A new technique for analyzing the network of genetic interactions promises to change how researchers study the dynamic biological landscape of the cell. The technology, which is called epistatic mini array profiles (E-MAP), has already been used to assign new functions to known genes, to uncover the roles of previously uncharacterized proteins, and to define how biochemical pathways and proteins interact with one another.

E-MAP will enable new understanding of how genes and prote

The UK’s Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB), published by Which?, has identified an important error in standard guidelines on fetal varicella syndrome. This finding has major implications worldwide for advice given to women with chickenpox in late pregnancy.

Fetal varicella syndrome is an uncommon but potentially fatal condition that can affect the unborn child of a pregnant woman who catches chickenpox. It can cause problems such as skin loss or scarring, under-development or we

Western Governments seem to have learned many of the lessons of how to cope with thyroid cancers in the aftermath of a nuclear accident, a prominent thyroid specialist stated on Monday.

Professor Michael Sheppard is part of the WHO team which was sent to Chernobyl in the wake of the accident, to review how those affected were coping with the disaster. He believes that the UK, as well as other developed Western countries, have taken on many of the lessons of the accident.

The most deadly malaria parasite has protein ’wiring’ that differs markedly from the cellular circuitry of other higher organisms, a finding which could lead to the development of antimalarial drugs that exploit that difference

Researchers at UCSD have discovered that the single-cell parasite responsible for an estimated 1 million deaths per year worldwide from malaria has protein “wiring” that differs markedly from the cellular circuitry of other higher organisms, a finding which

Research has implications for improving detection and treatment of bacterial vaginosis and other infections with multiple bacterial sources

Despite being one of the most common infections among women, scientists and doctors know little about the causes of bacterial vaginosis (BV), a usually benign disease that is also linked to serious health problems including pelvic inflammatory disease, an increase in the viral load of HIV from infected women and a two-fold increase in risk f

While searching for new targets for malaria drugs and vaccines, a team including a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) medical student fellow reached a fundamental insight about evolution: different species make use of similar sets of proteins in different ways.

“We’ve observed that organisms may share many similar proteins and yet retain very little parallel function among them,” said Taylor Sittler, a medical student at the University of Massachusetts Medical School i

Researchers at Oregon State University have made a major discovery in basic plant biology that may set the stage for profound advances in plant genetics or biotechnology.

The scientists have identified for the first time a protein that can cross plant cell membranes, where it functions as a toxin to kill the cell. It had been known that viruses and bacteria can penetrate cell wall barriers and disrupt plant cells, but never before has a protein been found that could do this by it

20-year collaboration between UC Davis and Finnish researchers led to new drug

A tamoxifen-like drug developed by UC Davis and Finnish researchers, now in clinical testing as a treatment for vaginal atrophy, may also help to prevent breast cancer, two preliminary studies suggest.

The studies, based on research in a mouse model of human breast cancer, will be published in the November issue of the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Decem

A new window opens on structure and function of enzymes

A Brandeis University study published in Nature this week advances fundamental understanding of the dynamic personalities of proteins and proposes that these enzymes are much more mobile, or plastic, than previously thought. The research, based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments, may shed new light on how to improve rational drug design through docking to dynamic targets.

For the first time ever, t

Preconditioning could prevent injury to dendrites in neurologic diseases

Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have targeted a new culprit and method of attack on neurologic functions in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia associated with HIV.

In an article in the Nov. 1 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, the Rochester scientists describe a new mechanism by which brain cells can be damaged during chronic neurodegenerative disea

New findings on different treatment options including new therapies for prostate cancer were presented at the 13th European Cancer Conference (ECCO).

A Dutch study suggested treating prostate cancer patients with higher doses of radiotherapy significantly improved patient outcome and treatment over a five-year period. Another evaluated which patients would benefit from early adjuvant anti-androgen therapy. Data was presented on a new compound to treat androgen independent prostate

New sensor systems being developed will help treat cancer and improve the accuracy and reliability of existing radiation treatments. They should help improve patient care and outcomes. The results will go straight to commercialisation when finalised next year.

The INVORAD project developed systems for real-time radiation monitoring for patient dosimetry in Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT). IMRT is a radiation therapy for cancers that improves clinical outcomes by more accur

Does a combination of radiation therapy and the inhibition of integrins (key molecules in angiogenesis) improve the chance of cure in cancer?

An increasing number of cancer patients are cured today by radiation therapy – alone or in combination with surgery or chemotherapy. At the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), scientists of the Clinical Cooperation Unit “Radiation Oncology” headed by Professor Dr. Dr. Peter Huber are identifying ways to fu

The amounts of health promoting compounds in fruit and vegetable products vary so much that the possible beneficial health effects from these products is far from optimal. Simulations done by researchers at Wageningen University predict about a 45% reduction in the risk of colon cancer (2700 cases per year in the Netherlands) if the entire food production chain can see to it that the average quality of healthy substances in fruit and vegetable products increases by a factor of 3.

Fu

Can it be that the stress on the use of antiseptics and antibiotics in hospitals is actually putting patients at a greater risk of suffering fatal bacterial infection?

Yes, argues Mark Spigelman, a visiting professor at the Sanford F. Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Medicine. Prof. Spigelman points to a recent BBC report on the poor record of bacterial infections in patients (the worst in Europe) i

Liverpool researchers have found that a garlic supplement could help beat Britain’s biggest killer.

New scientific evidence shows that aged garlic extract (AGE) can significantly reduce the chances of heart attacks in patients with existing coronary problems. British Heart Foundation* statistics shows that cardiovascular disease kills one in three people in the UK, totalling 233,000 deaths in 2003. Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University have discovered that