Genetic test sought to identify patients most likely to respond
A new anti-cancer agent, gefinitib (Iressa), recently received FDA approval for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after a series of clinical trials and an expanded access program led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). The compound is designed to target and block the activity of the tyrosine kinase enzyme that signals the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), tellin
Alcohol-exposed babies respond more slowly to their environment, and take longer to calm down Most of the research on prenatal alcohol exposure has been conducted with children.
A new study uses heart-rate data collected from six-month-old babies to examine the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Even as early as infancy, slower processing speeds and arousal-regulation problems are apparent. Most of the research on arousal and attention deficits ca
Scientists at the Carnegie Institution in Baltimore, MD, have found that certain cells involved in egg development in the fruitfly can be stimulated to revert to fully functioning stem cells. “This finding could lead to new sources of stem cells from other tissues and other animals,” commented Dr. Allan Spradling, director of the Carnegie department and co-author of the study published in the March 14 online issue of Nature.
The research conducted by Spradling — a Howard Hughes Medica
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have identified a switched-off family of genes that may prove to be a significant and early dent in a colon cell’s anti-cancer armor. The inactivated genes, called SFRPs – for secreted frizzled-related protein – put the brake on a pathway of cell-growth genes that is an early step en route to cancer. Because the way SFRP genes are altered-through the attachment of so-called methyl groups-is reversible, the findings, reported in the March 14 advance o
Proteomics screen identifies novel prostate cancer target
The Burnham Institute’s Jeffrey Smith, Ph.D. has discovered that orlistat, commonly prescribed as an anti-obesity drug, has a positive side-effect: it inhibits cancer growth. Dr. Smith made this discovery using an activity-based proteomics screening technique developed in his laboratory that makes it possible to identify active targets and simultaneously screen for their inhibitors. These results will be published in the j
While the health risks of tobacco are well known, several studies have shown that people with a history of cigarette smoking have lower rates of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. However, the explanations for nicotine’s neuroprotective effects continue to be debated.
Now a team of neuroscientists at the University of South Florida College of Medicine presents new evidence of an anti-inflammatory mechanism in the brain by which nicotine may p
Researchers of the Kola Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, have developed an efficient method for sewage water purification from fluorine ions. Fine purification of water can be achieved through utilisation of sorbents containing titanium. In addition, the method solves the problem of recycling spent sorbents saturated with fluorine.
The majority of contemporary toothpastes contain sodium fluoride as a fluoridiser agent to reinforce enamel. In the natural environment, this subs
British scientists have found a natural way to produce healthier milk and butter, according to new research in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. Cows fed rapeseed oil as part of their daily diet produce milk with a significantly less saturated fat. Butter made from the milk is easier to spread at fridge temperatures because it is lower in saturated fat than ordinary butter. According to Anna Fearon, one of the authors of the study: “This kind of tailored milk production could in fut
Whether depression is linked to having an under-active thyroid gland has been debated for many years. Research published in BMC Psychiatry this week suggests that some patients with depression may be suffering from a subtle autoimmune thyroid condition, which could hinder their recovery. The study also suggests that physicians could use indicators of thyroid function to predict patients’ responsiveness to antidepressants. As inpatients with depression often undergo routine thyroid tests, th
Research at the University of Sheffield, published today in Nature, has solved the mystery of why women live so long after their reproductive years have ceased. Basically, grandmothers can ensure the success of their own family by helping to increase the reproductive success of their adult children, thus propagating their own genes.
Dr. Virpi Lummaa and her PhD student Mirkka lahdenperä, from the University of Sheffield and Turku in Finland, examined the family histories of women in Finland
Yes, we can, according to this dissertation from Göteborg University, which deals with the impact of road tolls on car use, factors that influence attitudes to road tolls, and road tolls in comparison with other types of steering mechanisms targeting automobile use. But you have to have a positive attitude toward cutting down on car use (which people rarely have) and you have to plan how to go about it and regularly monitor your progress in relation to a realistic goal. Otherwise routines and impuls
There are genetic differences between epilepsy patients that decide on whether medical treatment is successful or not. This is the result of a major study at the Vienna General Hospital. These new insights form the basis for an epilepsy therapy tailor-made for the needs of each individual patient. This study will be presented to the scientific community at the end of May at the largest European congress on epilepsy that will be taking place in Vienna this year.
As much as three percent of th
In a world first CSIRO Plant Industry has discovered a gene that is the ’Achilles heel’ of rust, a common disease of plants, which could save millions in breeding rust resistant plants and avert losses in food production.
“You can breed rust resistant plants, but this resistance only works when the rust fungus contains the gene we found – the ’avirulence’ gene,” says Dr Peter Dodds, CSIRO Plant Industry.
Without existing rust resistant wheat varieties Australia&#
In recent years, scientists have unearthed a trove of subterranean microbial oddities, bugs that live and thrive in bizarre and extreme environments, and that accomplish remarkable feats to survive there.
Now, the flooded depths of an abandoned iron mine in southwestern Wisconsin have yielded yet another novelty: microbes that produce nanometer-scale crystals of extraordinary length. The discovery of the willowy microscopic crystals may open a broad new window to human understanding of bio
Printing circuits on sheets of plastic may offer a low-cost technique for manufacturing thin-film transistors for flexible displays, but maximizing the performance of such devices will require a detailed, fundamental understanding of how charge flows through organic semiconductors.
Now, an unusual way of fabricating single-crystal organic transistors has allowed scientists to probe charge transport within the crystals and to observe a strong anisotropy of the charge transport mobility within
The anti-microbial activity of promising peptides shown in laboratory studies to kill several medically important fungi, some of which are resistant to current drugs, can be enhanced further by protecting the peptides from enzymes programmed to destroy them, University at Buffalo oral biologists have found.
A protease inhibitor cocktail containing compounds that inactivate the enzymes that normally would degrade the small pieces of protein enabled the potential treatments for oral infections
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