According to Dutch researcher Pascal Groenen, a balanced diet reduces the risk of a baby with spina bifida. He investigated how different nutritional components affected the risk of developing this condition.
Low concentrations of myo-inositol, zinc or vitamin B12 in the blood or a slightly elevated glucose concentration in the blood increase the risk of having a child with the congenital abnormality spina bifida.
Myo-inositol (hexahydroxycyclohexane) plays an important
Claw complaints and lameness in dairy cattle are a considerable problem in livestock farming. Dutch research has shown that specific measures in the area of accommodation and management could improve the situation on dairy farms.
Joan Somers investigated the claw health of more than 7500 dairy cows on different stall floors. Four-fifths of the cows on a concrete stall floor, the most common accommodation, suffered from one or more claw problems. Cows in a straw yard had signifi
St. Jude studies showing that Mrp4 limits penetration of topotecan suggest that blocking this protein might increase access of anti-cancer drugs to tumor sites and improve treatment of brain cancer
A protein called Mrp4 blocks the access of the anti-cancer drug topotecan into the brain by transporting this agent back into the bloodstream, thus reducing the ability of this agent to reach tumors. Results from a series of studies by investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research H
Aston University in Birmingham, UK has just signed a long-term agreement with pharmaceutical manufacturing giant, Mayne Pharma Plc , to run the first dedicated medical manufacturing clean room in the region.
The room will be used to produce specialist cancer and other drugs and make them available across the Midlands. This will address the particular need in the region for aseptic facilities to support the preparation of pharmaceuticals with a short shelf life – particularly in
Executives who downplay ethics and values in their decision making may also be the ones who prefer extraordinarily high salaries for themselves. By comparison, those executives who are more inclined to consider ethics and values in their decisions preferred more fair pay throughout their organizations.
Diane Swanson, associate professor of management and the von Waaden business administration professor at Kansas State University, said this is the most significant implication of
A new study finds support groups can relieve the anxiety and depression associated with carrying BRCA1 or 2 gene mutations, the so-called “cancer genes.” The results of the first study to investigate a support-group model intervention for women at high risk of breast cancer will be published in the November 15, 2004 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. A free abstract of this article will be available via the CANCER News Room upon online publication.
Conventional wisdom holds that cancer cells contain so many mutations that there’s no way to return them to the straight and narrow path of their normal neighbors. This has led to cancer treatments that focus on destroying or removing the cancerous cells.
But new research by Dean Felsher, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (oncology) and of pathology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, suggests that cancer cells can be reformed. His work, published in the Oc
Study presented at American Society of Plastic Surgeons annual scientific meeting
Botox, a household name for wrinkle reduction, could be assuming a new role as a pain reliever. In a study presented today at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery 2004 conference in Philadelphia, women injected with Botox in the pectoral muscles following the surgical removal of their breast experienced significantly less pain and shorter hospital stays. “As surgeons, our t
Teenagers whose bodies have a decreased response to insulin might face an increased risk of high blood pressure as adults, according to a large, long-term study reported at the American Heart Association’s 58th Annual High Blood Pressure Research Conference.
Insulin is a hormone that regulates glucose, a blood sugar. Insulin resistance occurs when the body begins to lose its ability to regulate glucose, which can lead to diabetes.
Researchers assessed insulin resist
Program presented at American Society of Plastic Surgeons annual scientific meeting
Patients without time for a facelift or intimidated by surgery now have more minimally invasive options that produce effective results. Barbed sutures, ultrasonic body contouring and soft tissue fillers, three emerging trends in the plastic surgery industry, offer patients faster results without the downtime of surgery, according to a program held today at the American Society of Plastic Surgeon
As interactions of cellular proteins increasingly take center stage in basic biomedical research, studies are revealing a complex molecular choreography with implications for human health and disease.
In a report currently appearing in the online issue of the journal Nature Cell Biology, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center describe – for the first time – how some proteins interact to ens
Chemists at Emory University have made an important advance in harnessing the ability of bacteria to make new molecules, and their discovery could eventually lead to the creation of naturally decaffeinated coffee plants. The research, by Emory chemist Justin Gallivan and graduate student Shawn Desai, is scheduled to appear in the Oct. 27 edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Bacteria are terrific chemists, but they normally synthesize only molecules they need
Drug may help prevent learning, memory deficits caused by treatment for brain tumors
Patients who undergo radiation for treatment of brain tumors may survive their cancer only to have lasting memory and learning deficiencies, the impact of which can be particularly devastating for children. Now, researchers at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have discovered that lithium, a drug commonly used to treat bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses, can protect the brain cells inv
Men and women with mental disorders have higher odds of being diagnosed with brain tumors and lung cancer and they develop these cancers at younger ages than individuals without mental illness according to a study published in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.
“This work is a piece in the larger puzzle of understanding the relationships between mental and physical health,” said Caroline Carney, M.D., M.Sc., associate professor of psychiatry and medicine at the Indian
A team led by Mayo Clinic researchers has determined that over-reactive immune responses to airborne fungi could cause the stuffy noses and airway inflammation among sufferers of chronic rhinosinusitis. These findings could one day lead to a new, longer-lasting treatment.
“It’s time to recognize there is a greater sensitivity to airborne fungi in some patients, and therefore we need to remove or reduce the fungal exposure,” says lead investigator Hirohito Kita, M.D.
Research in monkeys found that low-dose estrogen therapy significantly reduced the progression of fatty buildup in the arteries leading to the heart, according to research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, reported today at the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society in Washington, D.C.
“We’ve shown that you can get the same reduction in coronary artery atherosclerosis with standard-dose or low-dose estrogen,” said Thomas B. Clarkson, D.V.M., o
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