Analysis of data from FDA, manufacturer prompts call for new nesiritide study
A drug that helps heart failure patients survive a crisis may actually increase their risk of dying in the first month after they leave the hospital, according to a new study that will be published April 20 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In fact, the analysis shows, patients treated with the intravenous drug nesiritide were 80 percent more likely to die in the next month than patients
For the first time, researchers appear to be able to use a comprehensive panel of genetic variants to predict how a patient with esophageal cancer will respond to a spectrum of cancer treatments.
At the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report that six different gene variants can predict an improved outcome in patients treated with two different chemotherapy drugs and/or
An investigational drug is producing powerful responses in patients resistant to Gleevec, the targeted therapy that helps most people diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), an international research team headed by investigators at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is reporting.
The drug, AMN107, is showing an increasingly strong benefit as doses are being steadily raised, say the researchers, who presented their latest analysis at the annual meeting
Scientists have discovered that chemical signals thought to function primarily as cellular traffic directors play a much more complex role in the activation of the adaptive immune response than was previously expected. The research, published in the April issue of Immunity, demonstrates that the molecules belonging to a class of proteins called chemokines do more than simply guide migration of the immune cells that are activated in the very early stages of infection.
Dendritic
Screening for breast cancer and the early detection of other tumors one day may be as simple as spitting into a collection tube or cup, according to recent studies by UCLA researchers.
In one early study based on a risk model, presented here at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, the UCLA scientists reported that genetic “biomarkers” isolated in saliva predicted oral squamous cell carcinoma in about nine out of 10 cases.
A recent stud
Heparansulfate, which is needed for normal fetal development among other things, is also important for the build-up of amyloid, morbid protein deposits that appear in several serious diseases. This is shown by Uppsala scientists in an article published in today’s Net edition of the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Heparansulfate, long chains of sugar molecules, is produced by most cells in the body. It was not previously known that heparansulfate is ne
PPARC Kite Club Event
The Future of Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy
28th April 2005
10.30 am – 5.00 pm (registration from 9.45 am)
Institute of Physics, Portland Place, London
It is widely recognised that cancer affects a large percentage of the population with more than 1 in 3 people being diagnosed with the disease during their lifetime. A lesser known fact is that most of the current diagnostic techniques used for identifying cancer come from technologies
The Cidetec Technological Centre continues to invest in nanotechnology development with its participation in the European NAPA (Emerging Nanopatterning Methods) project. The research institution is directing a working subgroup to develop new thermoplastic polymers for applications in nanopatterning and nanolithography.
The main objective of the European NAPA integrated project is to provide low-cost processes and tools that meet the needs of nanoprinting processes and required for
Researchers at the University of Sheffield have shown that babies can be taught to distinguish between different monkey faces in the same way that they distinguish individual human faces. The team had previously demonstrated that babies begin life with a general ability to distinguish faces, regardless of species, but that this ability becomes more specialised around the age of 9 months. However, this new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that chil
Forests provide humans with economically important and often irreplaceable products and services, and affect global climate by acting as sources and sinks of heat-trapping carbon dioxide. Yet the possible responses of forests to ongoing environmental changes are poorly understood. In the most recent issue of Ecology Letters, Stephenson and van Mantgem show that birth and death rates of trees vary in parallel with global patterns of forest productivity.
In less productive forests, such a
The deterrent effect of cameras that record the licence plates of cars passing through red lights at junctions reduces the numbers of accidents that cause injuries.
Current estimates suggest that by 2020 road traffic injury is likely to become the third greatest cause of death and disability in the world. Drivers running (‘jumping’) red lights are a leading cause of crashes at traffic-light controlled junctions, and incidents involving one car crashing into the side of another carr
Although dentists in many developed countries recommend check-ups at six-month intervals, there are no high quality data to support this recommendation.
Dental health is an important part of a person’s overall health, and catching problems early can make treatment much easier to perform. The oral health of the population in many countries has improved dramatically over the last three decades. This fact, coupled with the cost of check-ups and the scarcity of dentists, means that i
Oliver Chadwick is a doctor of dirt. The soil scientist –– or biogeochemist, as he is known in some circles –– is helping to shed light on the historical interactions between people and their soils in Hawaii.
Chadwick, a professor of geography and environmental science at UC Santa Barbara, has been sponsored in this research by a special National Science Foundation program, “biocomplexity in the environment,” linking the social sciences and the natural sciences. The results of h
Newborn mice and dogs with hemophilia A were restored to normal health through gene therapy developed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The technique introduced into the animals’ cells a gene that makes clotting factor VIII, a protein missing because of a genetic defect.
“We are really pleased with the results, because the animals produced about 20 times more factor than has been achieved in prior attempts using gene therapy for hem
Since the time billions of years ago when Mars was formed, it has never been a spherically symmetric planet, nor is it composed of similar materials throughout, say scientists who have studied the planet. Since its formation, it has changed its shape, for example, through the development of the Tharsis bulge, an eight kilometer [five mile] high feature that covers one-sixth of the Martian surface, and through volcanic activity. As a result of these and other factors, its polar axis has not been st
New research in mice provides more evidence that a brief bout of stress can give the immune system a beneficial boost – under certain conditions
Laboratory results showed that acute stress – stress that lasts for minutes to hours – temporarily mobilized all major types of immune cells, or leukocytes to potential battle stations in the body. In certain situations, this stress-induced boost in the number of immune cells may be advantageous, as leukocytes fight infections and other d
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