rate of two dietary supplements containing bitter orange e
Since 1927, obesity has been thought to be a risk factor for fatal pulmonary embolism (PE). Because of the high proportion of obesity in the general population, previous studies have not determined whether obesity is an independent risk factor for PE or deep venous thrombosis (DVT). In an extensive study published in the September issue of The American Journal of Medicine, researchers from St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital, Pontiac, Michigan; Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan; and Oakland
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