Saint Louis University study suggests protein can´t cross blood brain barrier
ST. LOUIS — Alzheimer´s disease may be caused by a problem transporting a certain protein across the blood brain barrier and out of the brain, according to new Saint Louis University research published in the October issue of Neuroscience.
The findings are important, says William A. Banks, M.D., a Saint Louis University professor and the lead author of the article, because they give us a new approach for treat
In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), neighborhood may be everything, if a new study in mouse models of the disease holds true for patients.
ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, brings about a gradual death of the motor neurons that activate muscles. Paralysis follows. But according to work described today in the journal Science, the cells that are next to motor neurons — but aren’t themselves nerve cells — can play a major role in advancing or limiting the disease.
“What w
Gene expression profiling can help doctors accurately identify subtypes of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to the October 15, 2003, issue of Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology. Diagnosing a subtype of ALL can allow physicians to customize a treatment program based on a patient’s likelihood of responding to therapy.
Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia has a number of subtypes, each with unique cellular and molecular characteristi
Many women are concerned that hysterectomy may affect their sexual attractiveness, but a study in this week’s BMJ finds that sexual pleasure improves after hysterectomy.
Researchers in the Netherlands compared the effects of three types of hysterectomy (vaginal, subtotal abdominal, and total abdominal hysterectomy) on the sexual wellbeing of 413 women.
All women completed a questionnaire before and six months after surgery about their sexuality, frequency of sexual activity, and problems
Airway scarring can be disrupted by targeting eosinophils
Researchers in London and Montreal report today that they have discovered an important link in the development of the body’s response to allergic asthma.
They have found that one type of white blood cell, an eosinophil, which was known to cause inflammation of lung airways, is also responsible for driving the process which leads to an excessive ‘repair response’ by the body.
The response, which is called air
The Brain Tumor and Air Pollution Foundation today announced the beginning of a research project led by an internationally renowned neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to explore a possible link between brain cancer and air pollution. The study will be led by Keith Black, M.D., director of the Cedars-Sinai Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and Division of Neurosurgery in Los Angeles. The Brain Tumor foundation recently awarded $559,250 to the research project, with funding from t
Clemson University researchers have developed an injectable tissue implant that could be used to repair damage caused by breast cancer surgeries.
The work is headed by Karen Burg, a Clemson bioengineer just named to MIT’s Technology Review 100 top innovators list. Burg’s work with injectable transplants could one day provide breast-cancer patients a viable reconstructive surgical solution for damage left by lumpectomies and other invasive procedures. The implant, made of do
PENN researchers find how heme harms – And how to prevent the damage
Heme, the iron-bearing, oxygen-carrying core of hemoglobin, makes it possible for blood to carry oxygen, but researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have determined how free-floating heme can also make traumatic events worse by damaging tissue. The Penn researchers present their findings in the October 2nd issue of the journal Nature. Fortunately, the researchers also identified a chemical
New studies, ASTEROID and ORION, combine CRESTOR™ with cutting-edge imaging techniques, to be at the forefront of the fight against atherosclerosis
Details of two new studies announced by AstraZeneca at the XIIIth International Symposium on Atherosclerosis (ISA) could provide the clearest picture yet of the effects of statins on atherosclerosis, the main cause of coronary artery disease.
Each study is combining the highly effective statin CRESTOR (rosuvastatin) with cutting-
Researchers at McMaster University have turned a corner in the race to develop a vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
A breakthrough has come with the work by professor Jim Mahony who cloned the gene that marks an important nuclear protein of the SARS virus. A research team at McMaster then inserted the nuclear protein gene into an engineered common cold virus, or adenovirus vector, and will shortly test this in animals for the protective effects.
The team, headed
Airway scarring can be disrupted by targeting eosinophils
Researchers in London and Montreal report today that they have discovered an important link in the development of the body’s response to allergic asthma.
They have found that one type of white blood cell, an eosinophil, which was known to cause inflammation of lung airways, is also responsible for driving the process which leads to an excessive ’repair response’ by the body.
The response, which is
Immune responses in the skin are mediated by effector T cells migrating to the inflamed and injured area. Inhibition of this migration has long been an attractive, though challenging, basis for anti-inflammatory treatment strategies. The migration is regulated, in part, by the proteins E-selectin and P-selectin present within endothelial cells of the skin. In a new study, Charles Dimitroff and colleagues from Harvard Medical School introduce a new strategy for the inhibition of selectin ligand produc
More than a third of children who die from a particularly deadly form of leukemia would be saved if doctors used three existing drugs more aggressively – administering them at much higher doses and over a longer period of time. That is one of several important conclusions drawn from a long-term study, published in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, that tested a high-dose drug regimen in 125 young leukemia patients and tracked their outcomes for an average of nine years.
A new study shows that molecular analysis of a very small tissue sample can identify hidden melanoma metastases in lymph nodes. The presence of melanoma in the lymph nodes is the single most important factor in determining a patient’s prognosis and is a key factor in determining a patient’s course of treatment.
Published in the October 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the study is the first to use such a thin section of archival paraffin-embedded tissue and show that a
A team led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in collaboration with researchers at Eli Lilly and Co. in Indianapolis, have developed a new technique that, for the first time, provides a way to dynamically study proteins known to be related to Alzheimer’s disease in the fluid between brain cells, called interstitial fluid.
Using this new technique in mice, the team discovered that the relationship between levels of a key molecule involved in Alzheim
Useful in developing countries
A hand-held vacuum aspiration device works as well as a more expensive electrical one for ending second-trimester pregnancies, according to results of a study by Johns Hopkins obstetricians published in the October issue of the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics.
“Now that we know the low-tech device is safe and effective, it can be taught to doctors in developing nations to help reduce the prevalence of unsafe abortions and compl
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