Forget sharp metal picks or X-rays-in the future, your dentist may search for cavities using a painless laser-based technique developed at U of T that can detect cracks or defects at an early stage of development. v “Using the technique, we can see all the way to the pulp-more than five millimetres inside a tooth,” says Professor Andreas Mandelis of U of T’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. “It can reveal suspicious regions invisible to the naked eye below the surface of
Dr. Kouros Motamed is studying endothelial cells where they live, in the complex environment that provides, not only support and structure, but regulation and direction.
As he studies these cells that line blood vessels, this vascular biologist at the Medical College of Georgia focuses on the proteins and growth factors that regulate their normal processes, including proliferation, differentiation, migration and death.
He wants to better understand how these cells interact with th
A common genetic variant influences individual responses and adaptation to pain and other stressful stimuli and may underlie vulnerability to many psychiatric and other complex diseases, reports David Goldman, M.D., Chief, Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and colleagues at NIAAA and the University of Michigan. COMT val158met Genotype Affects m-Opioid Neurotransmitter Responses to a Pain Stressor appears in the February 21 issue of Science (299:1240, 200
Since the 1980s most experts have assumed that heterosexual sex transmitted 90% of HIV in Africa. In the March International Journal of STD and AIDS, an international team of HIV specialists presents groundbreaking evidence to challenge this consensus, with “profound implications” for public health in Africa.
In a series of articles, Dr David Gisselquist, Mr John Potterat and colleagues argue that the spread of HIV infections in Africa is closely linked to medical care. In their unique stud
A Mediterranean diet significantly lessens the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, shows a small Swedish study in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. But it takes a minimum of six weeks for the diet to take effect, the study shows.
The researchers were only able to study 51 people out of a possible 300, because of the various combinations of drugs patients were taking. In the end, 26 people with stable rheumatoid arthritis were assigned to an experimental Mediterranean/Cretan, diet for three
The effect of spinal cord stimulation, in chronic pain treatment, can be drastically improved using continuous distance detection. The strength of the stimulation pulses then depends on the distance measured between the electrodes and the spinal cord. In this way, negative side-effects belong to the past. These side-effects arise with a varying distance, causing diminished pain treatment in case of a distance that is too large, or unwanted sensations when the distance is too small. Emiel Dijkstra of
Tamoxifen appears to reduce the risk of benign breast disease and may result in fewer biopsies, according to an analysis of data from a major randomized clinical trial of tamoxifen. The findings appear in the February 19 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Tamoxifen was shown in the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial to reduce the incidence of invasive and noninvasive breast cancer by as much as 50% compared to placebo. Other studies have suggested that tamoxifen can also dec
We all know people who can take pain or stress much better than we can, and others who cry out at the merest pinprick. We’ve heard stories of people who did heroic deeds despite horrible injuries, and stereotypes about women’s supposedly sensitivity to pain that don’t mesh with their ability to withstand childbirth’s pain.
But what accounts for all these differences in how individuals feel and respond to pain? And why are some people, especially women, more frequently pr
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found that a recently discovered gene plays an essential role in mediating apoptosis, or cell death, in colorectal cancer cells. The results are published in the Feb. 18 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The gene, PUMA, or p53 up-regulated modulator of apoptosis, is controlled by p53 – a tumor-suppressing gene that prevents norma
The link between climate and cholera, a serious health problem in many parts of the world, has become stronger in recent decades, according to a University of Michigan scientist who takes an ecological approach to understanding disease patterns. Mercedes Pascual, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, discussed her work during a symposium Feb. 17 on the ecology of infectious diseases at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In wo
Scientists work toward unraveling gene expression in the brain
Using Web-based tools they developed to sift through reams of data, scientists from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins hope to unravel the genetics of neurological problems associated with Down syndrome, autism and lead poisoning.
Their search starts with microarrays, or so-called “gene chips,” which measure the activity of tens of thousands of genes all at once. By analyzing the pattern of gene acti
UH Researchers Focus On Diagnosing Eye Disease Using Adaptive Optics
A new optics technology is providing scientists with real-time microscopic images of the living retina, and may allow doctors to focus in on earlier diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as diabetes and glaucoma.
University of Houston researchers are using a technology called adaptive optics to peer inside the eyes of human subjects and for the first time get clear, sharp images of features such as bloo
Results reported in Nature Medicine
Opening up the possibility of a new approach to the treatment of diabetes, researchers have shown in animal studies that a drug long available in Europe can simultaneously block three of the major biochemical pathways responsible for the blood-vessel damage that causes serious diabetic complications.
Dr. Michael Brownlee of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine was the senior researcher for the international consortium that carried out t
The fact that infections among adults can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes is now well established by several hundred scientific studies. Both heart attacks and strokes are expressions of arteriosclerosis (thickening of the arteries, previously termed hardening of the arteries). New research from the Section for Pediatric Cardiology in Lund indicates that infections can also contribute to the early development of arteriosclerosis even in childhood.
Doctor Petru Liuba shows in a
A research letter in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggests that the pain-killer ibuprofen could diminish the well-known beneficial effects of aspirin on preventing cardiovascular disease. Aspirin makes platelets (blood-clotting cells) less ’sticky’ which is associated with fewer thromboses (clots). Aspirin therefore reduces the chance of heart attacks caused by coronary thrombosis and stroke (cerebral thrombosis). Previous laboratory research has suggested that ibuprofen in
The results from a longitudinal study of the relative frequency of various types of HIV mutations associated with the use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) were presented today at a meeting of leading AIDS researchers. The study showed that the prevalence of most key mutations associated with antiretroviral resistance have changed significantly from 1999-2002.
Specifically, the results showed that the prevalence of thymidine analog mutations (TAMs) and other key mutations associated with HIV
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