New freezing technique raises future hopes for human applications

Israeli scientists report today (Thursday 15 September) in Human Reproduction[1] that they have successfully transplanted whole frozen and thawed ovaries in sheep, retrieved oocytes from these ovaries and triggered them in the laboratory into early embryonic development.

Follow-up tests showed that the ovaries in the two sheep from which oocytes were recovered were still functioning normally three years lat

A new system for directing radiation to target cells has been developed in Melbourne, Australia. The new targeting system has the potential to specifically destroy cancer cells with minimal damage to healthy tissues.

Tom Karagiannis is a research officer from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre where the system was devised. Tom has been selected for Fresh Science, a national competition where early-career researchers present their work to the public for the first time.

One o

Researchers at the University of Dundee have discovered new levels of complexity in the regulation of the tumour suppressor gene p53, findings which could have a significant impact on the identification of patients at risk of developing aggressive cancer and in determining more efficient drug treatments.

The research has been led by Professor Sir David Lane and Dr Jean-Christophe Bourdon of the Cancer Research UK Cell Transformation Group at the University of Dundee. Prof Lane

As a result of the joint working between teams of experts from the Iberia Ashland Chemical, S.A. company and the INASMET-Tecnalia Technological Centre, a solution has been found to prevent the serious disease caused by the bacteria known as “Legionella” and other similar disorders.

This achievement has meant a great advance for human health. It is based on the biocidal and bacteriostatic effect of the SONOXIDE system, used in refrigeration towers of factory buildings and installatio

The recent discovery of citrus greening (huanglongbing) in samples collected from trees in South Florida poses a definite threat to Florida’s $9 billion commercial citrus industry. Proper identification and eradication methods are needed to reduce the amount of crop loss caused by this disease, say plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS). Citrus greening is a bacterial disease that affects the phloem system of citrus plants causing the infected trees to yellow, dec

Ames Laboratory researchers explore the new frontier of metabolomics

The biotech field of genomics gives scientists genetic roadmaps to link certain genes to diseases. The subsequent study of proteins produced by certain genes spawned the field of proteomics.

Now, a group of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University will use $1.02 million in DOE start-up funding to begin understanding the chemical processes that take place withi

Findings Could Lead To New Immune Therapy for Breast Cancer

A team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown that by using a cancer vaccine based on the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, they can cure mice with established breast tumors. Cancer vaccines, which are more properly described as immunotherapy, work by boosting an immune response against tumor-associated antigens. Using Listeria, the researchers, led by Yvonne Paterson, PhD, Professor of Microb

Understanding macrophages could lead to ways to prevent HIV-associated dementia

Bacteria-eating cells that generally fight infection may cause dementia in HIV patients, University of Florida and University of California at San Francisco researchers have found.

Macrophages, long-living white blood cells often considered the scavengers of the immune system, actually may damage a part of the brain where many memories are stored in their attempt to attack the virus there, acc

In an effort to understand the biological function of the microRNA mir1, Drs. Nicholas Sokol and Victor Ambros (Darmouth Medical School) have studied the expression profile, transcriptional regulation and loss-of-function phenotype of Drosophila mir-1 (Dmir-1). Mir-1 is an evolutionarily conserved miRNA, whose expression in mouse and humans is limited to heart and skeletal muscle. Strikingly, their study shows that, in Drosophila embryos, mir-1 expression is not required for mesodermal cell fate d

A family of compounds found in cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and watercress, blocked lung cancer progression in both animal studies and in tests with human lung cancer cells, report researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center and the Institute for Cancer Prevention.

They say the results, published in a set of papers in the September 15 issue of Cancer Research, suggest that these chemicals — put into a veggie pill of sorts — might some day be u

[By neglecting deprivation, cardiovascular risk scoring will exacerbate social gradients in disease. Heart 2005; online first]

Leaving deprivation out of standard risk assessments for heart disease is potentially denying life saving preventive treatment to those who need it most, reveals research published ahead of print in Heart.

A person’s estimated chances of developing heart disease, and being allocated “primary preventive” treatment, is currently calculated usin

Professor Gwendolen Jull and Dr Michele Sterling of the UQ Division of Physiotherapy are conducting two clinical trials investigating recovery following a whiplash injury.

One trial is examining whether a multi-professional treatment approach is necessary following a whiplash injury. The other trial is examining the progression of symptoms following a whiplash injury.

Whiplash injury is commonly associated with neck pain, impaired movement and can be distressing.

Addicts crave drugs and suffer relapse not just because of the alluring high of drugs, but also because they are compelled by the powerful, haunting memory associations with the environment surrounding their drug taking. Thus, treatments that could eliminate those memory associations could prove effective in treating addiction, researchers believe.

In two papers in the September 15, 2005, issue of Neuron, two groups of researchers report important progress toward such treatments, s

A new drug appears to offer pain relief and increased mobility to rheumatoid arthritis patients who have exhausted their other medical treatment options. A researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine led a six-month, multicenter clinical trial that found patients were more than twice as likely to have significant improvement with the new drug than with standard therapy. The findings are reported in the Sept. 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The stud

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), by its very name, indicates a disease of the respiratory tract. But SARS can also infiltrate brain tissue, causing significant central nervous system problems, according to an article in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

SARS, a potentially fatal illness caused by a coronavirus, was first reported in Asia in February of 2003. The disease is usually transmitted by contact with coronavirus-laden dropl

The increased rate of cardiovascular complications in patients taking the cox-2 inhibitor painkiller rofecoxib (Vioxx) may result from a chemical imbalance, according to an animal study in the September Cell Metabolism. The findings suggest that low-dose aspirin might prevent the cardiac damage of such drugs and might also lead to the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs without the adverse side effects, the researchers said.

Earlier studies in humans have found that cox-2 inhibito