Results further implicate iron deposits in brain in MS impairments
The mental impairment and problems with walking experienced by patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are linked to damage in the brain’s gray matter, with MRI findings suggesting the damage is due to toxic deposits of iron, researchers from the University at Buffalo have shown for the first time.
Previous breakthrough work by the team had linked deep gray matter iron deposits to the disease course of MS, brai
The largest known biomarker study for prostate cancer patients treated with radiation therapy shows that the presence Ki-67 may be a significant predictor of patient outcome for men with prostate cancer treated with both radiation and hormones. The study was sponsored by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group and was presented today by Alan Pollack, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of radiation oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center, at the 45th annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and On
Shrinks tumors in some patients and reduces symptoms in others
A new anti-cancer agent designed to block the signals responsible for telling cancer cells to grow has shown promising results for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The results of a double blind, randomized trial of the compound, gefinitib (Iressa), led by Dr. Mark Kris, chief of thoracic oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, are published in the October 22 Journal of the American Medical Ass
Impatience and hostility–two hallmarks of the “type A” behavior pattern–increase young adults’ long-term risk of developing high blood pressure, according to a study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. Further, the more intense the behaviors, the greater the risk.
However, other psychological and social factors, such as competitiveness, depression, and anxiety, did not increase hypertension risk. The research appe
Florida Tech professor quadruples amount of information carried on single cable
Dr. Syed Murshid’s eyes light up as he flips the switches, one, two, three, and four. As the Florida Tech associate professor of electrical engineering uses his optics projector, pulses of red light project onto a wall. With each click, a new concentric circle appears. The circles represent a sea change in information technology. When he’s finished, a red glowing bull’s eye shines brightly,
Therapies for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and type II diabetes should be directed toward a new molecular culprit — the precursor to the clumps of abnormal proteins that have garnered attention for the last century.
Israeli scientists say they have solid evidence that the precursor molecules — called protofibrils — are the problem molecules in type II diabetes, and their results support a similar mechanism for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Further, they say that the current f
By applying a new technique that combines independent lines of genomic evidence, Duke University Medical Center researchers and colleagues have identified a single gene that influences the age at which individuals first show symptoms of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Such genes that can impact patients’ age at onset for the two very prevalent neurological disorders are of particular interest as alternative targets for treatment, said Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., dire
A bus in Indiana is the latest laboratory for MIT’s plasmatron reformer, a small device its developers believe could significantly cut the nation’s oil consumption as well as noxious emissions from a variety of vehicles.
The work will be the subject of an invited talk next Thursday, October 30, at a meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Plasma Physics in Albuquerque, NM.
The researchers and colleagues from industry report that the plasmatron, used with an exhaust t
Food is a major and underused anticancer weapon, according to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer. In collaboration with the Institute of Food Research, the Group is calling for diet to be better deployed in reducing cancer risk in the UK.
“With dietary interventions, we have the potential to prevent around a third of all cancers”, according to Dr Ian Gibson MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer. “In the long term, we could also save some of the £2.4-3.5 billion a
A homeopathic remedy made from arsenic oxide could ease the suffering of the hundreds of millions of people at risk from arsenic poisoning worldwide. Research, published this week in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, suggests that Arsenicum Album reduces the liver damage caused by arsenic poisoning. Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a major health problem for people from India, Bangladesh and at least fifteen other countries. Drinking arsenic contaminated well water has cause
The addition of buckyballs or carbon nanotubes to nematic liquid crystals changes their properties and makes them low-cost alternatives for holographic and image processing applications, according to Penn State electrical engineers.
“By incorporating nanotubular and nano carbon 60 structures into liquid crystals, we make the nonlinear optical properties a million times bigger than all other existing materials,” says Dr. Iam-Choon Khoo, professor of electrical engineering.
Khoo, work
The red flour beetle can be a pest in massive grain elevators or in the 5-pound sack of flour in your kitchen. But it also can be an important organism in the field of genetic research.
As the result of research performed by scientists from Kansas State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Grain Marketing and Production Research Lab in Manhattan, the red flour beetle has been selected from a long list of nominated organisms for genome sequencing by the National Human Gen
Currently, voice rehabilitation of larynx cancer patients is performed by inserting a one-way shunt valve between trachea and oesophagus that prevents food and liquid from entering the trachea. Pressing the tracheal opening with a finger forces exhaled air through the shunt valve to the oesophagus, where soft tissue structures serve as a substitute voice. However, the voice is in many cases of poor quality and the process creates a mental barrier during speaking, as patients have to literally point a
In July 2001, scientists at Cedars-Sinai’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute published their findings that one “isoform” or variant of a specific gene was significantly upregulated in high-grade, malignant brain tumors called glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). They theorized that this increased activity might be a critical step in the development, progression and spread of these highly aggressive tumors.
Now, in laboratory experiments designed to mimic the environment of a brain tumor
Researchers find that ’one sniff will do’ for odor discrimination
Rats inhabit a world of smells far beyond our poor powers to discriminate. Thousands of odors that smell the same to us, or that we cannot perceive at all, are quickly recognizable as distinct and meaningful odors to rodents and other animals in which the Nose Knows. But just how quick?
By measuring the speed of smell, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have now found that unlike humans, rat
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers have learned that a common, cancer-linked gene thought to control blood vessel growth may not turn out to be useful as an effective target for cancer drug development. Their research, published in the October issue of Cancer Cell found that results of previous studies that pinned hope on the Id1 gene may not hold up in a mouse model thought to more accurately represent how humans get cancer.
The scientists began their study attempting to confir
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