University and biotech company collaboration prepares MetaChip for technology transfer

Recalls of popular prescription drugs are raising public concern about the general safety of new pharmaceuticals. A collaborative group of researchers says that identifying which drug candidates are toxic early in the discovery process can help prevent harmful pharmaceuticals from being placed on the market in the first place, and they have developed a tool to do it.

Researchers at

Living organisms are dependent on being able to adjust the water content in their cells. This is achieved by regulating the flow of water through the cell membrane. Water is ‘turned on’ and ‘turned off’ by membrane proteins that function as water conduits and are called aquaporins. In the new issue of Nature, Professor Per Kjellbom and Associate Professor Urban Johanson, plant biochemists at Lund University, Sweden, describe how this takes place. The discovery is not only a breakthrough for pure

While botulinum toxin A, or BTXA, is widely known for its use in dermatology and aesthetic medicine, a review article in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology explores the drug’s other successful applications.

BTXA is popularly used to treat hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) or to diminish wrinkles, but it is also a highly effective natural substance that normalizes muscle activity and can be used to reduce pain and itch.

Benefits of BTXA have been observed in treatment of hand

The first study of the effects of testosterone on mood, behavior and psychological health in men with mild Alzheimer disease finds significant improvements in quality of life, as assessed by caregivers.

Led by neuroscientists at the UCLA Alzheimer Disease Research Center and detailed in an early online release of the peer-reviewed journal Archives of Neurology, the double blind, placebo-controlled study used caregiver assessments to evaluate quality of life and used a battery o

Offering promise in the battle against cancer, the results from five studies highlighting new advances in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) – a slow-progressing, malignant bone marrow cancer – will be presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

“The survival rate for leukemia has improved in the past two decades, thanks to new agents designed to treat patients,” said Brian J. Druker, M.D., Oregon Health and Science University, Port

Unfortunately, reactions going with extensive calorification and/or participation of unstable components and reaction products are not infrequent in chemistry. Here lies potential hazard of chemical manufacturing. Even minor deviations from technology and simply changes in reagents’ storage or transportation conditions, to say nothing about hazard situations, for instance, sudden power outages, may result in unexpected consequences. Therefore, emergency events evolution in the most inconceivable si

When fighting cancerous growths, it is very important to use internal cellular mechanisms on top of various external impacts on the tumor. Among internal mechanisms is cells’ ability for “suicide” – programmed cell death, which is called apoptosis. The cells resort to apoptosis when something is irreparably broken in them and the cells need to perform self-destruction to avoid causing damage to the entire organism. Apoptosis is executed by intracellular protease enzymes (they are called caspa

Two field-vole species, which are outwardly indistinguishable, behave differently towards human beings. Results of experiments carried out by the specialists of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Lomonosov Moscow State University connect these differences with the exploratory behavior of field-voles. Timorous and incurious common voles (Microtus arvalis) prefers country life, and inquisitive European ground voles (Arvicola terrestris) readily move

Neurobiologists have gained new insights into how neurons control growth of the intricate tracery of branches called dendrites that enable them to connect with their neighbors. Dendritic connections are the basic receiving stations by which neurons form the signaling networks that constitute the brain’s circuitry.

Such basic insights into neuronal growth will help researchers better understand brain development in children, as well as aid efforts to restore neuronal connections

An experimental model, developed by scientists from VNIIEF in Sarov and their colleagues, ophthalmologists from ‘Mikrokhirugiya Glaza’ [Optical Microsurgery] means that it is possible, quite literally, to see the world with someone else’s eyes. Financial support was given to the researchers for the creation of a model of the human eye by the International Science and Technology Center.

‘The actual initiators of the project were the Moscow-based developers of new artificial crystalline l

Patent foramen ovale may be ’innocent bystander,’ not source of stroke

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that — contrary to current thinking by some in the medical community — a patent foramen ovale (PFO), a small hole between the two upper chambers of the heart, does not predestine an individual to a stroke later in life. Findings will appear online on Friday, Dec. 9 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“In the general population, it doe

Two large, randomised, placebo-controlled studies presented at the inaugural conference of the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM; Berlin, Germany) in October demonstrate that pramipexole delivered both short-term and sustained efficacy in patients suffering from Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)1,2 enrolled in these trials.

New data from a randomized, placebo-controlled “withdrawal” study1 show that discontinuation of pramipexole leads to rapid worsening of RLS in patients who had pre

The targeted agent AMN107 can produce dramatic benefits in patients with some forms of leukemia that are resistant to Gleevec, the standard therapy for these cancers, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (meeting abstract #37).

At the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the investigators reported marked improvement in outcome in all three phases of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) as well as benefit in treating a form

The reliability of a prostate cancer-screening test may be compromised by lifestyle and demographic factors, according to a new study. Published in the January 15, 2006 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study reveals the (rate of) change in concentration of prostate specific antigen (PSA) over time–a calculation called PSA velocity–can be significantly affected by age, race, and diet, leading to falsely lower or elevated values and possible misinterpreta

OHSU study shows platinum-based ototoxicity in children prevalent, but new drugs offer prevention hope

By 14, Peter Johnson had survived brain cancer and a relapse of the disease in his shoulder. But it was treatment for the last tumor that would create his life’s greatest challenges.

Johnson, now 33, has suffered since 1986 from the effects of ototoxicity, a condition in which platinum-based chemotherapy drugs, such as carboplatin and the more common cisplatin,

Highly complex biochemical signaling systems tell body cells to divide, to stop growing or to specialize on specific tasks. Among the key cellular communication systems is the Wnt signaling pathway which controls embryonic development and also plays a role in the development of tumors. Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszen¬trum, DKFZ) have now been able to close a critical gap in our knowledge of this well-explored sequence of biochemical signals.

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