Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have shown that breast cancer patients treated with taxane-based chemotherapies and radiation are not at increased risk of developing a dangerous lung condition involving the inflammation of lung tissue, pneumonitis, according to a study published in the Nov. 17 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

These results are vitally important, says Thomas Buchholz, M.D., the study’s correspondin

St. Jude scientists find that radiation and high-dose chemotherapy damage is usually transient but can mimic cancer and prompt needless additional treatment

Irradiation and high-dose chemotherapy used to treat two types of brain tumors–medulloblastoma and supratentorial PNET–can cause changes in the brain’s white matter that look like tumors when seen on MRI scans. This finding, by a team of investigators led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is published in

Nowadays, a vial of blood taken by a family physician can sometimes forecast a person’s risk of heart disease, and cholesterol-lowering drugs as well as a daily baby aspirin may be recommended to curb the threat. But in the future, a simple finger prick also may predict which cancers are destined to develop in an individual, years, even decades, down the road.

And based on a person’s unique genetics – the milieu of factors that repair DNA damage, or push cells to grow – the pat

The age-specific prevalence of sexually transmitted human papillomavirus infection in women differs substantially from that in men who have sex with men, according to a new study published in the December 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online. The study, led by Peter V. Chin-Hong of the University of California, San Francisco, indicates a high prevalence of anal human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in all age groups of men who have sex with men. This finding contras

Northern plants must ’use it or lose it,’ says Queen’s study

A new, Queen’s-led study shows that plants growing in harsh northern climates are losing the ability to reproduce sexually, an evolutionary phenomenon similar to the loss of sight in cave-dwelling fish. “Our genetic analysis shows that northern plant populations acquire mutations that disable sex itself, a trait central to the biology of almost all higher organisms,” says Queen’s biologist Christopher Eckert, co-autho

Scientists at Johns Hopkins and the University of Texas Medical Branch have created a new tool that easily reveals when and where a key cellular signal is active. The development, described in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, should speed identification of the signal’s triggers and effects in normal processes and in conditions such as asthma, allergy, inflammation, lung disease and heart disease.

The tool — a special fluorescent prote

New Acid Has Potential to Help With a Variety of Processes

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have discovered the world’s strongest acid. Remarkably it is also the gentlest acid. This non-toxic and non-corrosive acid may have a role in processes such as improving the quality of gasoline, developing polymers and synthesizing pharmaceuticals.

So how can an acid be both strong and gentle? The answer lies in the way chemists define the strength of an ac

Chemists at the University of Oregon have hit upon a way to build a molecular “claw” that grabs onto arsenic and sequesters it.

The discovery is published in the Nov. 5 issue of Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a premier journal in the field of chemistry.

Since the article was written, the UO team has developed additional ways of capturing arsenic so that it cannot bond with other substances in a laboratory setting, according to Darren Johnson, an assistant

The same receptors in the brain that are activated when a person smokes cigarettes also play a critical role in the effectiveness of antidepressants, according to a study by Yale researchers in the November issue of Biological Psychiatry.

What this means, particularly for patients who are suicidal, is that finding a way to activate these receptors will make anti-depressants work more quickly. Most anti-depressants now take up to three weeks to bring emotional relief. “Just the

A potent antioxidant abundant in apples and some other fruits and vegetables appears to protect brain cells against oxidative stress, a tissue-damaging process associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders, according to a new study in rat brain cells conducted by researchers at Cornell University in New York.

The study adds strength to the theory — bolstered by recent animal studies — that the risk of developing Alzheimer’s and similar diseases may be reduced

Prolonged abstinence, no visual problems in patients taking GVG for meth/cocaine abuse

A second, small-scale clinical trial of a proposed addiction treatment originally investigated at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory has produced favorable results in the treatment of long-term addiction to methamphetamine and/or cocaine, with no visual side effects in any of the 30 patients enrolled. This research on vigabatrin (a.k.a. gamma vinyl GABA, or GVG) was

Nuclear imaging will play an increasing role in both the detection of atherosclerosis (coronary heart disease) and, more specifically, the composition of plaque build up that can block the flow of blood through an artery, according to journal reports published by the Society of Nuclear Medicine.

A trio of articles, “Evaluation of 18F-FDG Uptake and Arterial Wall Calcifications Using 18F-FDG PET/CT,” “Molecular and Metabolic Imaging of Atherosclerosis” and “Noninvasive Imaging o

Physicians have known for decades that many premature babies suffer respiratory problems stemming from insufficiency of a lung substance called surfactant during their first few weeks of life. The standard treatment has been to provide replacement surfactant immediately after birth. A new study has found that even after infants begin producing their own surfactant, it often fails to function properly in premature infants who continue to have lung disease after their first week.

Early identification can lead to early intervention

Recent immigration, lack of partner support and pregnancy-induced hypertension are significant factors in predicting whether women will experience depressive symptoms soon after giving birth, says a University of Toronto researcher. U of T nursing professor Cindy-Lee Dennis and colleagues at the University of British Columbia have developed a model that predicts which mothers are at high risk of developing depressive symptoms in

Combining radiation therapy with surgery and chemotherapy helps patients with rare forms of thyroid cancer live longer, according to a study published in the November 15, 2004, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma is a very rare but aggressive form of the disease, afflicting less than 5 percent of those diagnosed with thyroid canc

The Tizard Centre at the University of Kent recently presented its findings from an important pilot study on early intervention for children with autism.

Funded by the National Autistic Society and The British Academy, and conducted by Dr Julie Beadle-Brown, Professor Glynis Murphy and researcher Hannah Dorey, this pilot study consisted of two parts, each examining different aspects of early intervention programmes for young children with autism.

The first part of