American Journal of Cardiology to publish study on May 2
The American Journal of Cardiology reports in its May 2, 2005, issue that the Transcendental Meditation technique, a non-drug stress-reduction method, reduces death rates by 23% and extends lifespan.
The first-of-its-kind, long-term, randomized trial evaluated 202 men and women, average age 71, who had mildly elevated blood pressure. Subjects in the study participated in the Transcendental Meditation program; beha
The chemotherapy drug motexafin gadolinium (brand name: Xcytrin, manufactured by Pharmacyclics, Inc.) works to thwart cancer cells by disrupting key enzymes involved in cellular metabolism, according to a team of researchers led by Joseph Hacia, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
The cellular disruption results in increases in the amount of zinc available inside the cancer cells
Blocking the COX-1 enzyme – not COX-2 – might lead to a way to prevent and treat the most common and fatal form of ovarian cancer, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported this week.
The finding, that COX-1 inhibition slowed the growth of epithelial ovarian tumors in a mouse model of the disease, is surprising, said Sudhansu K. Dey, Ph.D., senior author of the paper and director of the Division of Reproductive and Developmental Biology in the Vanderbilt Depa
A new review of studies suggests that long-lasting symptoms of concussion – subjective at best – may increase when the outcome of a lawsuit is at stake.
The condition known as “postconcussional syndrome” is difficult to define medically but is generally defined as a string of cognitive, physical or behavioral losses that occur after a head injury.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Richard C.W. Hall of the University of Florida says a proliferation of lawsuits driven by claims of
Loneliness and social network appear to make independent contributions to immunity
A new study at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh confirms how college challenges both mind and body, by demonstrating that lonely first-year students mounted a weaker immune response to the flu shot than did other students. The study appears in the May issue of Health Psychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
The research team, headed by doctor
New theory contends that long-lived, quiescent retroelements are a major driving force in human genome evolution
Louisiana State University scientists in the Department of Biological Sciences have unraveled the details of a 25-million-year-old evolutionary process in the human genome. Specific DNA sequences that appear to have persisted in a latent state for long periods of time may not be simply lying dormant. Instead, the researchers say that these elements have played a c
Research may allow for more normal development of babies born to mothers who don’t stop smoking during pregnancy.
Research conducted in monkeys at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, suggests high doses of vitamin C may have potential to counteract some negative impacts of smoking in unborn babies. The research may benefit thousands of babies born to mothers who continue to smoke throughout pregnancy despite physician warnings. T
A computerized tool to help emergency room physicians determine whether a patient is having a heart attack may not work as well among some racial and ethnic groups, according to research of almost 12,000 patients at nine medical centers.
“It’s notorious that women and elderly patients have markedly different heart attack symptoms from the younger male patient,” said Chadwick D. Miller, M.D., from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. “This study shows us that race and eth
Being social has its rewards.
Men who are socially isolated have elevated levels of a blood marker for inflammation that’s linked to cardiovascular disease, according to data from the Framingham Heart Study presented today at the American Heart Association’s 45th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
“Our analyses suggest that it may be good for the heart to be connected,” said Eric B. Loucks, Ph.D., an instructor in the depar
Astronomers confirm the first image of a planet
An international team of astronomers reports today confirmation of the discovery of a giant planet, approximately five times the mass of Jupiter, that is gravitationally bound to a young brown dwarf. This puts an end to a year long discussion on the nature of this object, which started with the detection of a red object close to the brown dwarf.
In February and March of this year, the astronomers took new images of the youn
Columbia University/University of Iowa study suggests inflammation and other immune responses might trigger genetic cause of blindness in elderly
Age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, occurs when a common inherited gene variation is triggered, possibly by an infection, according to a new study led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and the University of Iowa, with an international research team.
The gene, kno
Severely obese children have lipoprotein profiles that signal early risk of cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Sixth Annual Scientific Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
“The message is urgent about the importance of prevention of cardiovascular disease in childhood. Lifestyle modification with appropriate diet and exercise can reduce cardiovascular risk in children,
American Heart Association meeting report:
Some structural and functional measures of cardiovascular disease risk may improve by the eighth week of a diet and exercise regimen, according to a study presented today at the American Heart Association’s Sixth Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
“Our lifestyle management program appears to improve the health of the vasculature, so it might lower the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart at
The establishment of first polarity in the developing mammalian embryo is one of the most contentious topics in developmental biology today. Drs. Davor Solter and Takashi Hiiragi have new evidence to fuel the ongoing debate.
Using various techniques, including comprehensive time-lapse microscopy, the researchers showed compelling evidence for the absence of predetermined polarity in the mouse egg. Their findings are in contrast to those who feel that the site of sperm entry determines th
Dr. Stephen Goff and colleagues have identified a novel retroviral resistance gene, called FEZ1, that can mediate a potent resistance to murine leukemia virus, as well as HIV-1, in cell culture.
The researchers found that the high level of FEZ1 expression in a specific laboratory rat cell line caused a significant block to retroviral infection – retroviruses were able to enter the host cells and synthesize the viral DNA, but were excluded from entering the host cell nucleus.
“W
A long-standing paradigm in developmental biology has been that default neuralization (ie., the differentiation of dissociated ectodermal cells to neural cells in culture) is caused by the dilution and thereby suppression of BMP growth factor signaling.
Dr. Edward De Robertis and colleagues now show that, contrary to this traditional belief, BMP signaling is, in fact, sustained at comparable levels in dissociated ectodermal cells as in intact Xenopus embryos.
The researchers
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