A detectable decline in energy production by mitochondria — the organelles that are the cell’s furnace for energy production — seems to be a key problem leading to insulin resistance, and thus to type 2 diabetes, according to studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers.
The research team said that insulin resistance — an impaired response to the presence of insulin — is detectable as early as 20 years before the symptoms of diabetes become evident. In fact, insuli
For people with long-standing rheumatoid arthritis, combined treatment with the new “biologic” drug adalimumab and methotrexate is about five times more effective than methotrexate alone, according to a new systematic review of studies.
In six randomized controlled trials, comprising 2381 people with at least 10 years of the disease, the authors report that adalimumab (Humira) plus methotrexate decreased pain and swelling in patients who fail to respond to standard treatment.
The illegal mining of corals off the southwest coast of Sri Lanka permitted far more onshore destruction from the 26 December2004 tsunami than occurred in nearby areas whose coral reefs were intact. This is the principal finding of a team of researchers from the United States and Sri Lanka who studied the area earlier this year. Their report is published in the 16 August issue of Eos, the newspaper of the American Geophysical Union.
Some of the differences were startling. Lead aut
There are four wings to the Earth Science building of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. But on August 8, “we added a virtual fifth wing,” says NASA Emeritus Scientist Milton Halem. That new wing used experimental OptIPuter software to create a ’high-performance collaboratory’ with the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which allowed scientists to establish high-definition telepresence while also collaborating in real
Croton plant compound combats a second cancer: pancreatic
Rutgers researchers halted prostate cancer in laboratory animals using a compound derived from a Southeast Asian shrub whose leaves produce a poison ivy-like skin rash (ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=3837). Now they have achieved the same kind of success with pancreatic cancer.
The cancer-fighting compound, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and generally known as TPA, is found in an oil drawn f
Women who receive an educational or nutritional intervention following the completion of their treatment for breast cancer are less likely to be depressed and have a better quality of life than other breast cancer survivors, according to a study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Emory University. The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and was published in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Previo
Using mini gene and new systemic approach treated animals were significantly improved, lived longer
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh report the first study to achieve success with gene therapy for the treatment of congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) in mice, demonstrating that the formidable scientific challenges that have cast doubt on gene therapy ever being feasible for children with muscular dystrophy can be overcome. Moreover, their results, published in this we
Marine environments around the world are being threatened by exotic species of the moon jellyfish being dispersed by international shipping, according to new research.
Using genetic data and computer simulations of ocean currents and water temperatures, researchers from the University of New South Wales and the University of California, Davis, have revealed that the moon jellyfish could not have migrated naturally, according to a report in today’s Proceedings of the Nationa
Yale School of Medicine has launched a state-of-the-art database funded in part by the National Library of Medicine, called the Canary Database, containing scientific evidence about how animal disease events can be an early warning system for emerging human diseases.
There have long been reports of animals succumbing to environmental hazards before humans show signs of illness, according to the project’s leader, Peter Rabinowitz, M.D., associate professor of medicine in The Ya
Definitive evidence to explain how the drug nitroglycerin relieves chest pain has resulted from a new study by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at Duke University Medical Center. Nitroglycerin relaxes blood vessels to boost blood flow, yet the mechanism by which the drug works has remained a matter of scientific controversy.
The findings bolster earlier indications that the drug may be ineffective for certain patients, and may place others at risk, the researchers sai
Surgeons at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a safe and efficient way to use a surgical robot to perform gastric bypass operations. Their report, published in the August issue of the Archives of Surgery, documents the first totally robotic technique to complete this technically challenging procedure.
The method, developed by associate professor of surgery Myriam Curet, MD, is an improvement on a more conventional technique called laparoscopic surgery.
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have traced the biochemical pathway by which plants build a compound that compromises the quality of corn and soybeans as an animal feed. Their studies indicate that it is feasible to engineer such plants to significantly improve their quality as animal feeds — a potentially important boon to the hog and poultry industries, said the researchers
The researchers, led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator John York, published their
Drop by any beach or swimming pool on a summer day, and you’ll probably see people doing something they know is bad for them: getting a tan.
Studies show that many of those who regularly tan know that exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun or a tanning booth increases their risk of developing skin cancer. But — much to the dismay of dermatologists, who have spent years trying to educate the public on the skin-cancer dangers of ultraviolet radiation — this knowledge doe
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined that stem cells in a certain region of the brain may be the source of a particular type of incurable brain tumor and may be implicated in other types of brain cancers as well.
The research, conducted in mice, appears in the August issue of the journal Cancer Cell. The findings support growing evidence that adult stem cells may play a role in the development of some forms of cancer, said Dr. Luis Parada, senior author o
Large-scale computer simulations have pinpointed a tiny change in molecular structure that could account for drug resistance in Streptomices pneumoniae, the organism that causes childhood pneumonia and claims 3.5 million lives a year, mainly in developing countries. Such knowledge could be invaluable in designing new drugs that are effective against the drug resistant strain.
Experiments to find out how changes at the molecular level are causing this resistance are difficult and, so far,
LIER (INRETS Road Equipment Test Laboratory) of France uses state-of-the-art technology to accredit road-safety devices. Clients use the services of LIER to develop and improve their road-safety products with the aim of obtaining both French and foreign accreditation, especially with respect to the new EN1317 European standard.
LIER is the European leader in the regulatory crash testing of different forms of road-side safety barriers or VRS (Vehicle Restraint Systems). It i
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