Imagine being able to quickly detect and diagnose blood vessel growth in cancerous tumors, and even predict how fast the tumors might metastasize or spread. Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System are doing just that in animal models using millions of tiny microbubbles injected into the bloodstream, coupled with contrast-enhanced ultrasound, an inexpensive and widely-used technique using sound waves to “see” inside the body.
Their findings are published in the July 22
Yale researcher M. Marc Abreu, M.D., has identified an area of the brain he calls the brain temperature tunnel, which transmits brain temperature to an area of skin and has the potential to prevent death from heat stroke and hypothermia, and detect infectious diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Abreu, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Ophthalmology at Yale School of Medicine, found that a small area of skin near the eyes and the nose is the point of
A Yale researcher who invented a test to determine whether a woman’s endometrium (uterine lining) is healthy and ready for embryo implantation has identified two new biochemical markers that improve assessment of the endometrium.
The endometrial function test (EFT®) was created by Harvey J. Kliman, M.D., a research scientist in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the Yale School of Medicine. An abnormal EFT is associated with pregnancy failure, whil
With 15,000 tons produced each year for batteries, alloys, and pigments, the heavy metal cadmium is one of the most serious environmental pollutants. Chronic exposure can induce kidney damage and bone disease and is thought to cause cancer. A study in the August issue of Nature Medicine now shows that cadmium mimics the effects of estrogen, and suggests that even at relatively low doses cadmium might have wide-ranging effects on the body.
Mary Beth Martin and colleagues report that,
Almost half the chance of developing acid reflux, which doctors refer to as GORD, may be down to our genes, and not just what we eat and drink, a twin study in Gut suggests.
Acid reflux (gastro-oesophageal reflux disease) is one of the most common digestive disorders in the developed world. It is thought that up to one in five people suffers from the characteristic heart burn and/or acid regurgitation every week. Regular sufferers are at increased risk of cancer of the gullet (oesophagus), n
Aging has long been recognized as the worst risk factor for chronic ailments like atherosclerosis, which clogs arteries and leads to heart attacks and stroke. Yet, the mechanism by which aging promotes the clogging of arteries has remained an enigma.
Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have discovered that a major problem with aging is an unexpected failure of the bone marrow to produce progenitor cells that are needed to repair and rejuvenate arteries exposed to such environmental
Scientists have used a technique called RNA interference to impair cancer cells’ ability to produce a key enzyme called telomerase. The enzyme, present in most major types of cancer cells, gives cells the lethal ability to divide rampantly without dying. The laboratory experiments create an opportunity for researchers who are focusing on telomerase in a bid to develop a drug like none ever developed – one capable of killing 85 percent of cancers
The research, led by Peter T. Rowley, M.
Over half of solid tumour patients analysed tested positive for cancer cell death
Cyclacel Limited, the UK-based biopharmaceutical company, reported today that it demonstrated through state-of-the-art biomarker technology that CYC202 (R-roscovitine), its lead CDK inhibitor drug candidate, appears to induce cancer cell suicide or apoptosis in patients receiving the drug. Details of the biomarker data obtained with CYC202 were reported today at an oral presentation at the American Asso
Depression is the second-leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting nearly 10% of the population. According to George S. Zubenko, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and adjunct professor of biology at Carnegie Mellon University, women are twice as likely as men to develop depression, and genetic differences appear to account for some of that disparity.
These latest results build on research published by Dr. Zubenko and his team in O
Significant genetic differences exist between tumors of the right and left side of the colon, according to data presented today at the 94th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and these distinctions should be considered for future research and treatment.
“With emerging treatments directed toward specific molecular targets, there should be special emphasis on such an important differentiation,” said Sanne Olesen, M.Sc. of biology, Aarhus University Hospital
A University of Minnesota study has confirmed the pivotal role of an enzyme known as JNK2 in the development of nonmelanoma skin cancers. The findings suggest that JNK2 should be evaluated as a target for the prevention and treatment of such cancers. Lead author Zigang Dong, director of the university’s Hormel Institute in Austin, Minn., will present the work at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, July 13, at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in the Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Pl
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have shown that a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) applied as a cream directly to the skin is safe and effective in lessening muscle soreness experienced 24 to 48 hours following exercise, when soreness reaches its peak. In addition, the direct application bypasses the internal body-route taken by oral medications, thus avoiding unpleasant side effects sometimes experienced with NSAIDs.
In a study pu
We do not feel the nitrogen of air, and scientists do not believe that under normal pressure nitrogen can affect human organisms. However, being under water or in the altitude chamber nitrogen produces a different effect. Once the pressure is increased about four times, simulating the pressure which exists at the 30- meter depth, the first signs of intoxication usually show up. They are the same that accompany alcoholic intoxication: unreasonable gaiety, talkativeness, depressed attention, impaired s
Researchers at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center have demonstrated a new way to target and choke off the blood supply to cancerous liver tumors in mice. The new method inhibited liver tumor growth and extended survival in mice by blocking a receptor on blood vessel endothelial cells that triggers blood vessel growth. Blocking this “Tie2” receptor worked as well as or better than naturally occurring proteins that inhibit blood vessel growth in tumors, the study showed.
The new study comes
The University Fertility Consultants at the Oregon Health & Science University have successfully frozen human eggs that have resulted in the birth of a baby boy to a Forest Grove couple. It is the first successful birth using this method on the West Coast, according to David Battaglia, Ph.D., who utilized a technique that was developed in Bologna, Italy. He is also an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology. Egg freezing technology is just emerging as a viable option for patients and this bi
May be factor in human infertility as well as cancer and aging
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have discovered a gene mutation in mice that causes premature ovarian failure, a form of infertility affecting an estimated 250,000 women in the United States.
The investigators say the discovery will lead to unique animal models of premature ovarian failure (POF), or early menopause, useful for further studying the poorly understo
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