The types of food eaten in an effort to cut down on saturated fat may make a difference in reducing heart disease risk, according to a study of people with either high blood pressure or prehypertension. The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a part of the National Institutes of Health.

Investigators evaluated three diets that follow the principles of NHLBI’s DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan with some mod

A combination of brain scanning with a new imaging agent and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis has left neuroscientists encouraged that they may finally be moving toward techniques for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease before its clinical symptoms become apparent. “When clinical symptoms start, the disease process has already been at work in the patient for many years and possibly even decades,” explains Anne Fagan Niven, Ph.D., research associate professor of neurology at Washington Univer

Using transparent zebrafish embryos, researchers at Jefferson Medical College have shown that a microscopic nanoparticle can help fend off damage to normal tissue from radiation. The nanoparticle, a soccer ball-shaped, hollow, carbon-based structure known as a fullerene, acts like an “oxygen sink,” binding to dangerous oxygen radicals produced by radiation.

The scientists, led by Adam Dicker, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of radiation oncology at Jefferson Medical College of T

Leica M820 F19: Best vision counts

The year comes to a close – but not the innovative power and the ambition of Leica Microsystems to provide perfect solutions to the challenges of ophthalmic surgery. The new Leica offers users all the high-performance features of the 8-series surgical microscopes, thereby meeting highest opthalmic requirements.

High performance that is easy to operate

The new high-performance microscope combines premium optical compo

Siemens and Dräger Medical extend partnership

Two factors that are essential for prompt and efficient patient care in hospitals today are availability of reliable patient information and mobility of medical staff. Siemens Communications (Com) will support Dräger Medical in offering greater mobility in hospitals. This solution makes vital patient monitoring data available hospital-wide using the existing hospital network. Dräger Medical and Siemens Com will use the latest Wi-Fi WLAN

A University of Navarre research team, made up of Irene Esparza, José María Fernández, Carolina Santamaría, María Isabel Calvo and José Mª García-Mina, have studied the influence of a number of metals in giving wine its colour. The work concluded that a slight change in these elements substantially modifies certain aspects of the quality of the ferments.

Scientists know that colour is one of the main parameters that enable the excellence of the product to be measured, providin

Kills blood cancer cells with low toxicity in preclinical studies

An anti-cancer compound derived from bacteria dwelling in ocean-bottom sediments appears in laboratory tests to be a potent killer of drug-resistant multiple myeloma cells, and potentially with less toxicity than current treatments, report Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers in the November issue of Cancer Cell.

The experimental compound, NPI-0052, has been found to block or inhibit cancer cells’

Research showing how genes affect group loyalty and patriotism was published in the October 2005 issue of Nations and Nationalism, an academic journal of the London School of Economics.

Entitled “Ethnic nationalism, evolutionary psychology, and genetic similarity theory,” it shows how genetic similarity provides “social glue” in groups as small as two spouses and best friends or in those as large as nations and alliances.

The evidence comes from studies of identical an

A gene thought to influence perception and susceptibility to drug dependence is expressed more readily in human beings than in other primates, and this difference coincides with the evolution of our species, say scientists at Indiana University Bloomington and three other academic institutions. Their report appears in the December issue of Public Library of Science Biology.

The gene encodes prodynorphin, an opium-like protein implicated in the anticipation and experience of pain, s

VCU Massey Cancer Center to develop human study

Two new drugs, when combined, killed up to 75 percent of breast cancer tumor cells in mice and suppressed the regrowth of tumors, according to researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center.

The findings, published online Nov. 14 in the journal Cancer Biology and Therapy, may also have implications for prostate cancer, lymphoma, myeloma and other hematologic cancers.

Paul Dent, Ph.D., assoc

Results show neural reorganization occurs during short-term memory

An international team of scientists for the first time has detected a memory trace in a living animal after it has encountered a single, new stimulus. The research, done with honeybees sensing new odors, allows neuroscientists to peer within the living brain and explore short-term memory as never before, according to scientist Roberto Fernández Galán, a leading author on the report who is currently a postdoctoral

Researchers here have discovered a new marker that might identify a serious form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in people who lack the signs that normally alert doctors that the patient needs intense therapy.

The study was led by researchers with The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. It focused on AML patients whose cancer cells show none of the chromosome alterations that help doctors deter

New research shows that a wasting condition responsible for nearly a third of all cancer deaths involves the loss of an essential muscle protein that is also lost in people with muscular dystrophy.

The findings provide a better understanding of cancer wasting, also known as cancer cachexia, a condition first described more than 100 years ago that still lacks effective therapy. The findings also might lead to new ways to diagnose and treat the condition.

The study, led

Northwestern University researchers have developed a novel, three-dimensional model that allows scientists to observe how interacting with the microenvironment of metastatic melanoma cells induces normal skin cells to become similar to aggressive cancer cells that migrate and spread throughout the body.

The model, developed by Mary J. C. Hendrix and colleagues at Children’s Memorial Research Center, consists of a three-dimensional collagen matrix preconditioned by malignan

Planaria worms demonstrate how cells communicate and grow new tissues

Forsyth Institute research with the flatworm, planaria, offers new clues for understanding restoration of body structures. Researchers at The Forsyth Institute have discovered how the worm’s cells communicate to correctly repair and regenerate tissue. Forsyth scientists have found that gap-junction (microscopic tunnels directly linking neighboring cells) communication contributes to this signaling. This re

Leukaemia is characterised by an uncontrolled growth of abnormal blood cells in the bone marrow (BM). Escape of the cancerous cells to other organs is linked with worst disease prognosis and less susceptibility to therapy, and, as consequence, to understand the mechanism(s) behind such migration is crucial. And now, in an advance online publication of the journal “Blood”, a group of researchers has found that FLT-1 – a molecule implicated in blood vessel growth – is necessary for the escape of t