Electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) is more accurate than conventional catheter angiography for detecting a dangerous congenital heart abnormality that could cause sudden death, according to research by a Saint Louis University radiologist published last month in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.

Esat Memisoglu, M.D., assistant professor of radiology at Saint Louis University School of Me

Altering the standard step-by-step procedure that takes women facing a mastectomy from diagnosis to surgery to reconstruction can improve the process and help in determining if immediate reconstruction is the best course of action, according to new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Key to the new approach is the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) performed as an outpatient procedure a week or so prior to mastectomy, rather then doing the SLNB at

Exposure of developing fetuses and newborns to low levels of environmental toxins such as lead, mercury and dioxin, as well as nicotine and ethanol, could be behind the recent sharp rises in asthma, allergies and autoimmune disorders like lupus, says a Cornell University researcher.

The real dangers from environmental toxins most likely occur early in life, said Rod Dietert, professor of immunotoxicology at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, presenting a paper on the

Scientists have genetically modified male mosquitoes to express a glowing protein in their gonads, in an advance that allows them to separate the different sexes quickly.

By providing a way to quickly sex mosquitoes, the advance paves the way for pooling large numbers of sterile males which could be used to control the mosquito population.

Research published online today in Nature Biotechnology, shows how a team from Imperial College London have altered male mosquit

Two New Jersey research teams are reporting discoveries about the biological nature of psychiatric disorders that may bring them closer to the ultimate goal of finding cures for complex diseases, such as autism and schizophrenia.

Scientists at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) have unveiled new information regarding the genetic, cellular and neurological bases of suscep

New research shows that a small gene variation that increases the risk of inherited cancer can also arise during the development of spontaneous, or non-inherited, tumors.

The findings, published in the Oct. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggest that the variation might play a fundamental role in the development and spread of cancer in the body, and that the variant could be an important target for anticancer drugs.

The research focused on the

Alzheimer’s disease, a complex neurological disorder, has as one of its hallmarks the presence of senile plaques in the brains of affected individuals. These senile plaques are rich in a toxic amyloid peptide termed Aâ. The mechanisms underlying the production of Aâ are complex, but it is known that this peptide is derived from a larger precursor known as the amyloid precursor protein (AâPP). Interestingly, and of potential therapeutic significance, AâPP can be processed within the cell

Production of p53 in response to DNA damage depends on proteins that bind to a control region of the messenger RNA that codes for this protein, according to St. Jude researchers

Investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered a previously unrecognized mechanism that controls a key protein linked to the cell’s response to stress – a finding that holds promise for new ways to enhance cancer therapies or protect cells from dying after exposure to dam

A University of Colorado at Boulder team has developed the first computer-generated model of a tiny, waterwheel-like molecular rotor that has been harnessed to rotate in one direction at different speeds in response to changes in the strength of an electrical field applied from the outside.

The synthetic molecule features a chemical axle with two attached “paddles” carrying opposite electrical charges, which is mounted parallel to a gold substrate surface, said Professor Josef M

Researchers know that the many different roads to cell suicide all run through mitochondria, but do not know which roads are the ones most traveled by the signals that signify death

The story of how mitochondria are recruited during times of stress to choreograph apoptosis–the cell’s dance of death–is a story that fails to tell which particular set of steps the cells use most often, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the La Jolla In

Ensemble of usual sugars offers clues to controlling inflammation

A collaboration led by the Burnham Institute for Medical Research has found that an antibody which binds to an unusual sugar molecule residing in the gut halts the inflammation seen in Crohn’s disease and other intestinal inflammations. The antibody could prove to be a promising drug target for these common chronic intestinal disorders.

Professor Hudson Freeze, Ph.D., director of Burnham’s glycobio

’Osmolytes’ critical to survival of kidney cells and organisms in extreme environments

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have developed a new way to predict the ability of certain small molecules to protect proteins in the cells of a wide variety of organisms living in extreme environments. The technique, described in a paper published online Oct. 7 in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is a method of calcu

Pediatric surgeon looks to fetal cells to repair birth defects

Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston report using tissue engineering to reconstruct defective tracheas (windpipes) in fetal lambs, first using cells from the amniotic fluid to grow sections of cartilage tube, and then implanting these living grafts into the lambs while still in the womb.

The tracheal repair technique is one of several tissue-engineering approaches pioneered at Children’s that use the

Discovery has implications for wide range of diseases

A team of international researchers has discovered that a specific gene on chromosome 15 regulates inflammation, a finding with implications for a wide range of disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s, and infections. The findings are published in the October 9 online issue of Nature Genetics.

Investigators believe this discovery will be of great interest to biomedical

Enlisted to help fight viral infections, immune cells called macrophages consume virus-infected cells to stop the spread of the disease in the body. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have uncovered how macrophages keep from succumbing to the infection themselves. Boosting this mechanism may be a way to speed recovery from respiratory infections.

The researchers found that a specific protein produced in the course of respiratory viral infecti

“Take two cheeseburgers and call me in the morning,” may sound like far-fetched medical advice. After all, high fat foods can worsen blockages in blood vessels. But a new study in the October 17 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine shows that high fat foods can, at least in the gut, soothe inflammation. This action may stop immune cells from attacking food as a foreign invader.

Eating — particularly eating fat-rich foods — causes cells in the small intestine to produ