An experimental gene transfer technique shut down cell re-growth in the arteries’ interior lining and reduced the inflammatory response – two main causes of re-narrowing of newly opened blood vessels, researchers report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The process that opens blocked blood vessels – either inflating a tiny balloon to force open the narrowed vessel (angioplasty) or inserting a tiny mesh tube called a stent to se
Researchers have proven that gene therapy can reverse the pathological features of muscular dystrophy in an animal model. Before, gene therapy had only been able to prevent further muscle-wasting in mice. “We expect to build on these results in the continuing search for a way to treat a horrible disease. Our results indicate that gene therapy could be used not only to halt or prevent this disease, but also to restore normal muscle function in older patients,” says Dr. Jeffrey S. Chamberlain, professo
Researchers at Stanford University Medical Center have devised a way to sneak DNA into skin cells taken from people with a potentially deadly genetic skin disorder. These modified cells later formed normal, healthy skin when transplanted onto the skin of mice. The technique, published in the advance online publication of the October issue of the journal Nature Medicine, marks the first time researchers have stably replaced the mutated gene in this disease and introduces a new gene therapy technique t
Many cancer patients generate immune cells capable of specifically attacking their tumors, but the cells rarely do, in fact, target a patient’s cancer. What prevents these potentially helpful cells from taking action? And is there anything that might be done to unleash them?
The attack cells – known as cytolytic T cells – are prevented from acting by a second set of immune cells called regulatory T cells, according to a new study from investigators at The Wistar Institute. The research
Research at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) has revealed that certain chemical ingredients of gasoline, jet fuel and other solvents may pose a greater health hazard than first thought. Scientists at the OHSU Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology (CROET) have shown that a benzene derivative damages the nervous system. In fact, the substance is much more active than non-benzene analogs already known to cause peripheral nerve damage (loss of limb sensation and muscl
Jesus Manuel Labandeira in his doctoral thesis, read in the University of Navarre, tested this technique in pigs due to the similarity to the human cardiovascular system.
According to the results obtained by doctor Labandeira, the use of a occlusion ball in the aorta duplicates the blood pressure that goes to heart and brain during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Improving the results of CPR
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) constitutes one of the most emble
Early findings from a randomised trial investigating the effectiveness of tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer are reported in this week’s issue of THE LANCET. Although tamoxifen reduced breast cancer incidence by a third compared with women given placebo, the authors of the study caution that it is still too early to fully assess the risk to benefit ratio of tamoxifen as a preventative strategy for breast cancer.
Tamoxifen is well known in its effect to decrease recurrence of (and death from
A review in this week’s issue of THE LANCET assesses the research which has investigated possible links between diet and cancer. A familiar conclusion is reached-cancer risk can be reduced by eating a balanced diet (including the regular consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables), combined with regular exercise and a restriction on alcohol intake.
Diet-related factors are thought to be second only to tobacco in accounting for cancer-accounting for about 30% of cancers in developed countries
Results of a new programme for treating young children with autism have shown that even the most disabled made outstanding progress. Ninety-four percent of those completing the programme so far are now able to attend a mainstream school.
The South West Autism Project (SWAP), directed by Professor Alec Webster of Bristol University and funded by Bristol City Council, was started in September 2000, following a marked rise in the number of children in Bristol being diagnosed with autism. Data f
OHSU study suggests that HRT may act on cancer cells to produce less aggressive tumors
A study of nearly 300 breast cancer patients at Oregon Health & Science University found that women who use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) have less aggressive tumors and are more likely to be diagnosed through mammograms than other methods. Also, HRT users with breast cancer had significantly better survival rates than non-HRT users. The study is published in the September issue of the journal T
The same sanitizing agent used to rid federal office buildings of anthrax – chlorine dioxide gas – can effectively eliminate deadly bacteria from apples and other fruits and vegetables, according to Purdue University researchers.
Scientists at Purdue began experiments using the gas to kill pathogens found on food long before anthrax was detected in mail sent to offices in New York and Washington, D.C., shortly after the terrorist attacks one year ago. The latest university test measured how
The use of drugs/pharmaceuticals in cattle rearing is the object of a recent study, carried out by two researchers from the Centro de Estudos Farmacêuticos, Laboratório de Bromatologia, Hidrologia e Nutrição (Pharmaceutical Study Centre, Bromatology, Hydrology and Nutrition Laboratory) at the Pharmacy Faculty of Coimbra University. The consequences for consumers are, from a public health standpoint, the most significant conclusions to take from an exhaustive work of literary revision in these matters
A study by the coordinator of the Research Group on Climate at the Barcelona Science Park, University of Barcelona, Dr Xavier Rodó, and other researchers at the University of Michigan and the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh, provides evidence not only that climatic variation associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects the appearance of cholera epidemics, as shown by a previous publication in Science by the same group, but also that the relationsh
Cancer develops from a single damaged cell subsequent to an accumulation of genetic errors in a number of its genes. The nature of these alterations and the order in which they occur differ from one cancer to another : hence, the “pathways” that may lead to cancer are numerous.
CNRS and INSERM researchers at the Institut Curie have just discovered a new tumor development pathway in colon cancer, one of the most common forms of cancer (35,000 new cases every year in France).
This
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or HAART, is the standard of care for HIV/AIDS patients and has prolonged the lives of countless persons with the disease. HAART has been associated, however, with the emergence of lipodystrophy syndromes. In this month’s issue of the journal Mitochondrion*, researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., report that protease inhibitors, a component
Working with guinea pigs, Johns Hopkins scientists have created what is believed to be the first biologic pacemaker for the heart, paving the way for a genetically engineered alternative to implanted electronic pacemakers. The advance, reported in the Sept. 12 issue of Nature, uses gene therapy to convert a small fraction of guinea pigs’ heart muscle cells into specialized “pacing” cells.
“We now can envision a day when it will be possible to recreate an individual’s pacemaker cel
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