Administering hormonal treatment in addition to radiation therapy in patients with high-risk prostate cancer can improve survival rate, according to a new study published in the April 1, 2005, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
The study, conducted between1987 and 1992, separated 977 patients into two groups: the adjuvant arm and the observation arm.
The repetition of three little “letters” within the gene that codes for the ataxin-3 protein is both the cause of and perhaps a solution to Machado-Joseph disease and an entire family of similar genetic disorders, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. Their findings, which appear today in the journal Molecular Cell, present a potential therapeutic role for the ataxin-3 protein for MJD and related disorders such as Huntington’s disease.
Machado-Joseph
University of California scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory working with a researcher from Chonnam National University in South Korea have found that magnetic fluctuations appear to be responsible for superconductivity in a compound called plutonium-cobalt-pentagallium (PuCoGa5). The discovery of this “unconventional superconductivity” may lead scientists to a whole new class of superconducting materials and toward the goal of eventually synthesizing “room-temperature” superconductors.
Scientists have been able to follow the flow of excitation energy in both time and space in a molecular complex using a new technique called two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy. While holding great promise for a broad range of applications, this technique has already been used to make a surprise finding about the process of photosynthesis. The technique was developed by a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Univ
The American Geological Institute (AGI) has released a report on the state of introductory geoscience enrollment in the United States during the 2003-2004 academic year. Typically, introductory courses are viewed as one of the major recruitment tools for the field of geosciences. This survey was intended to establish a baseline metric of enrollments in general geoscience courses and how they translate into recruitment of majors.
Conducted between October 2004 and February 2005, the survey wa
Scientists identify novel anti-cancer target
Blood vessels nourish healthy tissues, but also provide a conduit for tumor growth and metastasis. A collaboration of researchers from the University of Michigan, NIH, and the University of Helsinki (Finland) has identified a novel, potential therapeutic target to prevent tumor vascularization.
In the April 15th cover story of Genes & Development, Dr. Stephen J. Weiss and colleagues demonstrate that “the recently characterized
Chagas disease, which is transmitted to humans by a blood-sucking insect known as an Assassin bug, is the most devastating parasitic infection in Central and South America and Mexico. The protozoan parasite that causes the disease, Trypanosoma cruzi, infects 16 to 18 million people, causing severe chronic illness and tens of thousands of deaths per year.
Until now, there has been no effective treatment for the long-term, chronic form of Chagas disease, which kills up to one-third
Asthma is the most common cause of exercise-induced shortness of breath in children and adolescents. While a diagnosis of asthma is often correct, University of Iowa pediatric pulmonary physicians caution that other unrelated conditions also can cause shortness of breath during exercise.
In cases where the asthma diagnosis is questionable, the UI experts recommend further testing to identify the true cause of exercise-induced shortness of breath. “Asthma usually responds well to
Fester, leichter und bereits in der Auto-Serienproduktion nutzbar: Warmumformung mit Nanobeschichtung ist das Ergebnis einer neuartigen Entwicklung. Diese weltweit neue Technologie wird erstmals in der Karosserieproduktion des neuen VW Passat eingesetzt. Die Volkswagen AG und die ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG unterstützten diese Entwicklung des Kasseler Maschinenbau-Fachgebiets Umformtechnik unter Leitung von Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Kurt Steinhoff mit der Saarbrücker Nano-X GmbH. Der Warmumformungsprüfsta
Researchers at the University of Toronto have mapped the molecular details that show how a viral protein coded in the Epstein-Barr virus immortalizes cells and causes them to continuously grow, thereby predisposing people to certain types of cancer.
“Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is one of the most common human viruses in the world and is strongly linked to certain b-cell cancers like Burkitt’s lymphoma as well as the epithelial cell cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma. EBNA1 is
Cannabis-based medicines given in a highly-controlled clinical environment unexpectedly lead to strong psychotic effects
Volunteers taking cannabis-based therapeutic drugs as part of a controlled trial, which had been approved by an ethics board as safe for the subjects, experienced psychotic effects just as strong as if they had smoked cannabis. These findings, highly unexpected in such a controlled environment, are published today in the peer-reviewed, Open Access journal BMC P
A new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Harvard School of Public Health finds that promoting cleaner, more efficient technologies for producing charcoal in Africa can save millions of lives and have significant climate change and development benefits.
The African continent, as well as many developing nations in Asia and Latin America, is dependent on both wood and charcoal for cooking and heating homes. In 2000, nearly 470 million tons of w
A natural tumor suppressor that could potentially be turned on in certain cancer cells to prevent the formation of tumors has been discovered by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.
Located on chromosome 18 and called PH domain Leucine-rich repeat Protein Phosphatase (PHLPP, pronounced “flip”), the tumor suppressor is described in the April 1, 2005 issue of the journal Molecular Cell. The scientists demonstrated that PHLPP deletes a p
Scientists identify novel regulator of telomere homeostasis
Each of our 46 chromosomes is capped by a telomere – a long stretch of repeated DNA (TTAGG). Telomeres play a key protective function in our cells, and now Dr. In Kwon Chung and colleagues at Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea) and the University of Central Florida reveal a novel mechanism to modulate telomere length. Their work will be published in the April 1st issue of Genes & Development.
With each round of c
Scientists have developed a method of determining whether eggs labelled as ‘free-range’ or ‘barn’ have in fact been laid under battery conditions. The procedure, published in Journal of the Science of Food & Agriculture this month, means eggs can be tested without the need to visit farms.
The give-away is the dust that the eggs pick up from the surface on which they are laid.
Because the eggs are wet when freshly-laid, the dust attaches to the shell surfaces. The pattern
The TIM23 complex, which regulates the transport of protein to the mitochondria in a cell, is much more complicated than was previously believed. This is shown by Uppsala University researcher Maria Lind in an article in the leading journal Cell.
Together with Agnieszka Chacinska from the University of Freiburg in Germany, Maria Lind from Uppsala University is lead author of the article in Cell.
Agnieszka Chacinska’s and her study shows how the TIM23 complex functions, som
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