Erlotinib increases survival by several months

An international clinical trial led by Canadian researchers has demonstrated that a drug called erlotinib increases survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who typically have no other treatment options.

The trial, funded by the Canadian Cancer Society and published in tomorrow’s issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, involved 731 patients at centres in North and South America, Europe, Israel,

SCAI is pleased to bring to your attention two important articles published in the just-released issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (CCI)–

Drug-Eluting Stents Prove Mettle in Heart Attack Patients — Drug-eluting stents are a safe and effective treatment for heart attack, provoking no increase in complications when compared to conventional stents … Heart Attack Patients With Blockage

Hereditary haemochromatosis (HH) is a disease characterised by excessive absorbance and storage of iron in the body, which results from a mutation in HFE, a gene involved in iron regulation. In addition, HH patients have an abnormal immune system (IS), and it has been suggested that the IS is also involved in HH iron deregulation. And now, research by a team of Portuguese scientists about to be published on the 1st of August issue of the journal Blood, shows, that the HFE gene seems to be involved

A systematic search through human genes has begun at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. Working within the MitoCheck consortium that includes 10 other institutes throughout Europe, the EMBL scientists will silence all human genes, one-by-one, to find those involved in cell division (mitosis) and to answer fundamental questions of how cell division is regulated.

The scientists will use a method called ‘RNA interference (RNAi)’ where chemically synthes

Hummingbirds – elegant and light? Not all of them! Of approximately 340 species of hummingbirds, 70% weigh six grams or less, while 30% weigh between six and ten grams. The giant hummingbird, Patagona gigas, with its 20g, is a heavy weight! Other animal species, rodents for example, contain individuals ranging in body mass from 10 grams to a rather phenomenal 60 kilograms. However, unlike the hummingbird, these mass differences occur gradually, rather than with a large ‘gap’ of mass. Maria Jose F

Ever wondered why you aren’t able to swat a fly? The fly’s secret in avoiding death in this way lies in its decision to jump rather than to fly out of the way. “This kind of low-power decision-making could be of interest to those building autonomously navigating robots”, according to Gwyneth Card of the California Institute of Technology, who will be presenting her work on triggered escape response at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting in Barcelona, on Wednesday 13th July [s

Caterpillars are bleeding defensive! Insects are known to lack an antibody-mediated immune response, and research in caterpillars has recently shown that, instead, they produce protective proteins in response to bacterial infection. The pattern recognition receptors (PRR) and antibacterial effectors produced at a first infection still function to protect against a repeated challenge. These results raise important issues in insect research which will be reported by Dr. Ioannis Eleftherianos at the

Aphids salivate at the thought of beans! In fact, if it weren’t for their saliva they would starve to death. Professor Aart van Bel (Justus-Liebig-Universität, Germany) will be speaking at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting in Barcelona, on Thursday 14th July [session P2.1] about how special dynamic proteins are involved in ‘plant rescue systems’ and how aphid’s saliva can overcome their defence mechanism.

Bean plants contain contractile protein bodies (forisomes)

Genomics is being used for the first time to investigate the mystery of the ‘living fossil’ fish coelacanth, first dragged up along the coast of South Africa in 1938, having been considered extinct for 65 million years. Because of its close resemblance to land animals, it has attracted attention to the subject of a ‘missing link’ between tetrapods and humans. Dr. Chris Amemiya will be presenting his work on the generation and utilization of genomic resources for the Indonesian coelacanth on W

Biologists at Purdue University have determined the combined structure of a common-cold virus attached to a molecule that enables the virus to infect its host, information that ultimately may help researchers develop methods for treating certain viral infections.

Coxsackievirus A21 infects host cells first by recognizing a “receptor molecule” called ICAM-1, which is located on the cell’s surface, and then by anchoring itself to the molecule. ICAM-1 stands for intracellular adhes

Weizmann Institute scientists uncover a strategy that helps a plant-like, microscopic alga to happily proliferate in such inhospitable surroundings; their findings have unexpectedly shed light on the working of our own kidneys

Over the years, a number of Weizmann Institute scientists have addressed the question of how molecules essential to life, such as proteins, have adapted to function in extreme environments. The proteins they investigated were isolated from halophilic (salt-lo

Scientists in the Organic Chemistry Department of the Weizmann Institute of Science have caught a glimpse of platinum-based complexes ’walking’ a path to their destinations

Do metal complexes casually stroll around certain molecules prior to chemical reactions? Scientists in the Organic Chemistry Department of the Weizmann Institute of Science have caught a glimpse of platinum-based complexes “walking” a path to their destinations.

Many types of chemical reactions an

Weizmann Institute scientist develops a process that one day may yield a solution to the global wastepaper glut

One wouldn’t expect paper to be a major source of pollution: after all, it’s made from wood, which in nature breaks down into tiny components that re-enter the plant growth cycle. Yet without proper dampness and other conditions that are often missing in garbage dumps, paper fails to decompose for dozens of years. As a result, billions of tons of wastepaper cram the plan

A modification to an “ace” gene prediction program now enables scientists to predict the very beginnings of gene transcription start sites and where the first splice occurs thereby defining the first exon of the gene.

The modification to the gene prediction software TWINSCAN is called N-SCAN. Michael Brent, Ph.D. professor of computer science at Washington University in St. Louis, together with Samuel S. Gross, then an undergraduate at Washington University, and Randall H. Br

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterised by severe fatigue lasting for at least 6 months, for which no somatic explanation can be found and which leads to severe disability in daily life. It has been demonstrated that individual cognitive behaviour therapy is an effective treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The aim of the study presented in the July-August issue of Psychother Psychosom was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive behaviour group therapy (CBGT) in an unselecte

New research published in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Toxicology, shows that in experimental mice an estrogen-mimicking chemical, 4-nonylphenol, triggers breast cancer to a greater extent than naturally occurring estrogens based on their relative affinity for the estrogen receptor. 4-Nonylphenol is released into the environment from cleaning materials, textiles, plastics and some paper.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and environmental factors a