Study suggests hope for better treatment of Alzheimer’s and stroke
Until now, scientists have been unable to distinguish between dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease and that caused by poor blood flow to the brain. But, researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center have now used a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a related technique knows as MR spectroscopy to differentiate between the two kinds of dementia. Their work offers hope of improving the t
Developing more efficient ways of storing tissues and organs
Carnegie Mellon University’s Yoed Rabin and Paul Steif have received $1.3 million over the next four years from the National Institutes of Health to develop more efficient ways of storing transplant tissue and organs in cryogenic temperatures. Mechanical Engineering professors Rabin and Steif are working to improve techniques of cryopreservation, the process of storing biological materials in extremely low temperatures.
Thrombosis – the formation of internal blood clots – is a common cause of complications and even death following surgery. To create a better means of preventing thrombosis, researchers at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine coated red blood cells (RBCs) with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a clot-dissolving drug commonly used as an emergency treatment for stroke. When given alone, tPA has a short life span in circulation and has the potential to cause serious bleeding as it diffuses out
A European team of scientists from the University of Dundee (UK), the Technical University of Munich (Germany) and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, ESRF, (France) have determined the structure of a key target enzyme for novel drug development to treat infectious diseases including malaria, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted bacterial infections. The results of their collaboration are published on the August 5 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Synchrotr
A team from Imperial College London based at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea, Hammersmith and the Royal Brompton Hospitals has worked with equipment developed by scientists at QinetiQ, Europe’s largest science and technology organisation, to study the heart rate of unborn babies in minute detail.
The technique, reported in this months British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, will allow doctors to monitor the health of babies’ hearts and obtain the full fetal ECG (fECG), particularl
In the future, many cancer scientists and physicians believe, a “molecular fingerprint” of an individual´s cancer may be used to diagnose that patient´s disease and tailor therapy.
Researchers at Vanderbilt have moved a step closer to that scenario with the identification of a distinct pattern of expression of 15 proteins in lung cancers that can predict a poor prognosis or a good prognosis. All patients in the poor prognosis group had died one year after diagnosis, while all patient
A neat fix for ageing eyes could be tested in humans next year. The treatment, which involves replacing the contents of the lens in the eye with a soft polymer gel, could allow millions of people to throw away their reading glasses.
“At first, we see it being used as an improvement to current cataract surgery,” says Arthur Ho at the University of New South Wales, a key member of the Australian government’s multinational Vision Cooperative Research Centre (Vision CRC) that is working on
The world´s first human test of a vaccine against the prevalent subtype of HIV in sub-Saharan African and Asia, where millions have the virus that causes AIDS, is now under way. The clinical trial uses novel technology pioneered by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the U. S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
The phase I trial began July 17 at Johns Hopkins University. An adult male, at low risk for HIV infection, was th
Green tea´s ability to fight cancer is even more potent and varied than scientists suspected, say researchers who have discovered that chemicals in green tea shut down one of the key molecules that tobacco relies upon to cause cancer. It´s a find that could help explain why people who drink green tea are less likely to develop cancer.
The finding by scientists at the University of Rochester´s Environmental Health Science Center appears in the July 21 issue of Chemical Research in Toxicology
Global Cancer Alliance calls on Cancer Control community to put words into action and save millions of lives
The Alliance for Global Cancer Control issued its first public statement today, calling for the rapid implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The Alliance, the first worldwide coalition addressing global cancer control, emphasised that eliminating tobacco use could prevent an estimated 30% of all cancer cases and 90% of all lung cancer cases.
Patients to benefit from new ultrasound qualification developed by Sheffield Hallam University
A new postgraduate qualification in ultrasound practice has been developed by Sheffield Hallam University to ensure health professionals offering scans are competent and safe to practice.
The University has a national reputation for excellence in ultrasound education and training. It already offers six specialist postgraduate certificates in medical, obstetrics and gynaecological,
Animal research at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has found that a drug already approved by the FDA for testing in people might one day dramatically expand the number of livers useable for human transplantation.
Studying rats with fatty livers, the researchers discovered that bathing the livers in a human immune system protein called interleukin-6 (IL-6) rescues them from failure when transplanted into other rats. The findings appear in the July issue of Gastroentero
Women who use estrogen replacement therapy to relieve menopausal symptoms are more likely to develop risk factors for potentially fatal irregular heartbeats (arrythmias) and heart attacks than women who take hormone therapy combining estrogen and progestin.
Prior to the early termination of the estrogen plus progestin arm of a nationwide women’s health study, postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy was the most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, based on its
A new technique allows radiologists to lower the radiation dose that computed tomography (CT) delivers by tailoring the dose based on a child’s size, according to a study appearing in the August issue of the journal Radiology.
“The purpose of our research was to provide the technologists who run CT scanners with a precise recipe for lowering the radiation dose levels for pediatric patients by matching radiation to body size, while still delivering a high-quality CT scan,” said th
Drivers with type-1 diabetes reported higher numbers of driving mishaps according to a multi-center study led by researchers at the University of Virginia Health System. The study investigated whether or not diabetes treatments to control blood sugar level are associated with increased risks for driving mishaps. The results will be published in the August edition of Diabetes Care.
Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, occurs when blood glucose levels drop too low to properly fuel the body. A
A collagen-based wound sealant recently developed at Texas A&M University could be an alternative for human and animal wound care treatment.
The material – which can be poured or injected into the wound – speeds the closure of wounds, said Dr. Douglas Miller, research scientist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and one of the scientists working on the project.
In testing, Miller and his colleagues found a significant difference in closure between treated and
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