The incidence of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs), generally considered a rare sarcoma, is more than three times as high as previously believed, according to data presented in Nice at the 27th annual European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress. An accurate estimate of GIST incidence has been elusive because of diagnostic ambiguities, now largely resolved by modern immunohistochemistry.
The higher incidence of GIST – calculated at 16 per 1,000,000 people annually – is especi
A new company is helping to solve a 20-year problem in the chemicals industry.
Enviresearch, a Newcastle University ‘spin-out’, uses computer models to determine whether chemicals are environmentally friendly.
The British Government demands that chemicals undergo a rigorous testing programme, including an ‘environmental risk assessment’, before it is satisfied a substance is safe. Only then will it grant a sales licence for the UK and Europe.
Due to these strict regulations,
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed several drug candidates that show promise in animal studies in protecting the brain against sudden damage from stroke, with the potential for fighting chronic neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. The drugs, called p53 inhibitors, attack a key protein involved in nerve cell death and represent a new strategy for preserving brain function following sudden injury or chronic disease, according to t
In unprecedented space research, DuPont scientists have attained a significant scientific accomplishment regarding the future development of soybeans – one of the most consumed crops in the world today.
During a research mission that concluded with the return of Space Shuttle Atlantis Friday, soybean seeds planted and nurtured by DuPont scientists germinated, developed into plants, flowered, and produced new seedpods in space. The 97-day growth research initiative is the first-ever to compl
Structural studies of a key enzyme have revealed how dangerous strains of the bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus , become resistant to antibiotics.
Resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus , which are also called “hospital staph” because of their prevalence in hospitals, constitute 34 percent of the clinical isolates in the United States, more than 60 percent in Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, and more than 50 percent in Italy and Portugal. And the emergence of strains of
Antennas for the next generation of cellphones and other wireless communications devices may bear a striking resemblance to the Santa Monica Mountains or possibly the California coastline.
That is because UCLA researchers are using fractals — mathematical models of mountains, trees and coastlines — to develop antennas that meet the challenging requirements presented by the more sophisticated technology in new cellphones, automobiles and mobile communications devices. These antennas must b
Researchers have developed a new way to use a decade-old imaging method to directly compare the brains of monkeys with those of humans. Their report appeared in the journal Science.
The method uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) – a technique that measures blood volume and flow and blood-oxygen levels in the brain. It also provides an indirect measure of neuronal activity in different regions of the brain.
Neurons need oxygen and glucose to work. Blood carries
Blood from human umbilical cords is a rich source of hematopoeitic stem cells, the progenitors that can reconstitute all of the different cell types in our blood, including oxygen-carrying red blood cells and white blood cells that are our major defense against infections. Cord blood contains a higher percentage of stem cells than adult bone marrow (another source of blood stem cells), and has several additional advantages: cord blood stem cells divide faster than stem cells from bone marrow and have
When we feel pain in response to harmful stimuli it is the result of messages sent from pain sensors in the periphery of the body to the brain. These pain sensors – or nociceptors – often lie beneath the skin and detect and signal the presence of tissue-damaging stimuli or the existence of tissue damage. One particular nociceptor, vanilloid receptor-1 (VR1), relays sensory messages to the brain in response to thermal and painful chemical stimuli and is generally regarded as the major pain sensor.
People who find it hard to lose all the weight they want or that their doctors recommend should take heart, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientist says. New research suggests that losing even modest amounts of weight can pay off in better health.
The study showed for the first time that shedding excess pounds decreases activity of a key enzyme known to play a central role in high blood pressure, said Dr. Joyce Harp, associate professor of nutrition and medicine at the UNC s
Laws that favor the use of diesel, rather than gasoline, engines in cars may actually encourage global warming, according to a new study. Although diesel cars obtain 25 to 35 percent better mileage and emit less carbon dioxide than similar gasoline cars, they can emit 25 to 400 times more mass of particulate black carbon and associated organic matter (“soot”) per kilometer [mile]. The warming due to soot may more than offset the cooling due to reduced carbon dioxide emissions over several decades, ac
Early results of North American trials of chemotherapy drug oxaliplatin
For patients with bowel cancer that has spread to other organs despite treatment there has been little hope until now. However, early results of trials in North America of a chemotherapy drug called oxaliplatin, given in conjunction with two standard drugs, 5-FU and leucovorin, delay tumour progression by 70% compared with the control component of the study. There is also a significant improvement in the symptoms
Wie am 19 Oktober 2002 den Delegierten bei dem Kongress der European Society for Medical Oncology in Nizza mitgeteilt wurde, dürfte sich die Chip Technology zur Auswertung von genetischen Informationen in der Zukunft als eines der wichtigsten Instrumente für die Krebsprognose herausstellen.
Krebs wird durch Veränderungen oder Mutationen in Genen und durch andere Zellanomalien ausgelöst. Die Informationen des Human Genome Project bieten jetzt ein wertvolles Werkzeug, um die genetische Basis
Ein innovativer Versuch eines Tests, von traditionellen chinesischen Arzneimitteln mit westlichen Forschungsmethoden, wurde von Onkologen in Hongkong entwickelt, um den Stellenwert der chinesischen Arzneimitteltherapie innerhalb eines Programms zur konventionellen Behandlung zu beurteilen.
Bei seiner (19 Oktober 2002) Rede auf dem Kongress der European Society for Medical Oncology in Nizza, Frankreich, sagte Dr. Tony Mok von der Chinese University of Hongkong, “Sehr viele Personen in China
Onkologen in Italien haben nachgewiesen, dass eine strukturierte Einführung zur Bereitstellung von Gesundheitsinformationen für Krebspatienten wirklich ihr psychologisches und physisches Befinden verbessert und dass dieses Schema in jeder Krebsstation eingeführt werden sollte. Die Ergebnisse einer Studie mit 3.300 Patienten beim Test einer Methode zur Vermittlung von Gesundheitsinformationen für Krebspatienten wurden heute (20 Oktober 2002) beim Kongress der European Society for Medical Oncology in N
The genetically – inherited disease cystic fibrosis causes severe, unrelenting lung disease in children and adults worldwide. Approximately 1 in 2,500 infants are born with this disease and only half survive past 30 years of age.
Now, researchers from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide have developed a novel system of gene therapy for lungs affected by cystic fibrosis, involving a natural compound found in our lungs which ’conditions’ lung airways to allow cells to take up the t
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