Identifying the link between chronic hepatitis B infection and liver cancer may one day help cancer patients sidestep the poison of chemotherapy, a Purdue University study suggests.

The research group of Ourania M. Andrisani (oo-RAHN-ee-ah an-dri-SAH-nee) has shown that a protein the hepatitis virus instructs chronically infected liver cells to produce – known as the X protein – under certain conditions instructs precancerous infected liver cells to die. The discovery of how the X

UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas researchers have found a way of stimulating the immune systems of mice to fight against amyloid proteins that cause the devastating plaques that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

For years scientists have examined the possibility of using a protein-based vaccine to slow the progression of the disease in its early stages. UT Southwestern researchers have created a gene-based vaccine aimed at stimulating the immune systems o

An improved stem cell transplant regimen that is well-tolerated and has a high success rate has been developed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The procedure holds promise for treatment of blood and bone marrow disorders, immune dysfunction and certain metabolic disorders.

Designed for transplants that replace a patient’s bone marrow with stem cells from donor marrow, peripheral blood or umbilical cord blood, the procedure allows early reco

UCR researchers’ findings advance techniques toward development of nanoscale electronics

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside showed that L. P. Hammett’s 1937 prediction of the strength of different acids is directly transferable to the activation of individual molecules on metal surfaces using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) as a nanoscale actuator.

Hammett’s original prediction is a cornerstone of physical organic che

One of the Institut Curie’s great originalities, the interface between physics and cell biology, is a fertile terrain for discoveries. Dialogue between researchers of different backgrounds drives creativity, as witnessed by the rise in the number of Institut Curie publications on research work that melds physics and biology.

In collaboration with Canadian physicists, biologists of the (CNRS) group headed by Hélène Feracci have developed a model that cast light on intercellular adhe

A patient who is technically blind, having suffered damage to the areas of the brain that process visual signals, has been able to react to certain visual signals. The case, described in this week’s online edition of Nature Neuroscience (Nature Neuroscience advance online publication, 12.12.02 at www.nature.com/neuro/) establishes beyond doubt, for the first time, that certain specific ‘visual recognition’ functions are processed in an area of the brain other than those normally associated with v

Anger and other negative emotions may be triggers for ischemic stroke, according to a study published in the December 14 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study found that people who had strokes were more likely to have experienced anger or negative emotions in the two hours prior to the stroke than at the same time the day before the stroke. They were also more likely to have reacted quickly to a startling event, such as getti

As Americans queue up anxiously for flu shots, new research proposes a different sort of mass vaccination program to combat Lyme disease – a vaccine drive for mice.

A Michigan State University disease ecologist leads a novel ecological approach to battle Lyme disease. It proposes that ground zero is the forest floor, and immunizing the tiny critters there offers hope to ultimately reduce the number of dangerous tick bites that infect some 23,000 people in 2002 in the United S

New research suggests that rigid gas permeable contact lenses may help slow the progression of nearsightedness, or myopia, in young children.

At the end of a three-year study of more than a hundred 8- to 11-year olds, researchers determined that wearing rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses slowed the progression of myopia by nearly 30 percent, compared to soft contact lens wear.

Only recently did researchers find that young children could handle the responsibility of

A fake Christmas tree may be more popular, but here’s a new reason to appreciate the real thing: Researchers have identified a group of anti-inflammatory compounds in the bark of the Scotch pine — widely used for Christmas trees — that they say could be developed into food supplements or drugs for treating arthritis and pain. The compounds, which show promise in preliminary cell studies, are likely to be found in other pine species as well, the scientists say.

Anti-inflammatory co

Powerful research tools that speed up vaccine development have led to the start today of human tests for a preventive vaccine against the respiratory disease SARS. The disease killed hundreds of people around the world before it was brought under control in 2003 with aggressive conventional public health measures.

Researchers at the Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will conduct

Researchers at the University of Essex have found that high doses of vitamin B1 (thiamine) could lower cholesterol in diabetes patients and help prevent heart disease.

The results of the research project, led by Professor Paul J Thornalley of the Department of Biological Sciences, suggest that diabetics should avoid even mild thiamine deficiency and that thiamine supplements could significantly decrease the risk of heart disease and kidney failure.

Diabetes increases th

Doctors at Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center recently discovered a link between a common chemotherapy drug and a serious bone disease called osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). The discovery, published in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, prompted both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Novartis, the manufacturer of bisphosphonates used in cancer chemotherapy, to issue warnings earlier this fall to physicians and dentists about the risk for this potential adverse eff

The drug methylphenidate (brand name Ritalin) increased activity in brains of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as those with a reading disorder, researchers at Yale report in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
“During a test of divided attention, Ritalin increased activation in the basal ganglia, a structure of the brain involved in cognition and behavior,” said first author Keith Shafritz, former graduate student in the interdepartmental Neuros

Cancer screening tests can frequently produce false positive outcomes that may result not only in anxiety but also additional economic costs as well, according to research conducted by scientists at the Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Mich., and published in the December issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Among 1,087 individuals participating in a cancer screening trial who received a battery of tests for prostate, ovarian, colorectal and lung cancer, 43 per

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have successfully tested the first gene therapy for skin cancer, using a mouse model for the disease xeroderma pigmentosum, or XP.

Their results, available online and to be published in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show promise for similar gene therapy to be pursued in children suffering from this rare disorder.

XP is a debilitating disease in which patients must avoi