The anti-inflammatory drug Celebrex, or celecoxib, reduces tumor mass by encouraging cell death and discouraging both cell proliferation and the sprouting of new blood vessels that feed growing tumors, according to a study reported in the November issue of Molecular Cancer Research.
The study, conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Scottsdale, Ariz., suggests this drug one day might be used to prevent and even treat breast tumors. Celebrex, marketed b
Researchers using extremely high resolution imaging have found an atomic switch capable of discriminating color in a bacterial membrane protein.
In a paper posted today on Science Express, the rapid advance publication page of Science, scientists from The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and the University of California , Irvine , describe the versatile light-sensing protein at levels of resolution smaller than a nanometer – one billionth of a meter.
“Hig
Aeronautics researchers at MIT have developed a manned-to-unmanned aircraft guidance system that allows a pilot in one plane to guide another unmanned airplane by speaking commands in English.
In a flight test, the pilotless vehicle, called a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), responded to sudden changes in plan and avoided unexpected threats en route to its destination, in real time. “The system allows the pilot to interface with the UAV at a high level–not just ’turn right, tu
By using a device only six-millionths of a meter long, researchers at Cornell University have been able to detect the presence of as few as a half-dozen viruses — and they believe the device is sensitive enough to notice just one.
The research could lead to simple detectors capable of differentiating between a wide variety of pathogens,i ncluding viruses, bacteria and toxic organic chemicals. The experiment, an extension of earlier work in which similar devices were used to det
Recently scientists from NASA and Open University in the United Kingdom set out to study how acid rain affects the methane gas that comes from wetlands in the U.S., England and Sweden.
Scientists went into natural wetlands because although most methane is produced by human activities, a large amount actually comes from natural wetlands. The concern with methane is that it’s a greenhouse gas that contributes to warming our planet. The researchers discovered that low levels of
A new study shows that an enzyme that normally alters the activity of other protein molecules in cells may also help prevent cancer.
The enzyme is known as PTPRO (for “protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor-type O”). When the gene responsible for producing PTPRO is silenced, as can happen in lung cancer, for example, the amount of the enzyme drops, allowing the cells to grow when they shouldn’t.
The research, led by investigators at The Ohio State University Comprehensive
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center may have made a crucial discovery in the understanding of cellular aging.
In a study published in the Nov. 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the researchers report that as cells and tissues age, the expression of two proteins called p16INK4a and ARF dramatically increases. This increase in expression, more than a hundredfold in some tissues, suggests a strong lin
Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to reveal that food cravings activate brain areas related to emotion, memory and reward – areas also activated during drug-craving studies. Study lead author Marcia Levin Pelchat, PhD, a Monell Center sensory psychologist, comments, “This is consistent with the idea that cravings of all kinds, whether for food, drugs, or designer shoes, have com
Because 60 percent of yeast genes have at least one clearly identifiable human counterpart, the advance, described in the Nov. 5 issue of Molecular Cell, should speed advances in understanding human gene and protein functions, as well as improve the reliability of what scientists think they know about this extremely useful microorganism. Eventually the work with yeast could reveal particular gene interactions that could become targets for therapies to fight cancers or fungal infections, say the
The University of Rochester Medical Center has a new tool to assess whether a medication might be harmful to the heart. The technology addresses a major health issue – drug toxicity – illustrated most recently by Merck’s voluntary withdrawal of Vioxx from the market after concerns that it may cause heart attacks and strokes.
Jean-Philippe Couderc, a biomedical engineer, developed a software program that provides a simpler, more accurate way to analyze the electrocardiograms (EK
In relieving overactive bladder as standard treatment alone
Combination therapy with Pfizer Inc’s DETROL® LA (tolterodine tartrate extended release capsules) and an alpha blocker, a standard treatment for enlarged prostate, was twice as effective in relieving overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms as the alpha blocker alone in men with both bladder obstruction and OAB, according to a study published in the October issue of the British Journal of Urology. Six million American men su
Immune responses to prevent or delay the spread of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, are more likely to prolong survival in patients if their immune cells carry a special kind of marker on the surface, according to a team of researchers at the University of Virginia Health System. The finding is published in the November 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research, found on the web at http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/
The researchers correlated the presence or absence of the p
The best treatment doctors currently have for stroke can accelerate the death of brain cells in addition to dissolving blood clots, researchers report in the journal Nature Medicine. But they also found good news: Another drug currently used to treat patients with severe sepsis counters the harmful effects, offering the possibility that a combination of two already-approved drugs might offer a powerful new stroke treatment that would give doctors a bigger window of time to treat patients.
For those who have wondered why they like or dislike certain things, or how they decide what to order from a menu, a team of researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder says it’s dopamine.
A CU-Boulder team studying Parkinson’s disease patients found strong evidence that dopamine in the brain plays a key role in how people implicitly learn to make choices that lead to good outcomes, while avoiding bad ones. The finding could help researchers understand more abo
Editorial: Betting your life on it BMJ Volume 329 pp 1055-6
Problem gambling is a health issue that needs to be taken seriously by all within the medical profession, argues a researcher in this week’s BMJ. The United Kingdom is just about to undergo one of the most radical changes of gambling legislation in its history. The new gambling bill will provide the British public with increased opportunities and access to gambling like they have never seen before.
The health an
The cells of higher organisms have an internal mechanism for chewing up and recycling parts of themselves, particularly in times of stress, like starvation and disease. But nobody is quite sure yet whether this recently discovered process protects cells, or causes damage.
This process of internal house-cleaning in the cell is called autophagy – literally self-eating – and it is now considered the second form of programmed cell death (PCD). Apoptosis, the first kind of programme
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