NU biologist isolates gene making infections drug-resistant
Northeastern University today announced that biologist Kim Lewis has discovered the gene that prevents antibiotics from successfully destroying infections within biofilm. For years, scientists have struggled to understand why a certain type of infection – known as biofilms – are often resistant to antibiotics. Biofilms contain cells that are identical to the infecting cells, but are not corrupted and destroyed by anti
An antimicrobial agent found in many shampoos and hand lotions and widely used in industrial settings inhibits the development of particular neuron structures that are essential for transmitting signals between cells, according to a University of Pittsburgh study presented today at Cell Biology 2004, the 44th annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology. The meeting is being held Dec. 4 – 8 at the Washington Convention Center.
Prolonged exposure to low levels of me
U of MN researcher will present findings at the American Society of Hematology Conference
A University of Minnesota Cancer Center study indicates natural killer cells obtained from a family member and artificially stimulated may provide renewed hope for some patients who have advanced acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a highly fatal cancer of the bone marrow, that has become resistant to standard treatment with chemotherapy. Natural killer cells are part of the body’s immune system
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stopped early a clinical trial studying whether children with sickle cell anemia at high risk for stroke could at some point after a minimum of 30 months (range 30-91 months) safely stop receiving the periodic blood transfusions that prevent strokes. The study found a return to high risk of stroke in children who stopped receiving the transfusions. The NHLBI is issuing a clinical alert on the st
Responses to imatinib found to be durable at 42 months
CHU in Poitiers, France, today announced results of a study showing that newly diagnosed patients with a certain form of leukemia who are treated early with imatinib are more likely to achieve complete cytogenetic responses (the elimination of leukemic cells, a major goal of therapy) and have improved long-term outcomes.
New data from the largest study of CML patients (1106 patients included) ever conducted Internatio
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analyzed how airborne particulate matter from forest fires in the Canadian providence of Quebec traveled more than 700 miles to homes in Baltimore, Md. The study authors found a dramatic increase in outdoor and indoor fine particulate matter – an atmospheric pollutant that is harmful to people with respiratory diseases– in Baltimore during the first weekend of July 2002, which coincided with several forest fires in Quebec. The
For Marcel Proust, the taste of a madeleine conjured remembrance of the distant past. In today’s multi-tasking, hyper-speed world, it can be a trick to remember what we did yesterday.
But a new method of reconstructing the previous day’s activities not only helps people remember how they spent their time, it also captures how they really felt about their activities. The technique, described in the Dec. 3 issue of Science, provides insight into what people actually enj
A recent study of 43 garden crops led by a University of Texas at Austin biochemist suggests that their nutrient value has declined in recent decades while farmers have been planting crops designed to improve other traits.
The study was designed to investigate the effects of modern agricultural methods on the nutrient content of foods. The researchers chose garden crops, mostly vegetables, but also melons and strawberries, for which nutritional data were available from both 1950
A new study on early steroid withdrawal following liver transplantation found that there was a higher incidence of rejection and a lower incidence of glucose intolerance necessitating treatment for diabetes. It was the first double-blind placebo-controlled study to examine the effects of early steroid elimination.
The results of this study appear in the December 2004 issue of Liver Transplantation, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (
Organ damage that goes beyond the liver due to alcoholism is often seen as a barrier to liver transplantation, despite a lack of data on how a transplant affects these complications. A new study describes a patient with alcoholic liver disease complicated by peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage affecting the arms and legs) who underwent a liver transplant and regained almost normal muscle strength.
The results of this study appear in the December 2004 issue of Liver Transplantation,
Contrary to the movie Jurassic Park, in which scientists recreate dinosaurs from ancient DNA, genetic material more than about 50 thousand years old cannot be reliably recovered. Nevertheless, a team of scientists has now demonstrated that computers could be used to reconstruct with 98 percent accuracy the DNA of a creature that lived at the time of the dinosaurs more than 75 million years ago–a small, furry nocturnal animal that was the common ancestor of all placental mammals, including human
Medical procedures such as iodine therapy, a popular thyroid treatment, can result in patients triggering radiation detectors for up to three months after treatment, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures, including FDG PET scans, bone scans and cardiac scans, can have a similar effect, although for shorter periods. “The nuclear medicine community has been aware that p
As many as 28,000 patients die each year in the U.S. because of catheter-related bloodstream infections, but doctors and nurses who implement simple and inexpensive interventions can cut the number of deaths to nearly zero, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers.
“This type of improvement has never been demonstrated, but there is no reason that ICU’s across the country can’t implement these interventions to achieve similar results,” said Sean Berenholtz, M.D.
Study shows capacity exists to screen population within one year
More than 41 million Americans who are candidates for colorectal cancer screening have not been screened for this second-leading cancer killer, the first time the unscreened population has been quantified. According to a study published today in the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) journal Gastroenterology, sufficient capacity exists to screen the unscreened population within one year using fecal occult b
Panoramic dental x-rays can be used to help identify postmenopausal women with low skeletal bone mineral density (BMD), meaning that screening for spinal osteoporosis could begin in the dentist’s office a new study shows.
The study included 316 postmenopausal women who had no symptoms of osteoporosis. The women were divided into two groups: 159 had no history of hysterectomy, oophorectomy or estrogen use, the remaining 157 had one or more of these histories. All had panor
In laboratory studies at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, researchers have successfully treated the most common malignant abdominal tumor of childhood: neuroblastoma tumors. Researchers successfully treated the tumor in mouse models by administering a treatment based on a weakened version of the herpes simplex virus.
The study appears in the current online issue of Pediatric Blood and Cancer, the journal of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncolo
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