Bacteria could be the new weapon in the fight against drug trafficking, according to an article published in the May 2004 issue of Microbiology Today, the quarterly magazine for the Society for General Microbiology. Researchers at CNAP, University of York, have found bacteria that grow on heroin and morphine and believe that two special proteins from these bugs could be used to detect heroin.
“This is hugely important”, explains Professor Neil Bruce of CNAP, “since the need for a rapid, hand
Scientists from Duke University Medical Center have identified the “master switch” that cancer cells use to dispatch protective messages to nearby blood vessels, fortifying the vessels against deadly onslaughts of radiation.
The messages enable blood vessels to survive and ultimately nourish any remaining cancer cells that escape toxic radiation therapy.
Radiation biologists from the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center identified the master switch as a protein called “Hypoxia Inducib
Adding stereotactic radiosurgery – which entails delivering radiation to specific points in the brain while sparing normal tissue – after whole brain radiation therapy helps certain patients with cancer that has spread to the brain live longer, says a new study by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
In as many as one-third of all patients with lung and breast cancers, the disease spreads, or metastasizes, to the brain, leaving few good options. The disease c
Johns Hopkins researchers have developed the basis of an inexpensive, simple urine test that identifies impending kidney failure or rejection following transplant surgery. Their work, presented this week in a special invited lecture to the American Transplant Congress in Boston, Mass., is based on proteins found in urine, and could lead to a urine test kit that may allow many patients to skip painful biopsies.
“This has the potential to radically change the way transplant patients are manage
While-you-wait medical tests that screen patients for thousands of disease markers could be possible with compact-disk technology patented by Purdue University scientists.
A team led by physicist David D. Nolte has pioneered a method of creating analog CDs that can function as inexpensive diagnostic tools for protein detection. Because the concentration of certain proteins in the bloodstream can indicate the onset of many diseases, a cheap and fast method of detecting these biological
Less expensive production method reduces the costs on the consumer and society
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Belgian institute VIB (Flander Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology) have developed a new, efficient method for producing plant-derived compounds in cell cultures. Such compounds are for example used for expensive special pharmaceuticals. The new method will provide a more inexpensive and efficient method for producing anti-cancer drugs in the near fut
A new in-depth report published today concludes there is no justification for the idea that current standards of home cleaning and home hygiene are a factor in the rise in allergies.
The report represents the first detailed review by infectious disease and hygiene specialists of the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ – the idea that having fewer childhood infections, because of cleaner homes and smaller families, may be responsible for more children developing allergies and asthma.
The report fin
Microwaving the heart may soon become a routine procedure for the treatment of heart rhythm disorders, a common cause of heart attack and stroke, reports Marina Murphy in Chemistry & Industry magazine.
The new device will selectively ‘cook’ areas of the human heart at 55°C. The procedure, which takes just a few seconds, produces a lesion that blocks abnormal electrical signals. ‘This is exactly the same as the way a microwave oven heats meat . . . the difference is that the microwave exposu
High levels of troponin I (TNI) protein in the blood helps identify possible heart damage after cancer treatment, according to a report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The report also suggests that tracking TNI levels can help doctors form a heart disease prevention plan for some chemotherapy patients. “Damage to the heart is one of the most worrisome long-term side effects of high-dose chemotherapy,” said lead author Daniela Card
A disintegrin-metalloproteinase prevents amyloid plaque formation and hippocampal defects in an Alzheimer disease mouse model
Alzheimer Disease (AD), a progressive neurological disorder, is characterized by the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain. These plaques are comprised of aggregates of amyloid beta-peptides (AB peptides), which are believed to play a central role in disease development. Most strategies to prevent AD have been aimed at reducing the generation of amyloid beta
The brain’s center of reasoning and problem solving is among the last to mature, a new study graphically reveals. The decade-long magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of normal brain development, from ages 4 to 21, by researchers at NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) shows that such “higher-order” brain centers, such as the prefrontal cortex, don’t fully develop until young adulthood.
A time-lapse 3-D movie that
By carefully matching the estimated function of kidneys from deceased donors with the needs of potential recipients, surgeons can successfully transplant kidneys that would otherwise be discarded, according to a report from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. The center was able to double its transplant volume within a year.
In addition, a second report concludes that age alone shouldn’t prohibit older adults from being organ donors – or having a kidney transplant themselves
Discovery May Lead to Prenatal Test For Debilitating Disorder A team of researchers has discovered a gene for Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, a disorder consisting of mental retardation, heart defects and a number of physical abnormalities. The researchers were funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, one of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers expect the discovery to speed the development of a prenatal genetic test for the syndrome. A
New data suggest the investigational drug rifaximin, a non-absorbed (less than .5%) antibiotic with few side effects and low potential for resistance, is effective in preventing travelers’ diarrhea, an illness that affects up to 60 percent of international travelers. Until now, antimicrobial prophylaxis, while effective, has been discouraged because of side effects and the encouragement of resistance. The study results, presented Sunday, May 16 at the 2004 Digestive Disease Week (DDW) annual mee
When it comes to back pain, psychological distress is a more reliable predictor of the problem than imaging and diagnostic disc injection, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers say. Their finding could affect how doctors treat back pain, which often includes costly surgery that insurance companies are increasingly reluctant to cover.
Most adults in the United States will experience disabling lower back pain at least once in their lives, but their doctors frequently can’t f
Research published this month: Healthy tissue left intact in pre-clinical testing
A genetically engineered virus can selectively kill cancerous cells in the lung and colon while leaving healthy cells intact, according to new research published today in Cancer Research by William Wold and colleagues at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
The research could lead to a new class of cancer therapies that selectively kill cancer cells.
“These engineered viruses ki
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