A family history of breast cancer does not increase a woman`s chances of developing womb cancer, finds a 20-year study in the Journal of Medical Genetics.
Cancers of the lining of the womb (endometrium) and breast share some of the same reproductive, hormonal, and lifestyle risk factors. The evidence for a genetic link between the two types of cancer has so far been inconclusive.
But a team from the US National Cancer Institute and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Will allow non-invasive study of neurochemistry, behavior, and disease progression
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have demonstrated that a miniature positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, known as microPET, and the chemical markers used in traditional PET scanning are sensitive enough to pick up subtle differences in neurochemistry between known genetic variants of mice.
This “proof-of-principle” experiment, described i
T cells and antibody-producing B cells carry out immune defense against specific pathogens such as viruses. Antibodies and T cell receptors are highly diverse molecules that can recognize millions of different molecules. Upon encounter of a foreign antigen (such as a molecule from the surface of a virus), T cells and B cells whose receptors match that particular antigen expand dramatically, providing the immune system with a large number of very specific defenders. After an attack is fought off, the
Researchers are using a herpes virus that produces a firefly enzyme to illuminate the virus’s course of infection in mice and to help monitor the infection’s response to therapy. The work is published by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the December issue of the Journal of Virology.
“This study demonstrates the feasibility of monitoring microbial infections in living animals in real time,” says study leader David A. Leib, Ph.D., associate prof
A new technique enables doctors to directly examine the lining of milk ducts in the breast for early signs of cancer and other abnormalities, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers used the technique, known as ductoscopy, to detect breast abnormalities in women with a condition called pathologic nipple discharge (PND).
The findings are published in the October issue of the journal Surgery.
“This technique is more successful
Indiana resident Luke Pascale runs two pizza restaurants and had worked out three times a week. He also enjoyed long bike rides with his wife, but last year, the pain in his hip became so severe he couldn’t stay on a bike for more than five minutes.
“I’m very active so the thought of having hip surgery was not pleasant,” said the 53-year-old father of four from St. John, Ind.
Instead of receiving the traditional hip replacement surgery, which uses a metal ball bearing in a polyeth
A group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a novel DNA vaccine that helps the body resist the growth of cancerous tumors by choking off the tumors’ blood supply.
“We stimulate the immune system to recognize proliferating blood vessels in the tumor vasculature and to recruit killer T cells to destroy these vessels,” explains TSRI Immunology Professor Ralph Reisfeld, Ph.D., who conducted the study with Research Associate Andreas G. Niethammer, M.D., an
On Friday, November 8, Mats Hallman, Department of Odontology, Jaw Surgery, Umeå University in Sweden, will defend a thesis that presents favorable results from implanting bone powder from calves to anchor tooth implants in humans.
Tooth implants have long been a well-tested method to create permanent teeth in toothless sections of the jaw. In certain cases, however, patients have no bone in which to secure the titanium screws. In these cases it is necessary to rebuild the bone prior
Age is the ’equalizer,’ according to a study that provides new insights into why women live longer than men
Men die earlier than women. This fact leads scientists and medical researchers to conclude that gender and age are two basic factors continuously affecting body functions, disease categories and even life expectancy. Previous research has determined that gender influences brain structure and functions; however, in considering the cardiac pacemaker, there is still debat
May increase susceptibility to inflammatory diseases such as allergic, autoimmune or cardiovascular diseases
Chronic stress not only makes people more vulnerable to catching illnesses but can also impair their immune system’s ability to respond to its own anti-inflammatory signals that are triggered by certain hormones, say researchers, possibly altering the course of an inflammatory disease. This finding is reported on in the November issue of Health Psychology, published by the
A group of researchers in Trondheim, Norway, are the first in the world to use in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to separate benign tumors from cancer. Ingrid Susann Gribbestad shows, in her recently published thesis, how one can discover breast cancer and monitor the treatment by using this new technology. The work is financed by the Norwegian Cancer Society and the Research Council of Norway.
www.kreft.no: The research behind this thesis was done at the Foundation
A compound that enables squirrels to hibernate may one day help minimize brain damage that results from stroke, according to a researcher at the Medical College of Georgia and Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta.
In an animal model for stroke, delta opioid peptide reduced by as much as 75 percent the damage to the brain’s striatum, the deeper region of the brain and a major target for strokes, according to Dr. Cesario V. Borlongan, neuroscientist.
In fact, evidence suggests t
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers report a 50 percent reduction in the number of deaths among kidney hemodialysis patients who are given a new drug that helps prevent excess phosphorus from accumulating in the bloodstream. “The drug, lanthanum carbonate, is effective. It’s well-tolerated, and patients find it reasonably easy to take,” said Dr. William Finn, nephrologist and professor of medicine at UNC.
Study findings will be presented Saturday (Nov. 2) at the Amer
The best thing since sliced bread may be bread crust: Researchers in Germany have discovered that the crust is a rich source of antioxidants and may provide a much stronger health benefit than the rest of the bread.
This is good news for those who like to complement their holiday meals with bread stuffing, which is rich in crust, but bad news for those who prefer to remove crusts from their bread, as they may be sacrificing healthful antioxidants. The research findings are scheduled to appe
Authors of an article in this week’s issue of THE LANCET-the first of a series of four articles assessing the role of the pharmaceutical industry in medicine-are critical of the way in which multinational pharmaceutical companies manipulate the provision of information, and say that this contributes to a distortion of medical research.
Joe Collier and Ike Iheanacho from Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, London, UK, comment on how the pharmaceutical industry spends more time and resources o
Research scientists at INSERM, CNRS and the Institut Curie, in collaboration with physicians, have used a mouse model to demonstrate the efficacy of an innovative therapeutic approach to Ewing`s sarcoma: the combination of human interferon (alpha or beta) and a common anti-tumor agent, ifosfamide.
Their results were published in the November 2002 issue of Oncogene and point to an interesting lead in the development of a less intensive and more effective therapeutic strategy for Ewing`s sarc
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