Scientists from Wake Forest University School of Medicine have identified a protein that seems to control the malignant features of brain tumor cells, suggesting a new treatment target for anti-cancer drugs. The research is reported in the current issue of Molecular Cancer Research.
“This protein seems to be important in how cells acquire malignant characteristics and how they spread to healthy tissue,” said Waldemar Debinski, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Brain Tumor Center of Exce
On March 31, Joel Dyels celebrated his 72nd birthday by having coronary bypass surgery at Stanford Hospital. He also became the third patient at Stanford – and in the United States – to benefit from a new imaging system that lets doctors see the blood pathways they have created while the patient’s chest is still open.
Until now, doctors were almost never able to confirm whether bypass surgery had been successful while the patient was still on the operating table. In most cas
A researcher studying drug design for nerve damage therapies has gotten her answer to questions by following some old advice: she used the library.
It’s not the kind of library her mother or teacher suggested, but a combinatorial chemistry library of many different protein sequences that some day might help her and her colleagues develop a successful timed drug delivery system.
Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Washington Uni
If increased precipitation and sea surface heating from global warming disrupts the Atlantic Conveyer current – as some scientists predict – the effect on the ocean food chain in the Atlantic and other oceans could be severe, according to a new study just published in Nature.
In a worst case scenario, global productivity of phytoplankton could decrease by as much as 20 percent and in some areas, such as the North Atlantic, the loss could hit 50 percent. The study was conducted
Goal is to assuage public’s concerns about a potential doomsday collision
Astronomers led by an MIT professor have revised the scale used to assess the threat of asteroids and comets colliding with Earth to better communicate those risks with the public. The overall goal is to provide easy-to-understand information to assuage concerns about a potential doomsday collision with our planet.
The Torino scale, a risk-assessment system similar to the Richter scale used for ea
A study of a drug that reduces the pain of fibromyalgia and improves sleep is being published by a University of Kentucky physician in the peer-reviewed journal, Arthritis & Rheumatism.
The lead author of the study was Dr. Leslie Crofford, professor, UK College of Medicine, chief, Division of Rheumatology, and the Gloria W. Singletary Chair and Director of the Center for the Advancement of Women’s Health
“Fibromyalgia is a debilitating condition affecting as many
A new optical method that can image subsurface structures under skin has been demonstrated by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
The method relies on differences in the way surface and subsurface features of various materials scatter light. It was demonstrated with small pieces of pigskin and inorganic materials but might eventually prove useful for imaging living tissues to help
A researcher at the University of Alberta has shown that parents are more likely to give better care and pay closer attention to good-looking children compared to unattractive ones. Dr. Andrew Harrell presented his findings recently at the Warren E. Kalbach Population Conference in Edmonton, Alberta.
Harrell’s findings are based on an observational study of children and shopping cart safety. With the approval of management at 14 different supermarkets, Harrell’s team of
A possible link between lack of sleep (insomnia) and obesity has been traced to hypocretin/orexin cells in the hypothalamus region of the brain that are easily excited and sensitive to stress, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the April issue of Cell Metabolism.
“If these neurons are over-activated by environmental or mental stress in daily situations, they may support sustained arousal, triggering sleeplessness, leading to overeating,” said lead author Tamas Horvath,
An improved method for depositing nanoporous, conducting polymer films on miniaturized device features has been demonstrated by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Described in the April 6 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society,* the method may be useful as a general technique for reproducibly fabricating microdevices such as sensors for detecting toxic chemicals.
Unlike most polymers, conducting polymers have the elec
In a study of mothers with a history of preeclampsia, a hypertension complication in pregnancy affecting five percent of all women, researchers at Yale have found that these women have an increased lifetime risk for cardiovascular illness and death.
“Even when a mother’s blood pressure returns to normal after delivery, preeclampsia might increase her risk of life–threatening cardiovascular disease,” said lead author Edmund F. Funai, M.D., associate professor and co–chief, Divis
Your mother was right. Eat your fruits and veggies — they’re good for you!
And if that’s not reason enough, a new study suggests antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables may limit brain damage from stroke and other neurological disorders. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of South Florida (USF)College of Medicine, James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is posted online and will be published in the May issue of t
A breakdown in brain cell communication may contribute to the most common biochemical cause of mental retardation, University of Florida scientists have discovered.
The process is akin to a baseball game gone bad. Imagine if a pitcher were joined by six players simultaneously winding up on the mound. Crouched behind home plate, the single catcher would soon be overwhelmed. Even if the coach sent in teammates to catch the extra balls, confusion would reign on the field.
Full-scale disaster is breaking out in France – in the form of a simulated accident around which a major European civil protection exercise is planned. Just as in a real emergency, the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters is being activated so rescue teams will receive satellite images of the disaster zone .
It begins with a train derailment, and then the situation gets worse. Train wagons of fuel begin to burn, the fire spreading to pressurised tanks of liquefied
Liver-specific knock out mouse has improved liver function
A collaborative effort led by The Burnham Institute’s Gen-Sheng Feng has created a mouse with improved glucose tolerance and insulin activity in the liver, and generated new findings about insulin-signaling in the liver that could prove useful in understanding the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. These results, to be published by Nature Medicine in May, were made available to the scientific community by advance pos
Research at NYPH/Allen pavilion shows more than half of patients may be affected by factors external to heart
New research from Columbia University Medical Center is challenging the traditional explanation for the causes of the most common type of heart failure, traditionally called diastolic heart failure. The study of 145 patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/The Allen Pavilion suggests that the most common type of heart failure is caused by health problems outside the hear
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