Researchers at Cedars-Sinai’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have found that the combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy significantly slowed tumor progression and extended survival of patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), extremely aggressive and incurable brain tumors.
Although the exact mechanism is yet to be identified, the research team theorizes that like a one-two punch, the anti-tumor vaccine delivers an initial blow to the tumor cells which increas
Alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence are closely related, but the causes of susceptibility to the two may be different. New research has found that variation in long-term average alcohol intake is almost entirely due to genetic differences. Some genes affect both alcohol intake and dependence, while others affect only dependence.
Even though alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence are closely related, the causes of susceptibility to the two are not necessarily the same. A s
A NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory image has revealed a complex of several intergalactic hot gas clouds in the process of merging. The superb Chandra spatial resolution made it possible to distinguish individual galaxies from the massive clouds of hot gas. One of the clouds, which envelopes hundreds of galaxies, has an extraordinarily low concentration of iron atoms, indicating that it is in the very early stages of cluster evolution.
“We may be seeing hot intergalactic gas in a
The first spacecraft intended to orbit Mercury was launched on Aug. 3, 2004, carrying an instrument for mapping the composition of the planet’s crust that was calibrated with a novel procedure at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The procedure, using NIST-produced, high-energy gamma rays, enabled the device to be prepared for the same intense radiation levels typically produced in outer space.
Mercury is a rocky planet like the Earth but smaller, denser and
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered that the addition of carbon nanotubes to a common commercial polymer, polypropylene, leads to dramatic changes in how the molten polymer flows. This process eliminates a widespread manufacturing headache known as “die-swell” in which polymers swell in undesirable directions when passing through the exit port of an extruder (a machine for producing more or less continuous lengths of plastic sections).
A team of international researchers working on the North Greenland Ice Core Project recently recovered what appear to be plant remnants nearly two miles below the surface between the bottom of the glacial ice and the bedrock.
Researchers from the project, known as NGRIP, said particles found in clumps of reddish material recovered from the frozen, muddy ice in late July look like pine needles, bark or blades of grass. Thought to date to several million years ago before the last i
Family businesses can be dynamic engines of local economic growth in rich economies, but if a few wealthy families control many of the large businesses in the country where you live, chances are the economy is in the dumps.
Using statistical measures, a University of Alberta business professor and his colleague have shown a correlation between extensive family control of the large business sector and struggling economies in the countries where they are based. Their research has b
Mayo Clinic Proceedings study highlights Òreal-lifeÓ ICU experience
A study in the August issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings outlines how strictly controlling the levels of glucose, or sugar, in a patient’s blood can increase the survival rate of critically ill patients.
James Krinsley, M.D., the author of the study, is director of critical care at The Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Conn., and associate clinical professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Phy
When equipped with enough information, some adolescents (ages 13 to 16) can make health care decisions as well as adults.
According to an article published recently in The Journal of Clinical Ethics, “Correlates of Children’s Competence to Make Healthcare Decisions,” it’s important to include children in health care decision making as it fosters their developing ability to care for their own health. The article was written by a team of researchers that included Susan B. Dickey, Ph.
When the choice is red wine or gin, choose red wine – at least when considering your heart’s health.
That’s according to a recent study by Jefferson Medical College researchers, who compared the effects of drinking either red wine or gin on several biochemical markers in the blood. Red wine contains many complex compounds including polyphenols, which are absent from gin. They found that drinking red wine had a much greater effect in lowering levels in the bloodstream of so
Indiana University School of Medicine study published in Science
Blood-making stem cells found in bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and some adult blood products have been used in transplants to treat cancers, leukemia and immune system disorders and to restore blood cell production compromised by chemotherapy and irradiation. But insufficient numbers of donor cells sometime limit success, especially with cord blood transplants.
An Indiana University School of Medicine s
A look inside a wristwatch reveals that timekeeping is a complex affair, involving the coordination of mechanical parts providing the impulses and feedback needed to achieve precisely recurring movement. Biological clocks are equally complex, regulated by a network of genes and transcriptional factors that interact to stabilize the rhythms of numerous physiological systems. Unlike the wristwatch, however, there is no visible readout or display showing an individual’s body time, a lack which h
There is a clear co-variation between allergic symptoms in children and the concentration of softening agents in their homes. This is a finding made by a Swedish-Danish research team in a recently published study financed by Formas, the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences, and Spatial Planning.
“A great number of consumer products and surface materials like PVC mats contain softening agents, such as phthalate esters,” says Professor Carl-Gustaf Bornehag at
The trend for young people to continue in education and postpone independence is creating problems for them and parents, according to new research sponsored by the ESRC.
A study led by Professor Gill Jones, at Keele University, found that with the age of independence now effectively 24, there are difficulties both for parents with limited financial resources and other responsibilities, and for young adults who want to be able to make and act on their own decisions. By offering o
As part of its continued efforts to give back to the cancer communities in the cities visited during its annual scientific meetings, the Fairfax, Virginia-based American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) is partnering with CURE Childhood Cancer to raise awareness of cancer survivorship. Based in Atlanta, CURE Childhood Cancer – Georgia’s oldest and most successful children’s cancer organization – is a non-profit organization dedicated to conquering childhood cancer through
A new sensor system being developed at the University of Missouri-Rolla may help get rescue personnel to the scene faster the next time a tornado or terrorist damages a bridge or other structure because of its ability to “memorize” the location of the damage.
Unlike all other infrastructure-embedded sensors, which reset following the disaster, the distributed cable sensors under development at UMR could “memorize” the most severe damage that occurred during a prior catastrophic eve
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