Little is known about the causes of lymphoma. A case-control study conducted by Professor Nikolaus Becker and Dr. Alexandra Nieters, Division of Clinical Epidemiology at the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (German Cancer Research Center, DKFZ), is looking closely at possible risk factors. First results of this German lymphoma study suggest immunological factors associated with lifestyle and environment. Too few challenges for the immune system during early childhood may possibly promote not onl

Tail of Ubc12 binds this protein to a larger molecule during a cascade of biochemical reactions that assembles an “on switch” that accelerates cell replication

A unique tail at one end of a protein called Ubc12 stabilizes a molecular workshop that assembles the “on-switch cells” used to accelerate cell replication. This finding, by investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is published online by the journal Nature Structual and Molecular Biology (NSMB).

The di

A Finnish research group has been the first in the world to publish an article in which BNCT treatment has had an excellent response in a patient with head and neck cancer for whom there was no other treatment available. The case report has been published in the June issue of the prestigious Radiotherapy and Oncology no. 72 (2004) pp. 83 – 84.

BNCT treatment, which was developed for treating difficult brain tumours, has since last year also been given to patients with recurrent hea

Hibiscus flower extract may have the same health benefits as red wine and tea according to new research by scientists in Taiwan. Hibiscus contains antioxidants that help control cholesterol levels and reduce heart disease, says the research in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Chau-Jong Wang and his team at Chung Shan Medical University in the Republic of China found that the antioxidant properties of flavonoids, polyphenolic compounds and anthocyanins contained in th

The active ingredient of cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannibol (THC), can prevent the replication and activation of several forms of herpes known to cause cancer, according to an article published today in BMC Medicine. This finding could lead the way to the creation of anti-viral drugs based on non-psychoactive derivatives of THC.

The gamma herpes viruses, Kaposi’s Sarcoma Associated Herpes virus and Epstein-Barr virus (which causes glandular fever), predispose infected individual

The popular hypothesis that the hepatitis B vaccine is associated with an increased risk of multiple sclerosis has been scientifically corroborated through a prospective study of patients in the United Kingdom. Results of the study, and a related editorial, are reported in the September 14 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

More than 350 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus. Of these, 65 million wi

People with mild Alzheimer’s disease make more mistakes on a driving test than older people with no cognitive problems, according to a study published in the September 14 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study involved an on-road driving test with 32 people with mild Alzheimer’s disease and 136 people with no neurological disorders. The people with Alzheimer’s disease were still driving, although some had reduced their driving due

May serve as new target for antiviral drugs

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have produced the first molecular-scale images of DNA binding to an adenovirus enzyme — a step they believe is essential for the virus to cause infection. The images, which appear on the cover of the October 2004 issue of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, show how binding to DNA may stimulate the enzyme and are alre

Researchers have discovered a critical protein that regulates the growth and activation of neural connections in the brain. The protein functions in the developing brain, where it controls the sprouting of new connections and stimulates otherwise silent connections among immature neurons, and potentially in the mature brain as well, where it may play a role in memory formation.

The researchers published their discovery of the protein, called dendrite arborization and synapse matura

Liver cancer genes cluster into two subsets that correlate to survival

An analysis of the gene expression patterns of 91 unrelated liver tumors revealed two distinctive subclasses highly associated with patient survival, according to a new study published in the September 2004 issue of Hepatology.
Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is available online via Wiley InterScience at

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a possible way to distinguish lethal metastatic prostate cancers from those restricted to the walnut-size organ.

If future studies show their test — measuring the level of activity of a signaling pathway called Hedgehog — can predict which prostate cancers will spread, the results could revolutionize decision making processes for prostate cancer patients, the researchers say.

Most prostate cancers grow slowly, making “watchful wai

Biologists take for granted that the limbs and branches of the tree of life – painstakingly constructed since Linnaeus started classifying organisms 270 years ago – are basically correct. New genetic studies, the thinking goes, will only prune the twigs, perhaps shuffling around a few species here and there.

Hence the surprise when a new University of California, Berkeley, study of the largest family of salamanders produced a genetic family tree totally inconsistent with the accepted

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have identified a telltale change in cellular machinery that could help clinicians predict whether prostate cancers are likely to spread or remain relatively harmless in the prostate.

The researchers found that a cellular signaling molecule called Hedgehog, which drives normal development and regeneration of prostate tissue, is greatly activated in prostate cancers. This elevated activity distinguishes dangerous metastatic cancers – those t

Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) at Ghent University are joining the fight against chronic intestinal disease with a genetically modified bacterium (Lactococcus lactis). The modified bacterium is able to produce medication right in the intestine. This is often the crux of the problem: a number of medicines are presumed to be effective, but until now it has been impossible to get them into the intestine in a simple manner. The researchers have shown t

A new approach for assessing glaucoma risk factors could be the first step in helping ophthalmologists determine the risk of progression from ocular hypertension to glaucoma and blindness, according to an article published today in the September issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

This new approach, which is based on the risk assessment principles advanced by the coronary heart disease model, could help physicians decide the level of risk in an individual patient and whe

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a material that may one day allow patients to forgo daily injections and pills and receive prescriptions instead through micro-thin implantable films that release medication according to changes in temperature. The research, detailing results from testing insulin release in the lab, appears in the September 13 edition of the journal, Biomacromolecules.

“We loaded insulin in layers of microgel films in the lab and rel